Sofia Echo, Bulgaria
Jan 11 2005

Restaurant Review-A few of our favourites
Clive Leviev-Sawyer

In addition to this week’s special 2004 in Review pages of this
newspaper, it is also an appropriate time to honour the tradition
established last January of asking The Sofia Echo restaurant
reviewers to say which restaurants they found most memorable during
the course of their visits last year.

Marlene Smits said of restaurant Bvlgaria (4 Tsar Osvoboditel Street,
Phone 988 53 07), “The food, service and atmosphere definitely stand
out for me. It’s calm and modern, the food is really up to standard
and the service is great. Its personnel know about etiquette, but are
absolutely not stiff. After having dinner there, I went back several
times just for some dessert or a meeting.”

Of The Thirsty Dragon (2, 13 Mart Street, 964 06 40), Marlene noted:
“This is one of my all time favourite restaurants in Sofia. I visit
it almost weekly. The food is great except for some exotic dishes
that they simply don’t know how to prepare properly. Apart from that
the atmosphere is cosy and nice and that makes it a great place for
informal dinners.”

Her view on Pod Lipite (1 Elin Pelin Street, 866 50 53 or 866 50 59):
“This restaurant is definitely a great way to have real traditional
Bulgarian food in an old fashioned, but quite classy, environment.
The food is great! And that’s why it’s a good start for foreigners to
acquaint themselves with Bulgarian cuisine.”

Of Hua Sing Sin Low (113 Vassil Levski, Telephone 943 34 83), she
said:

“Here I simply had the best Chinese experience in Bulgaria. It’s not
a place one chooses to dine in for its looks, but the food is great.”

Marlene’s view on Komara (on Edison Street and Trudolubie Street,
behind the parking of block nr. 9, 0887 265 021): “Komara is
certainly also not on my list in terms of beauty. The food however,
and in summer the tranquillity of the garden, is really a pleasure. I
went back many times after the review and every single time I had a
nice meal.”

Gersende Schubert gave Pizza Victoria (7 Tsar Osvoboditel Street)
four stars “for a terrific quality restaurant that is simply and
neatly decorated” and she liked Pizzeria Ugo (45 Vitosha Boulevard
and on William Gladstone Street), noting the careful thought that
went into the decor, a diverse selection of dishes and pizza sizes
that were “just right” as Goldilocks might have put it.

David McMullin gave Opera (113 Rakovski Street) five stars, as well
as describing it as trendy and tasteful, and giving it a “bravo!”

Julia Terlinchamp had her first experience of Russian food at Gara Za
Dvama (18 Benkovski Street) and said it had “eliminated any bad
thoughts I once had about Russian cuisine”.

Gus Worth awarded four stars to Amber (70 Burel Street in Ivan
Vazov): “We can definitely say go to Amber and prepare to stop,” and
four stars to Rio (1 Bulgaria Boulevard, near the National Palace of
Culture), which he thought to be good value for money, even with a
bill for two of 64.40 leva.

Danny Dresser gave Awadh (41 Cherkovna Street) three stars, an Indian
restaurant that he praised as a “highly welcome newcomer to the Sofia
scene…even those who don’t like very spicy food should give it a
try, as the chefs are very happy to hold back on the chillis”.

David Toal said of Bistro Boné, “the restaurant is basically a
quaint, simple place favoured by locals. Much of the menu features
the standard Bulgarian fare, but there are some interesting
variations on traditional recipes and a few unique offerings. I’ve
visited the restaurant three times, and each time found that the
kitchen took care in consistently producing attractive, well-prepared
meals.”

Christine Milner said: “The best one I reviewed this year was the At
the Fountain (17 Yanko Sakuzov Boulevard) where we had a really good
meal that stood out from so many mediocre places. They obviously have
an excellent chef and I hope it stays that way. The interior was just
right – fairly trendy and tasteful but still cosy and we had a very
good waiter who behaved naturally.

“The health food restaurant Kibea (2a Dr G Valkovich Street) is also
a good restaurant and I regret being a little down on them in my
review, they were the victim of circumstance and the fact that I
chose something to eat that I should have known I wouldn’t like. I
know lots of people who really like the place and the standard of
cooking has remained very high. Kibea also has a bookshop and a
health food store downstairs, which I use quite frequently”.

Looking back over the 15 restaurants he reviewed in 2004, Clive
Leviev-Sawyer named his favourites as Armenian restaurant Egur, Egur
(18 Sheinovo Street), Maharaja (65 Kiril and Metodii Street) for its
Indian cuisine, and Retro (2 Dobromir Hristov Street) for its
sophisticated atmosphere and decor, and excellent food and service.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress