eating out in bulgaria

Here is a Bulgaria (also Romania, Serbia, and Czechia) trip report from a
local (Chicago) food board I read. Very high marks for all the food they
encountered, plus check out the pictures:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=9628&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

Some excerpts from the above site:

"There's so much potential in Romania, and I know they're trying, but we
couldn't wait to leave...

We were expecting more of the same, if not worse, in Bulgaria. Imagine our
surprise, after spending 20 minutes getting grilled by a border guard
trained during the dark days of Stalinism, to get on a well maintained road
with few carts, few trucks, and the ability to drive at high speeds on 2
lane roads. Unlike Romania, the towns seemed cheerier and less rundown. In
Romania, only the tourist towns had any dining facilities. In Bulgaria,
every town we drove thru had shops and restaurants we would easily have
stopped at. Of course drab Soviet architecture is everywhere, but Bulgaria
appears to have progressed much further and faster.

...

Bulgaria was our most pleasant surprise and we ended up staying 4 nights.
MsRev is Ukranian and still fluent in the language and alphabet. Without
her, it would be impossible to navigate the roads, as most all of the signs
are in Cyrillic. Outside the city center, many streets aren't marked. Some
English is spoken but Lana's knowledge of Ukrainian, which has many
similarities to Bulgarian, was quite helpful, since we were often lost.
Sofia has more of the feel of an international city than Bucharest and
appears to be making more of a conscious and successful effort to catch up
to their Western counterparts. They still have a long way to go

...

Not many restaurants serving traditional Bulgarian cuisine are in Sofia.
Their food is typical eastern Europe with a heavy emphasis on meat and
sausages. Our first dinner was at a place called Uno. It was outdoor seating
with a decidedly Mediterranean atmosphere. Upon spying a display case with a
beautiful array of fish, we were quite enthusiastic about our meal. Bulgaria
has a long border with Greece and the influence shows in their seafood
preparation. We started with grilled Octopus with oregano, olive oil and
lemon juice. It was incredibly tender and flavorful. We also had a tomato
salad with fresh mozzarella (very similar to the Italian bufalo -they
probably use the same animals), avocado, cucumber, and olive oil. The
vegetables were amazing. We followed that with a simple grilled whole sea
bream with lemon and herbs that was cooked perfectly moist. Why do Europeans
innately know how to cook fish and we constantly have to beg in the US to
get our seafood medium rare?

...

Dinner was in Sofia at Captain Cook. I realize it sounds pretty touristy for
Bulgaria, but the seafood was first rate. Greek salad had the usual all-star
tomatoes. Another starter was a mixed grill including little red mullet,
bluefish, octopus, calamari, and prawns. We finished with a pristine sea
bass baked in salt, served with grilled vegetables."

written by Gregory Morrow on November 15, 2006

In Bucharest recently I found the local-style food pretty good, though
perhaps a little heavy to eat in perpetuity. However, the fashionable,
new, more-or-less Italian restaurants to which I was taken were
indifferent at best. Didn't stop the locals raving about them, but that's
more to do with what they symbolise than the food they serve, perhaps.

written by barn on November 15, 2006

Did you go to the place run by the mad ex-actress who periodically
interrupts the music to regale the diners with speeches on the pressing
issues of the day? (Can't remember its name, I'm afraid, but you wouldn't
forget it in a hurry!)

written by barn on November 15, 2006

Food is cheap, and often very good in Bulgaria. I was pleasantly
surprised. Lots of salads, and other stuff with a bit of Turkish
influence.

written by Dave Frightens Me on November 15, 2006

Have you considered that prices are high in UK and that most places
will appear cheap to you, even a Dutch Mcdoodoo?

written by Martin on November 15, 2006

no, but going by uk and french prices the food in Poland was a give away and
the meals we had were well presented and well cooked, we struggled through 3
courses as we initially did not realize the quantity we would be served
with, next time i will know not to order all 3 courses

written by Alan on November 15, 2006

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eating out in bulgaria

Heading South?