Shopska, banitsa and yogurt: Sofia on a plate

About Shopska, banitsa and yogurt: Sofia on a plate

By the ULTIMATE Sofia Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Bulgarian food is fresh, generous and full of flavour: crisp salads with white cheese, flaky banitsa for breakfast, cold yogurt soup in summer, grilled meats and slow-cooked stews, with the country’s famous yogurt in everything.

Shopska salad

Shopska salad, of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and onion under a snowfall of grated sirene, white brined cheese, is the national salad, usually eaten with rakia.

Banitsa

Banitsa is filo pastry layered with eggs and sirene, baked until golden, the classic Bulgarian breakfast with a glass of ayran or boza.

Bulgarian yogurt gave its name to a bacterium: Lactobacillus bulgaricus.

Yogurt

Bulgarians are proud of their yogurt, kiselo mlyako. In 1905 the Bulgarian scientist Stamen Grigorov identified the bacterium that makes it, later named Lactobacillus bulgaricus. In summer, try tarator, a cold soup of yogurt, cucumber, dill, garlic and walnuts.

Grills and stews

Kebapche and kyufte, grilled minced-meat sausages and patties, are everyday favourites; kavarma, a slow-cooked meat and vegetable stew served in a clay pot, and lyutenitsa, a pepper and tomato relish, are classics.

Our advice: have banitsa from a bakery for breakfast, a shopska salad and rakia at lunch, and a mehana dinner of kavarma and grills. Order tarator on a hot day.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Shopska, banitsa and yogurt: Sofia on a plate before you go.