Varna Restaurants

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This was the first place I got in when I visited Varna. And it became my favorite, now I go there every time I visit the city. The atmosphere is very cosy, it is no more than 10 minutes walking from the center and at the same time very quiet. It is in the yard of the place where people get married, so especially on weekends you can see beautiful weddings. And the food has always been very good.

What impressed me the most about this place is the enormous collection of wines - I haven't seen any like this at other place in Bulgaria. All the walls are covered with hundreds types of wine. I love the way I go with my boyfriend, watch all of them, choose one and directly take it! It feels good :-)

Ohh, I also love in winter the big Chrismas tree they have! It becomes really romantic :-)

Favorite Dish: Oh, I love the chicken julien with cream sauce and mushrooms! It goes great with some french fries that I love to take with the sauce. Not very sophisticated, but sooo tasty :-))

And also I liked one salad with tomatoes, goat cheese, olive oil and some green spices. At the same time Bulgarian taste but with something more elaborated in it :-)

I have found an article about this restaurant and since it is situated only 5 minutes walk from the city centre I visited it with some friends. It's a relatively small restaurant (very small inside but with a bigger summer garden), opened in the beginning of 2010 and built on the ground floor in a block of flats situated on a small strret. The parking is an issue though and you better take a taxi. The cook is a Thai lady (I have personally seen her), the food is cheap (we paid around 27 EUR for food and drinks of 3 people) and good (nothing exceptional though) but lacking variety - only 4-5 meals from each category. In general I remained with the idea that they are trying to make Thai dishes with local incredients. I ordered Singha beer, but they have run out of it. The place is worth a visit since it's pretty descent and the only Thai restaurant in Varna (or the only one I know), but you better make a reservation during the high season, because it doesn't have a lot of seats.

Favorite Dish: Pla Shu Shi - fried white fish with red curry and coconut sauce:)

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That is a really small family restaurant. If my cousin hasn’t brought me there I’d never know about it. They have 5-6 tables outside in a small beautiful garden. A mother and son are running round the tables and the grandmother is working in the kitchen. They have so many kinds of fishes that it’s hard to choose one. Everything was so delicious. The only thing is that it’s far from the city center but if you are with somebody local it won’t be hard to find it.

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Although the small chain of Godzila restaurants style themselves as "Pizzerias" they do in fact offer much, much, more. What they've done is slotted a pizza section into what is otherwise recognisable as very Bulgarian menu style (and of course pizza has become one of the national dishes) and added a little zing to everything.

The menu has a good range of soups and salads, with a few trendy updates as well as old-favourites. There's barbeques and grills, pot-dishes, the pizzas of course, plus a set of pastas. Home-made breads are the pizza-style flatbreads and there's a good range of side dishes and sauces too. Prices are cheap and cheerful and the food is all home-made using good quality fresh ingredients.

Decor-wise the dining rooms are casually arty, complimenting their various buildings' original interiors with glossy posters, formica tables, banquette seating and bright stylish lighting. Service is youthful and enthusiastically-friendly (English usually spoken and there is an English menu).

Favorite Dish: On a winter lunchtime I was after a warming light lunch and the "Sausage in Hotch-Potch" (Nadenitsa V Gyuveche on the Bulgarian menu) sounded exactly what I was after. Yep this was delish - chunky sausage baked with tomatoes, onion, garlic, white and yellow cheeses and topped with beaten egg. Accompanied by a plain freshly-baked pita bread and a beer the bill was about 8 leva.

Tasty food, value-for-money and great service in buzzy surroundings - well worth a visit or two.

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The aptly-named "Architect's House" is a superb example of the Bulgarian Black Sea National Revival style with its solidly-timbered upper storeys overhanging the stone-built ground floor.

Inside too the building showcases the period's craft woodworking with dark-panelled wainscotting and ornately-carved detail.

The restaurant is elegantly laid up with formal place settings, cleverly folded starched napkins and tempting displays of the house's range of fine wines. The menu is Mehana-style, though the prices veer towards that of a more formal restaurant, with most of the commonplace Bulgarian classics represented.

Unfortunately on my only visit, so far, it was mid-January and the city was under about five inches of snow. I did get a cheery "Dobar Vecher" welcome from all four members of staff as I entered to find the place otherwise deserted. (I should note though that the following evening when I went to my regular haunt, Orient, just down the road that was reasonably busy despite the snow).

The waitress, who spoke reasonable English, explained, as she handed me the menu, that because of the snow they weren't able to offer the whole menu. She recommended the house special "Knuckle of Pork" as that had been freshly-cooked and so I went along with that.

Favorite Dish: Being a chilly evening I decided to start with the "Sirene po Shopski" which is sort of the baked version of "Shopska Salad". This was good, a warming bowl of tangy white cheese and luscious tomatoes, and accompanied by a fruity Burgaska Muskatova rakiya.

I was less impressed with the pork though. I think there was a bit of poetic licence used in the term "freshly-cooked" as the hunk of meat that I got was dry and flavourless and the lack of any sensible accompaniement, such as a bit of mash potato, did nothing to help. Ach well it was edible - but it certainly needed a beer to help it go down.

Finishing with a coffee brought the bill to over 30 leva, which, even by city standards, was on the expensive side for a simple dinner. I suppose that explains why the place was deserted whilst Orient was doing OK.

Having said that this was a friendly place and even though deserted the staff seemed to be having a little party amongst themselves which at least gave it a bit of atmosphere.

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Bansko may not be anywhere near the sea but Varna's "Zaliva" restaurant certainly is. The characterful wooden shack, surrounded by faux-Roman walls, sits literally on the sands of South Beach and just to complete the nautical theming has a mock-up galleon as part of its inner deck. The mock galleon and Roman walls might sound a bit naff but otherwise the decor is modern with a touch of sophistication (although the main restaurant seating does a look a bit uncormfortable).

As to be expected the menu offers all sorts of seafood goodies and our pleasant and attentive waitress ran through the fresh specials for us. This a part of the locally-based BM group, with about five outlets in and around the city and whilst the technicolour offerings might suggest otherwise everything is in fact freshly-sourced and cooked on the premises.

Favorite Dish: I was intrigued by the "Mussels in the Bansko Style", especially with a forthcoming visit to the town, whilst Marina had chosen the restaurant specifically for its garlic prawn appetizer. Both these turned out to be excellent and the mussels especially flavoursome, cooked with a subtly-spiced risotto rice and a good fishy vineous stock.

A starter of plump juicy beef tomatoes with mozarella cheese went well with the fruity rakias and our other main course of a "Trio of Grilled Fish Fillets" had some good meaty white fish and well as a bit of overcooked, too-thinly sliced, salmon.

The overcooked salmon was the only fault and the whole shebang, including a rich creme brulee and a couple of beers, came to a perfectly-reasonable 45 Leva.

Definitely worth a visit if seafood is your thing.

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Our lunch bill here came to exactly 10 leva which, at the present exchange rate, works out less than £5 for two main courses, bread, fried potatoes, salad and beer. Back home I couldn't have bought the ingredients to cook it myself for that!

The BMS Bugarian Kitchens are a small group of canteen-style restaurants, similar to Trops House, where the food is prepared trays at a time and set out in heated and chilled display cabinets. The one we ate at was opposite the railway station and here service was cheery and helpful; there was a good choice of dishes, including vegetarian options, and although the ambience was that of a factory canteen it was like a happy factory's.

My only minor complaint was that the food was lukewarm but I put that down to the fact that it was a slow day. Rather than keeping everything piping hot, which would have dried it out, the staff had decided to just keep it warm - it's always a compromise in that situation and so it wasn't a major problem.

Favorite Dish: For mains Marina opted for the Bean Stew whilst I had Stuffed Cabbage - both of which were tasty and fillling. The spinach salad was zingingly fresh, the chunky fries interestingly seasoned with a touch of turmeric and herbs, the bread suitably wholesome and the beer nicely chilled. Best "fiver" I spent that day!

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Odayata is situated on a busy main road heading east out of the city centre. The immediate area is mostly apartment blocks and hence the clientele is very much local. Decor-wise all the Mehana stereotypes are in place with plenty of natural wood and stone, the usual antique-style knicks-knacks and woven red tablecloths. Background music is traditional Bulgarian rather than the kitschy tourist stuff. Service is professional, swift and friendly (even though our waiter shook his head everytime we asked for something) and the menu covers a comprehensive selection of Bulgarian specialities.

This is a big restaurant, about 120 seats indoors and the same again on its terrrace, which lends itself equally to group dining and more intimate repasts. The tables are set well apart and the larger groups add to the overall ambience rather than taking it over.

Favorite Dish: With my Bulgarian friend, Marina, to guide me through the menu I could opt for a few adventurous dishes - not that I wouldn't anyway but at least with my personal translator I knew what I was going to get!

For starters we opted to share Mletna Salata and Meze za Apostoli along with the homemade Porlenka flat bread. The Mletna salad was balls of sieved yoghurt with cucumber, hazelnuts and dill, the concentrated yoghurt developing a savoury, almost cheese-like, flavour.

The Apostole's meze was a hot starter of tripe and mushrooms cooked in a very garlicky butter and finished under the grill with yellow cheese. The tripe dish was definitely one for tripe lovers, the meat cooked to almost exactly the same texture as the mushrooms, allowing just enough bite to get the flavour before being despatched, oyster-style, down the gullet.

For mains we both opted for pork dishes - in my case the Svinska Vratna Porzhola (Collar of Pork Steak). Marina informed me that this is the most popular choice with Bulgarian men and when the slab of succulently-grilled flesh arrived I could understand why. She herself opted for a Guyvech (pot-dish) of pork with tomatoes and other bits which, whilst tasty, she thought was a little over-seasoned, but not badly so.

We were now pretty stuffed but the temptation of the chococlate biscuit cake proved too strong and so that, along with excellent coffee, completed the repast.

Washed down with an excellently fruity (with hints of licorice, horse-sweat etc) Mavrud this certainly was going the whole hog and the 50 leva bill (including tip) more than reasonable.