Dinner in Plovdiv

This restaurant is a two minute walk from the hotel, across a park. We went there the first night we got in - after our twelve hour harrowing drive from Varna. We were exhausted and hungry, and this place welcomed us even though it was late in the evening. These pictures were taken on our second visit, on our last night in Bulgaria. Yes, it was that good.

By the way, if you go to the Balkans - the Cyrillic parts - memorize that top word. It's pronounced "restaurant".

Here's a picture of the building itself, past the sign. There are fountains and pools and tables all over the front are, and a very pretty garden. It was a bit chilly when we went, so the area wasn't open to sit outside.

And this is a picture of the menu. It's all in Bulgarian, but there are somewhat cryptic English translations below. Most restaurants in large cities in the Balkans have English translations on their menus. They may or may not be correct.

This was our main course, and it was wonderful! It's grilled chicken and vegetables with lemon, served in a wok-like dish. They called it chicken in a pot in English (I told you their translations are a bit off!). Everything had a hint of paprika that went wonderfully with the lemon.

My first course was chicken soup. It was served in its own tureen, complete with ladle. Lots of actual chunks of chicken in a mildly spiced broth. When we took a picture of it, the owner saw what we were doing and gave us free shortbread cookies because we liked the food so much! They were good, too. The check, by the way, was about 25 lev for both of us, translating to about 12.50 euro or less than $20. Overall, don't fear the food in Bulgaria. Most of it's very good. There's only on restaurant we went to where the service and food were subpar. It was a pizza place in Varna.