Bulgarian food often has lots of grilled meat. Sometimes more than one meat will be served as a main course and many restaurants specialise in kebabs.  A large range of salads are available as starters or main courses based on tomatoes and cucumbers.  Salads are topped with olives, peppers and cheeses.

If you head down to the old town and the area around the monument there are many excellent eating places. Expect to pay around 20 Lev (£8) for a starter, main course and large beer.

Expect to pay around 2-3 Levs (80p to £1) for a half lite of beer. Many places charge the same for a small beer as large. In the shops a bottle of beer is about a 1 Lev (40p)

Bariakova Tavern. This is one of our favorite restaurants. They close when the last guest leaves and the food is amazing. Often they have live music. In the summer there is a multi-level courtyard where food is servers.  The house special is chicken in a pankake with pork steaks - recomended if you are very hungry. Expect to pay about 20 - 25 Lev per person for two courses with drinks. When we were too full to order a sweet they insisted that we have a free cake. You will get a very warm welcome here.