Archives for “Snacks” tag

Yes, this is fast food. Every city has its own habits in this area and although soups have recently come en vogue here (check out the Soup Me article), the doener kebab is an eternal classic.

I have also noticed that doener tends to be different in each one of its capitals. In Berlin it comes with its fantastic sauces in the colors of the rainbow – an indispensable 03:00 takeaway, though this kind of rich yellow or purple looks quite suspicious on food. In Istanbul, on the contrary, doeners tend to be rather dry and simple, coming in ordinary bread unless you ask for them “wrapped”.

For a complete doener kebab map of Europe, I strongly recommend the Bulgarian version – rather imaginative, with salads, pickles, French fries, and sometimes even rice and beans! – in an Arabic wrap with more down-to-earth garlic and pepper sauces. The best place to get this is Alaeddin doener – the stuffiest, juiciest sandwiches in town for the best price, never skimpy on the ingredients.

Lying in the proper doener area of the Ladies’ market (check out the article), they are bit outside of the center, but if you are already there or just arrived at the train station, it’s perfect. Their fat falafel sandwich for 2.00 is definitely the best fast food deal in Sofia, and it’s open 24 hours.

For the healthy eaters they have even launched the “doener light” – whatever that may entail. There’s also another stand at the Slivnitsa/Rakovski crossing.

“Pchela” means bee and may be the confectionery is named that way because of the impeccable bee love for sweet.

The place offers wide variety of cakes to try, always fresh and tasty. It is also known for having the best boza in the city. This confectioner’s chain allows you to enjoy the sweetness of your day without a sign of quality drop all around the city.

I often go there if I need a cake to take, because they keep a wealth of cakes, as well, or only to enjoy a piece of one with friends. I would say that the prices are far from reasonable, because they are unreasonably cheap.

In the place you could also find chocolate figures, which I consider a perfect present – everybody loves chocolate, right?

There are a lot of Turkish sweets – cloyingly sweet and soaked with syrup. They would offer you also ice cream and I love to take one in a cornet or just choose one ball and put it next to the piece of cake so I could mix them.

This is a favourite place for meeting friends and non-official meetings, or just to satisfy my “sweet thirst”.

My favourite snack, ever since I was a child, is the traditional Bulgarian banitsa. This delicious and nutritious pastry product has always been part of the menu for all the holidays in our calendar. But it is also part of everyday life.

The best way to try the Bulgarian banitsa is somebody to prepare it for you at home. But that’s not always possible, right? Although it is easily made, sometimes I can’t find the time to do it. And a fast way to get some is to visit one of the many banista shops. They are all around the city, but recently I found a really good one.

Denis banitsa house makes all the pastries products right in the place – so they’re always new and warm. The way they do it is almost as home made, like my mother would have done it. You can take it to go or take a table and enjoy it there. Besides the original banitsa with cheese, the place offers you banitsa with spinach and an innovation – banitsa with ham and mushrooms.

There is even more – pastries with sausage (Krenvirshka), Bulgarian cheese (Sirenka), cheese (Kashkavalka).There are also sweet treats: jam pastry (Kifla s marmalad) and a lot of the Turkish sweets that became part of our traditional cuisine also: tolumbichka, baklava, revane and many more. If you’d like, you could combine that with a traditional drink: boza or airyan.

I have a very very sweet tooth. So when a place is called “100 grams of sweets” it cannot stay unnoticed by me for too long. If you also like all kinds of delicious desserts, you should visit as well. Don’t worry, you can buy more than 100 grams.

Actually, the name of the place does not do it justice because it offers also quite a lot of delicious salty products like crackers with cumin and other baked goods.

The place is part of a chain (you can check the other locations at their website) but as far as I know this is the one with the biggest variety of products. They serve all kinds of pies, tarts, cakes and even Italian macarons (not to be confused with macaroni). Once we even bought a birthday cake there.

Moreover, this is one of the locations where you can also try some of these delicacies on the spot. During the winter you can sit in the cosy lounge. When it’s warmer there are tables outside on the sidewalk below the shadow of a tree.

P.S. Do not miss two types of cookies – apple & lemon.

Summer is over but this place still offers a pitcher of tasty Sangria for just 10 BGN. Moreover, they promise new suprises for the autumn/winter season. While we are still on the topic of drinks, they also have a regular cocktails happy hour (-30%) between 20:00 – 21:00.

However, their strongest side is probably the food. Fast food cannot be healthy? Well, not anymore. The short but interesting menu of Lime with 3-5 types of salads and sandwiches just proves my point. The good thing if you really want to eat fast is that you get a 15% discount for all take-away orders.

And while Lime is preferred by working people as a place for quick bite or after-work drink, I like to go there on the weekends and take my time. This is when you can enjoy one of their nice desserts (do not miss the lime&yogurt pie or the Amaretto cheesecake). Add а strong Cardamom-flavoured coffee and enjoy.

If I really want to take my time, then a book is always a good companion if I am alone. Or I can just bring my laptop and use the free Wi-Fi to work or just act busy. In case I forget any of those, the place has a huge shelf of books and magazines to choose from. It’s actually part of its great interior design.