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Food & Beverage
BULGARIAN
Bulgari
bul. Knyaz Dondukov 71, tel. 843 54 19, fax 846 84 46, bulgarians@abv.bg, www.restaurant-bulgary.com.
For an elegant dining experience, head for this historic house crammed full of sepia photographs of old Sofia.
Open 12:00 - 23:30.
Etno
ul. Alabin 35, tel. 988 75 75, etnoegur@abv.bg.
Spread out in a large basement in the heart of the downtown shopping area, this is a rather elegant take on a familiar down-on-the-farm rustic theme.
Open 12:00 - 23:00.
Hadzhidraganovite kashti
ul. Kozloduy 75, tel. 931 31 48, info@kashtite.com, www.kashtite.com
Hugely enjoyable theme restaurant located mid-way between the town centre and the train station, consisting of four large rooms, each designed in the folk style of a particular
region of Bulgaria.
Open 11:30 - 02:00.
Chevermeto
bul. Cherni vrah 31, tel./fax 963 03 08, chevermeto@chevermeto-bg.com, www.chevermeto-bg.com
Despite it’s location in the basement of the greying Hotel Hemus, an evening at the “Spit-Roast Lamb” comes across as an entertaining journey into Bulgarian rural ethnography. Traditional textiles are draped across every surface, and folk groups perform nightly after 8pm. The sizeable menu includes just about everything in the Bulgarian culinary repertoire, so there should be something here to suit all tastes and pockets.
Open 12:00 - 24:00.
Manastirska magernitsa
ul. Han Asparuh 67, tel.980 38 83/0899 94 94 00, www.magernitsa.com
Sheltered in an elegantly decorated nineteenth-century house, the restaurant offers an imaginative approach towards traditional Bulgarian cuisine - the owners have collected traditional recipes from Bulgarian monasteries and reproduced here.
Open 11:00 - 02:00.
Pri Yafata
ul. Solunska 28, tel. 980 17 27, www.pri-yafata.com
Traditional Bulgarian cuisine served up in a suite of rooms decked out in folk textiles and nineteenthcentury domestic nick-nacks. Some of the cheaper wines are a bit rough though.
Open 10:00 - 12:00.
FRENCH
topL’Etranger
ul. Tsar Simeon 78, tel. 983 14 17/0887 523 376, bistrot_letranger@hotmail.com
Homely bistro offering very reasonable food - good place for a quick lunch or a more leisurely three-course meal. The chef is a Frenchman who owns the place together with his Bulgarian wife, so it’s a real family restaurant. Good service and meals that live up to expectations. What more can you say?
Open 12:00 - 22:00, Sat 18:00 - 22:00. Closed Sun
GREEK
topKumbare
ul. Saborna 14, tel. 981 17 94/0897 806 390, office@kumbare.com, www.kumbare.com
Pretty much everything you would expect from a Greek restaurant is here in abundance, with a succulent repertoire of grilled lamb and fish dishes accompanied by luxuriant salads - all prepared under the watchful eye of the head chef. The loud and exuberant
music will soon put you in the right mood to dive into the selection of ouzos and retsinas.
Open 11:00 - 23:00
ITALIAN
topAlga
ul. Lavele 11, tel. 980 24 89/0888 81 19 80, alga@abv.bg, www.alga.free.bg.
Somewhat hidden behind the BulBank building at the bottom of Vitosha Boulevard, this
cute little Italian restaurant is well worth a visit. It’s run by Georgio & Russistza, a man and wife team and their Sardinian chef. They will give you a very homely reception before you tuck into the complimentary olive pesto and homemade bread.
Open 12:00 - 24:00
Gioia
ul. Tsar Samuil 60, tel. 986 08 54, festaitaliana@abv.bg, www.festaitalianabg.com
It is the perfect place to enjoy Italian cuisine with ingredients imported directly from Italy and desserts, prepared on the spot. It has a decade of serving clients, behind their backs. They have both a Bulgarian and Italian menus and the staff speaks English, Bulgarian and Italian.
Open 11:00 - 24:00
For more information and tips, please visit www.sofia.inyourpocket.com
Bars topBar Apartment
ul. Neofit Rilski 68, tel. 0886 655 093.
There’s nowhere else quite like this spacious, high-ceilinged nineteenth-century flat, each room of which is decked out with the kind of artworks and furnishings that you’d expect to find in the home of a slightly wacky friend. There’s an internet terminal in one lounge, play-your-own-vinyl DJ decks in another, and a space devoted to film projections too. If you want a drink, head for the kitchen to see who’s in charge of the fridge. There’s usually some form of exotic daytime snack food on offer: recent choices have included houmous with pitta bread, and platters of sushi. Be sure to try the delicious homemade chocolate desserts.
Open 12:00 - 02:00.
Cappuccino bar & dinner
ul. Pozitano 8, tel.0896 645 362, www.barcappuccino.net
Despite its short life, Cappuccino seems destined to become one of the most crowded new additions to Sofia. Preferred for business lunches, dinners, parties or just for a cup of coffee or excellent cappuccino, the interior is a mixture of expensive Italian furniture with a classical combination of midnight black and crisp white, delicate lighting and enviable sound system. The long menu specializes in Italian dishes, complemented by an
excellent selection of wine from all over world and a variety of cocktails, among the well-founded reasons this place will be sure to please even the most capricious visitors.
Open 08:00 - 02:00, Sun 10:30 - 24:00.
Chillout Bar & Dinner
ul. Triaditsa 5, tel. 980 02 03 diner@chilloutbg.com, www.chilloutbg.com.
A large lofty space with matt black walls, slender silver pillars and soft-cushion sofas, Chillout’s new city-centre venture looks like an inviting cross between medieval khan’s reception chamber and twenty-first century living room. With the same menu as its sister bar on ul. Baba Nedelya, Chillout is a good spot for downtown lunch, although it’s the prospect of evenings spent gurgling one’s way through the cocktail list that holds out most promise.
Open 08:00 - 04:00
Chillout Lounge
ul. Baba Nedelya 6, tel. 953 35 04 club@chilloutbg.com,www.chilloutbg.com
Drinking in Chillout’s black, red and blue interior is a bit like living inside an abstract painting. The place certainly lives up to its name, however, thanks to the moody sounds emanating from the CD player and the laid back, glamorous-without-puttingtoo-
much-effort-into-it clientele. The drinks menu includes some potent and inexpensive cocktails, and food (including toasted sandwiches and savoury wraps) is served until about 10pm - at which hour DJs turn up and start upping the tempo.
Open 08:00 - 04:00
Motto
ul. Aksakov 18, tel. 987 27 23, motto_bg@hotmail.com, www.motto-bg.coma.
The red-brick walls, comfy sofas and designer lampshades of this roomy bar and diner attain just the right mixture of snazziness and comfort. There’s a huge menu of cocktails and spirits, and a selection of light dishes if you’re hungry. The service lags, especially when the place fills up with Sofia’s fashionable set, but then you’ll never be short of beautiful people to look at.
Open 10:00 - 02:00.
Opera
ul. Rakovski 113, tel. 988 21 41 opera@mail.bg, www.opera-bg.info
This classy designer bar in the basement of the National Opera is well worth looking in on at the weekends, when DJs spin plastic and revellers flock round the bar. At other times it looks like a furniture showroom, with rigid lines of fancy chairs and couches and not many people sitting in them.
Open 10:00 - 24:00.
Toba&Co
ul. Moskovska 6A, tel. 989 46 96.
Head round the back of the National Art Gallery and you’ll come across this curious little café-bar, occupying the cast-iron pavilion in which the mercurial Tsar Ferdinand once kept his butterflies. The cocktails aren’t that great but who cares; everything else on the menu is perfectly drinkable, the wooden chairs add a dash of Parisian-café charm, and when DJs turn up they usually spin something more interesting than Top-40 teen fodder.
Open 09:00 - 06:00.
Alcohol
ul. Rakovski 127, tel. 0888 655 500.
An unmarked passageway on ul. Rakovski leads down to this vast barn of a place, regularly filled to bursting with adrenalinecharged, hedonistically-inclined Sofians. An anything-goes DJ policy keeps the dance floor constantly packed. If it gets too hot and crowded you can always head for the chill-out room (to the right of the coat-check), here you can sprawl on oriental divans and puff away on a hookah pipe
Open 18:00 - 05:00.
Brilyantin
ul. Moskovska 3, tel. 986 31 12, www.briliantin.com
The name of this club is a tribute to the dancing skills of Travolta and Newton-John, as Brilyantin (“Brilliantine”) is the name by which Seventies’ musical Grease is known in Bulgaria. However you’re unlikely to see any latter-day hep-cats jiving away in their best rockand- roll frocks - Brilyantin is actually one of Sofia’s prime hang-outs for stylish young professionals, wannabe media types and expensive-cocktail conoisseurs. Matt black surfaces, the odd mirror-ball and a crowd-pleasing mixture of retro, house and dance-pop are the order of the day. Hard to get into at weekends - when you might have to reserve a table or arrive soon after opening time.
Open 17:00 - 04:00.
Club Liqueur
ul. Pirotska 5 (corner with George Washington) tel. 0888 888 358, www.clubliqueur.com
The place plays retro, rock, evergreen, R&B and dance music. The decoration is modernistic with columns wrapped in silver, the bar and bar plots are illuminated, the high chairs are with leather seating. The overall luminous effects are state of the art in red, green and yellow. Occasionally there is live music. There are also special alcohol promotions for each day of the week. Just ask. QOpen 22:00 - 06:00. Admission: 3 - 5Lv. The club offers:on Monday Students’ party, on Tuesday - Black party and on Wednesday – BG music party. Sunday no admission fee, Thursday ladies go in for free.
Retro club Gramophone
ul. Budapeshta 6, tel. 981 14 10/0878 146 353
retroclubgramophone@gmail.com, www.retroclubgramophone.com
One of the most popular Sofia’s downtown clubs, opened again with a new interior and a new program. The long bar is loaded with different brands of imported alcohol, including Johnnie Walker blue label. Lighting is with grade colours, fires burn down at the level of your legs and large white wings are spread high on the walls. From the DJ desk, already located next to the front door, you can hear different genres of music, depending on what day of the week you have chosen, for visiting the club. Overall, things look like this: hypnotized Monday, evergreen Tuesday, retro Wednesday & Thursday, light house Friday
& Saturday, retro Sunday.
Open 00:00 - 24:00.
Salsa plus
ul. Aksakov 31, tel. 980 40 80/0888 50 80 80 salsaplus@abv.bg
Somewhat appropriately hidden in an alley and down in a basement, this alternative dance club is a must for anyone who likes something different. Boasting a simple and bright decor, a small bar area, a clientele that varies in age and ethnicity and an open space for them to strut their stuff, at times you will actually feel like you are in South or
Central America. There is a joyous spirt here that is infectious, thanks to the welcoming customers, many of whom sport traditional dress, who are here to express themselves to the sexy latino rhythm. You’ll possibly find someone to teach you a few steps or you can just sit back and enjoy what often turns into a real show.
Open 17:30 - 04:00. Closed Sun.
