Posting was a bit light last week, as your trusty founding editor was taking a little break from Hungarian food and drink in nearby Bulgaria. Because this site is dedicated to Magyar culinary goings-on, I won’t go in too deep about what I ate and drank in the soon-to-be newest member of the European Union. But it’s worth taking a quick look at some of the readily-comparable things that made me think about missing my flight back from Sofia to Ferihegy.
Unsurprisingly, what really amazed me was how cheap a nice meal or heaving basket of quality ingredients can be down in the big B, when contrasted to Hungary. The above two pics should be instructive. On top you have some luscious tomatoes and peppers, and below them a common banitza (also written as banitsa), the brick-sized savory pastry that is to Bulgaria what the lángos (fried dough) is to Hungary. Those tomatoes work out to roughly Ft 67 per kilo, and the peppers about twice that. (I won’t bother comparing that to the prices currently being charged in Hungary, because it’s too painful.) Meanwhile, the banitza cost the equivalent of Ft 40, and was not only more filing than the average lángos, but far healthier, being stuffed with natural cheese and spinach.
Next we have a shot of the central market in Sofia. In addition to lots of stalls selling local and imported specialties at reasonable prices (though not so much produce) it features several nicely designed and nearly-spotless dining areas. There’s even a bar where you can sit and have a cappuccino and watch the action.
Then there are the restaurants. The first above pic is of one of the myriad “salads” you will find on any menu, which stretch from the traditional “sopska” to complex concoctions involving various cheeses, vegetables and meats. Below is a nice little lunch we had in a small town in the mountains consisting of an excellent pork shashlik and an exquisite mint-flavored potato and cheese pancake. After eating out in various towns for a week, about the only things I noticed missing compared to Hungary were the gimmicks so many restaurateurs here seem to think are more important than good food and service. Thank god the Bulgars don’t like Hungarian food, or we’d really be in trouble.
