Restaurants in Central Balkans
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Mehana Chiflika
[ourpick] Mehana Chiflika The enormous Chiflika is an excellent mehana with traditional furnishings, live music and a wide range of grilled meats. It’s a place for hearty eaters, and the rustic charm is only enhanced by the sight of some dishes being served up on what are essentially chipped-off tree stumps.
reviewed
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Dom na Architekta
This wood-and-stone traditional tavern has great Bulgarian specialities, served in a balmy back garden in summer, moving indoors in front of a crackling fire in winter.
reviewed
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Pri Fabrikadzhiyata
With a curious name that literally means ‘at the manufacturer’s place’, this somewhat posh restaurant in the courtyard of the Hotel National Palace serves an extensive range of good Bulgarian dishes and features somewhat bland live renditions of forgotten pop chestnuts on most nights. There’s seating indoors, outdoors and (when there’s enough of a crowd) in an atmospheric 18th-century house next door, which once belonged to a famous revival-period industrialist, Dobri Zheliakov. The restaurant’s prices are relatively steep, though the food is good, with the roast lamb being downright succulent.
reviewed
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Dyado Liben
Astonishingly big, this traditional restaurant housed in a mansion dating from 1852 is a wonderfully atmospheric – and inexpensive – place for a hearty evening meal. Management says it can seat 100 people, all in a warren of halls graced with ornate painted walls and heavy, worn wood floors. There’s even a circular room where tables orbit a huge, column-like traditional stove extending from floor to ceiling. Find it just across the bridge leading from the main square inside the facing courtyard.
reviewed
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Café Altanla Stoyan
For something really offbeat, check out this tiny, ramshackle café, based in the rough-hewn original home of Altanla Stojan Voyvoda (b 1767), an obscure early freedom fighter against the Turks. None of it has been beautified or restored, the left side of the house being now a rudimentary shop with vegetables thrown around, an old-fashioned scale and sometimes a cat sitting on said scale. On the right, there are a few small tables where colourful local characters drink coffee or down shots of rakia.
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Nazdrave Restaurant
This cosy place on the opposite bank of the river is good for an evening meal, and has a relaxing summertime terrace – better than sitting indoors when the loud and decidedly non-traditional Bulgarian pop blares from the TV. The Nazdrave is also a great breakfast nook, with crepes accompanied by local strawberry jam and, if you can handle the sourness, very thick, village-fresh ovcho kiselo mlyako (sheep’s-milk yoghurt).
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Restaurant Toma
This lively mehana outside the Hotel Toma has a typically large menu of traditional Bulgarian specialities, including parts of animals you might never have expected could (or should) be eaten – but never mind, the food and the atmosphere are great, with live Bulgarian (and sometimes Greek) music performed nightly, and diners weaving between tables in the throes of traditional Balkan dance. Hotel Toma guests enjoy a 10% discount.
reviewed
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Shtastlivetsa
[ourpick] Shtastlivetsa Hands down the most popular place in town for both locals and foreigners, the ‘Lucky Man’ (as the impossible-to-pronounce name means in Bulgarian) has a great menu of inventive meat dishes, baked-pot specials, nourishing pizzas and (at lunchtime) delicious soups. It’s good value, considering the high quality. The service is generally good, though sometimes comically formal.
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Starata Loza
The Old Vine features eccentric traditional décor (wood carvings on the interior, wine casks sticking out of the walls) and has a big menu of inventive Bulgarian fare, plus 27 kinds of rakia (fruit brandy). The specials, such as pork stuffed with onions, sausage, mushrooms and walnut (11 lv) are expensive, but worth it. It’s on the cobblestone street opposite the entrance to Daskalov House.
reviewed
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Ego Pizza & Grill
Located upstairs from Scream Dance Club, this spacious place has an outdoor balcony with excellent views. Massive salads, Bulgarian cuisine, Serbian mixed grills and more obscure Chinese and Mexican dishes are on offer. A second location, right beside the popular Pepy’s Bar has a more snug bistro feel and friendly, gorgeous staff.
reviewed
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Café Antik
This café-restaurant, located behind the folk museum and with relaxing views of the river, is a good bet for coffee on the terrace when it’s warm out, or a shot of the very strong Troyan brandy when it’s cold. It also does some inventive (though relatively expensive) meat dishes.
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Katmi
This local take-away institution, off a side entrance on the square, offers delicious palachinki (pancakes) – much better than the usual Balkan crepe – with a choice of 122 different combinations. A pancake with all-natural blueberry and strawberry jam is especially tasty.
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Pod Starata Krusha
Right next to the bus station, this cosy little tavern is a nice choice for a traditional evening meal or a quick breakfast (it even has Turkish coffee) before your bus departs. Renowned Targovista wine from the Veliko Târnovo area is served, accompanied by traditional Bulgarian music.
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Mehana 20 April
This friendly place, on the edge of the square of the same name and close to the Tourist Information Centre, offers a short menu of traditional Koprivshtitsa dishes, as well as deliciously done freshwater fish. Dining is enjoyed indoors or (much better) in an attractive back courtyard.
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Restaurant Vereya
Close to but not part of the eponymous hotel, the Vereya aims at gourmet status and offers a wide selection of specialities, ranging from pizzas to unusual meat dishes and some innovative vegetarian options as well. Seating is both indoors and outdoors on the lively square.
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Restaurant Moskva
This very busy and efficiently run place off the other side of the square is most popular at lunch, when you take a tray and get in line, choosing from a variety of Balkan specialities. It’s smartly outfitted and clean, and there’s also a bar.
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Mehana Popsheitanova Kushta
This wood-framed traditional restaurant has big outdoor benches and big portions, too. Try the chicken shishle ‘special’ (skewered chicken interspersed with cooked red peppers, onions, tomatoes and a little mushroom on the side).
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Banicharnitsa Violeta Asenova
Kazanlâk’s best breakfast nook is this tiny hole-in-the-wall place opposite the open market, serving a variety of flaky cheese (and other) pies from the banitsa and byurek family of Balkan pastry.
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Leventa
This gourmet eatery is not exactly central, though it is excellent. It boasts a winery, and produces an aromatic red wine characterising the vino of the Danube delta. Food is both inspired Bulgarian and international.
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Mehana Chevermeto
With its traditional décor and soothing setting along a leafy pond, this restaurant of the Hotel Ezeroto has plenty of ambience and great food, too – as expected, mostly of the traditional Bulgarian kind.
reviewed
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Voenen Klub
Ploshtad 20 Yuli has numerous restaurants and cafés; the best are on either side of the Sherev Hotel, with the Voenen Klub bar-restaurant on the opposite side of the square deserve a mention.
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Restaurant Maki
A large and popular restaurant just off the square, this place has a huge outdoor section for summer dining, though the interior is somewhat bland. It does good grills and salads, among other fare.
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Mehana Starite Borove
The best place for a summertime drink, the Starite Borove is hidden along a laneway near the main square, close to the shady park. The food is decent, but not as good as some of the other places.
reviewed
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Restaurant Dublin
Yes, it serves Guinness, but no, it’s not a pub; the Dublin is in fact one of the city’s better restaurants, with a big menu of inventive Bulgarian and international cuisine.
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Gostilintsa
Almost diagonally opposite the Starata Loza, this classy place is uninvitingly located behind a wooden door. The service is excellent, the meals are not too expensive and the menu is in English.
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