Regional guide to Bulgarian cuisine

Leisure and travel

Regional guide to Bulgarian cuisine

Bulgaria is a small country and its cuisine does not differ much from region to region. However, there are some regions in the country that manage to preserve their authentic culinary traditions and even Bulgarians have to travel 200 kilometers to try the local dish. Discover some of the best food and places to eat regional delicacies in Bulgaria.

Rhodopes

The most beloved and famous among the regional cuisines of Bulgaria is the food that comes from the Rhodope Mountains. The local population living in the highlands has a limited choice of food to grow and most of their diet consists of potatoes and grains. If you want to delve into the local cuisine while traveling through the Rhodopes, ask for patatnik, a slow-baked potato and Bulgarian feta cheese dish. If you are very hungry when you order, keep in mind that it usually takes more than 30-40 minutes to cook. If it is served to you right away, then, apparently, it was pre-prepared and not so fresh. Here, an affordable variety of local pancakes is marudnik, closer to American pancakes than French pancakes.

Banitsa is a typical Bulgarian dish of dough, eggs and cheese, but the Rhodopes have their own variety of rice-filled banitsa called klin. You can also try cornmeal cachamac - it will remind you of Italian polenta or Romanian mamalyga.

One of the best places to try Rhodope cuisine is Arkan Khan in Trigrad and Rodopchanka in Smolyan.

Razlog

Razlog is located just five kilometers from the famous ski resort of Bansko, but the two cities are completely different in many ways. Both cities have dialects incomprehensible to most Bulgarians. Razlog's local cuisine consists of heavy pastries such as shupla (similar to pancakes) and meat dishes such as kapama (a mixture of pork, chicken, beef, lard, cabbage and rice).

You can choose a restaurant and ask to taste local dishes or, for absolute authenticity, you can head to the village of Gorno Draglishte, which is just a few miles away, and stay at the Deshka Pension. The owner Deshka is known throughout the country for her authentic local dishes and excellent hospitality. She is also proud to be part of the Bulgarian Slow Food movement.

seaside zone

The Bulgarian Black Sea coast is the best place to try fresh fish, among the favorites of the locals are Atlantic bonito, shark, horse mackerel, etc. Fish is usually served baked or fried with fresh salads or cold boiled potatoes. The fish soup is also a must.

Torlacian cuisine

Torlak is an area consisting of 30 villages around the cities of Vidin and Montana, where people have a specific character, dialect and... cuisine. The local cuisine uses simple and cheap products, but they are tasty and satisfying. One of the most typical dishes found in the area is called bel muzh. It is prepared by putting fresh cottage cheese in a saucepan and stirring until it melts. Then, when the cottage cheese is well boiled, add flour.

Torlac cuisine is hard to find in a restaurant. One of the few places where you can try it is Khan Madona in the village of Falkovets, near the famous Belogradchik Rocks.

11-02-2023