The must-try list
- Shopska salad – tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onion and sirene cheese, grated on top like snow. The colours of the flag, they say.
- Banitsa – flaky cheese pastry with eggs. For breakfast, with ayran (a salty yoghurt drink) or boza (a thick malt drink).
- Tarator – a cold soup of yoghurt, cucumbers, dill and garlic. Saves you from the heat.
- Kebapcheta and kyufteta – grilled minced-meat sausages and meatballs, with beer. A portion is “three kebapcheta”, never two.
- Lyutenitsa – a tomato-and-pepper relish, a marvel from grandma’s kitchen.
- Kapama, Kavarma, Chomlek – clay-pot stews that cook for hours and are eaten in minutes.
- Kozunak – the sweet Easter bread.
The wine
Bulgaria has been making wine for thousands of years. The Thracians were famous winemakers – and famous drinkers.
- Mavrud – dark, full-bodied, from the Asenovgrad region.
- Shiroka Melnishka Loza – from Melnik, aromatic and lightly oaky.
- Gamza – light and fresh, from Northern Bulgaria.
- Rubin – a grape variety created in Bulgaria.
- Dimyat and Red Misket – for white wine.
The rakia
Grape or plum, homemade or from the shop. It is sipped slowly, with salad, before the meal. If they tell you it is “only 40 percent”, don’t believe it – it is probably 50.
Between us
If you order a salad and rakia, the waiter will bring the rakia first. The salad is for later, if you ever get to it.