What to eat in Plovdiv

Plovdiv eats what the rest of Bulgaria eats; it just has a quarter where it's done best. The day starts with banitsa from a bakery, lunch is a set menu at €4.50–6.94, and the evening ends in Kapana with a shopska salad and a kavarma that arrives at the table still bubbling in its clay pot.

Banitsa is pastry made of thin sheets, layered with beaten egg and white cheese and baked until the edges brown. In Plovdiv it's eaten in the morning, from a bakery, with coffee or ayran, and hardly anyone orders it at night. Kapana's bakeries have it fresh from early on, which makes it the simplest breakfast before the climb up the hill.

Where to stayWhich quarter to stay in to be closest to the bakeries and dinners:Where to stay in Plovdiv →

At noon restaurants offer a set menu, usually soup and a main course. It's the cheapest hot meal in town and a good reason to have lunch below the hill, on the main street or at the edge of Kapana, before the afternoon break.

Tomato, cucumber, pepper and onion, with a thick layer of grated white cheese on top. Shopska opens almost every dinner in Bulgaria, and Plovdiv is no different. Order it with rakia or a beer and let the main course wait.

Kavarma is meat, usually pork or chicken, stewed with onion and pepper in a small clay pot and brought to the table still bubbling. Every tavern makes it a little differently, with mushrooms, with an egg or with hot pepper, so the price and taste depend on the place. In Kapana the menu is usually posted at the door, so you see it before you sit down.

BudgetWhat else goes into a day's spend:What Plovdiv costs →