What to eat in Sofia
Shopska salad opens the meal, a kebapche is one bite rather than the whole plate, and the Ladies' Market shows what is actually in season.
- First on the table
- Shopska salad €7.61
- In summer
- Tarator
- Off the grill
- Kavarma €3.43, kebapche (80 g) €0.92
Bulgarian food in Sofia is much the same as in the countryside, just denser: shopska salad with grated cheese almost always arrives first, tarator cools things down when it is hot, and the grill — kavarma from the pan and kebapche off the coals — is the main course. This is what actually gets ordered, with the price per portion.
Shopska salad and tarator — how the meal starts
Shopska salad (€7.61) is tomato, cucumber, pepper and onion under a heavy layer of grated white cheese. In summer there is also tarator (€3.73), a cold soup of yoghurt, cucumber, garlic and walnuts — it rides alongside the grill as a way to cool down, not as a starter on its own.
Kavarma and kebapche
Kavarma (€3.43) is pork stewed slowly in a clay pot with onion and pepper — closer to a stew than to grilled meat. Kebapche (€0.92) is a single grilled roll of minced meat, about 80 grams — one piece is a bite, not a meal, so a few are ordered at once or alongside kavarma and a side.
The Ladies' Market
An open-air city market in the centre, free to walk through. This is where you see what has come in from the countryside around Sofia that week — vegetables, cheese, honey, dried fruit — before it turns up on a plate in a restaurant. Go before midday, while the stock is freshest.
Mornings and quick bites
- Street food — a kebapche from a kiosk or grill counter, about €0.92 a piece, quick and no sitting down.
- Set lunch — €9.5–14.5 for a two- or three-course workday lunch, common in the centre on weekdays.
- Restaurant, main course — €9–11, no drinks, for sitting down with a menu.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
What to order first in Sofia?
Shopska salad (€7.61) — almost every meal starts with it.
How big is a kebapche?
About 80 grams, a single roll of meat. It is a bite, not a meal — order a few, or pair it with kavarma.
When is the best time to visit the Ladies' Market?
Before midday, on a weekday — that's when the stock is freshest.
Ready for Sofia?
Where to next
The best time to visit Sofia
→Sofia has a continental climate with no sea to soften it — summer can push past 30°C, winter is cold and…
Plovdiv · 132 km
→A Roman theatre, the cobbles of the Old Town and the crooked lanes of Kapana, all on one hill and in the quarter below it.
How well does Sofia suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
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