If you are a tourist that doesn’t speak the lingo, dining out at a restaurant can be a bewildering experience. Aside from the fact that not all restaurants print their menus in Roman as well as Cyrillic characters, many dishes seem very similar in description until they appear in front of you. If you are lucky enough to get an English menu, you may well be faced with bizarre nonsensical phrases, depending of course on the quality of the translation. When we first came here we pretty much picked food at random until we got a better grip of what was what.


Eating dishes from around the world in Bulgaria

Like in every culture, Bulgarians have interpretations of cultural dishes from around the world. One of their best interpretations that I have experienced is Italian pizza, which I think is done pretty well. Pasta on the other hand is something that I have ordered twice and I will probably never order again as both times it was disgusting (thankfully I make pretty good pasta at home so I can keep my spaghetti-lust at bay): the pasta was cooked to death, and the sauce was just watery soured cream. Ugh!! I may have been burned by some bad restaurants though and I am sure that there are much much better pasta chefs out there somewhere.

Heading further east, Turkish style food is done very well here due to the heavy historical cultural influences. Kebab and schawarma meats are always a good bet and are a great highstreet snack, although the amount of meat in you kebab may vary from one outlet to another. Heading further east still, oriental restaurants (such a staple of the British high street) are extremely rare here; we have found one Chinese so far in Rousse but have yet to try it out so look out for a review in the future! A general note is that some cheap canteen joints will tend to substitute expensive ingredients for cheaper ones (one kebab I ate had a LOT of potato in it!), but this is something you will only find out by ordering. If in doubt, you can ask the waiter for a good Bulgarian dish, but be aware that tastes differ between nations – maybe watery overcooked pasta is how they like it here, I really don’t know as of yet!


Service

Aside from interpretations of dishes from other cultures, there are certain quirks of the experience that will preside whatever style of food you eat. Dishes may appear in front of you in random order – and if you are eating in a group, be prepared to stare hungrily at your companions as they tuck into their main courses when you haven’t even received your starter. You may on the other hand receive all of your dishes at once, whereupon you will be forced to wolf down your starter lest your main course gets cold which, inevitably, it will. Having said this though, I have only tried asking once when we first arrived, in ropey Bulgarian, that the dishes arrive at the same time for both of us (they didn’t) – but I should really try again.

Much like a Parisian haircut, dining out is a very casual and time-consuming experience in Bulgaria and may well go on for most of the evening. For this reason, don’t be alarmed if the waiting staff walk past you with glazed eyes, seemingly unaware of your throat-clearing - they will get to you eventually. Waiting staff are very friendly and welcoming here and will endeavour to help you decide, so don’t be afraid to ask for help as even if they themselves don’t speak English, chances are they will disappear and return in two minutes with someone that does.


Traditional eating

Naturally the best way to eat is as the locals do. I have eaten plenty of delicious Bulgarian food and now know which of the local restaurants to avoid and which to frequent, but for Bulgarian food all of my locals are at a pretty decent standard.

Dinner commonly begins with a salad and a rakiya (the national spirit); you can pretty much pick a salad at random and it will probably be very good! Always prepared with fresh ingredients, it is a refreshing way to start out; common ingredients are cucumber, tomato, salami, olives, egg, cheese (Bulgarian “white cheese” is very similar to feta, whereas “yellow cheese” is more similar to a very mild cheddar) and yoghurt.

Of course I can only speak of dishes in the northern part of the country – I am sure there must be a great number of local specialities. There are a variety of stews, often having traditional names that cannot really be translated, and often a description in Bulgarian is not given. The best place to get excellent stew is in old-style canteens, which pop up in the most unassuming places in order to cater for workers in that area and originate in the Communist era. Sometimes they will not even have a sign above the door but you might be lucky in finding one so keep your eyes peeled! Dishes served in clay pots – roasted meats with onions and peppers topped with cheese – are very common here and delicious (although you may want to hold the cheese as it’s already pretty heavy-going). Grilled meats and kebab style meats are also a great choice and very delicious.

Local food will always have an element of surprise. Seasonal ingredients are used so you might not be able to get the best interpretation of certain dishes at different times of the year. In addition, the same dish may be different on different nights, depending on what ingredients the chef has in stock. It's an interesting experience to say the least and you may not be satisfied first time on account of the array of different dishes and cooking styles on offer, but you never know - you might be in for a pleasant surprise.