There’s a wide range of interesting places to drink and eat in Plovdiv to suit a range of budgets. The prices compare very favourably to what I am used to in England. The Kapana district is stuffed full of bars, restaurants and cafes. It is quite sedate by day but the area really comes into its own at night. There are also plenty of choices dotted in and around the city centre.
Eating
We had the most amazing meal at Smokini. The service was attentive and friendly, the food [and the wine] was superb and the price was excellent. Highly recommended.
Megdana is next to the bus and railway stations to the south, so it’s away from the city centre, it took us about half an hour to walk there from Hotel Ego. I emailed in advance to book but got no reply so when we arrived at the bus station from Plovdiv I popped in and booked a table. I am glad that I did. They have live music and a dance show at 9pm on most evenings and you are seated on large benches and tables so you may be rubbing shoulders with others. It sounds toursity but it is not. When we visited it was full of locals who just loved to eat, drink and dance. We loved it here, the food was very good too.
In the heart of Kapana. Aylyakria has an interesting menu [including horse burger when we visited]. The sign for the restaurant in Bulgarian is incomprehensible to us English peepses!
Perfectly positioned at the highest point in The Old Town, this is a great place for a bite and a drinky. It’s not fine dining but we enjoyed stopping off here for lunch and a rest. I ordered sausages and it was a bit of a challenge to eat it all. [Yes, of course I did!].
You can’t go wrong with Happy, the popular restaurant chain. Cheap and cheerful and often busy, but worth the queues. There are three in Plovdiv, we went to the one in the town centre. Even the decor in the toilet makes it good fun going for a wee!
On the other side of the road to Happy is Gusto. We chose here as a quieter alternative to Happy. The pizza and service was excellent.
The reviews on the internet were not great but we had a pleasant alfresco lunch here on our first day in Plovdiv. It’s in the small park opposite Hotel Ego which was very handy for us as that was where we were staying. The name means 19th century.
Street food
There are a few Alex Foods in Plovdiv selling a range of gyros, chips and other fast food. It’s cheap, open all hours and ideal if you are short of time. We had to order via a touch screen which completely flummoxed us but someone came to our aid. We went to the one not far from Hotel Ego next to the indoor Farmers Market.
Although this market is known as Thursday Market it seems to be open every day. It’s a modest affair but it has a good range of local fresh food, flowers and other produce.
Drinking
There are plenty of choices in Kapana and in the city centre for places to have a drinky before or after dinner. We enjoyed Morrigan’s Irish Bar which didn’t look much on the outside but is small, cosy and friendly and showed live sports. The Rock Bar Download has huge telly’s for live sports but you have to put up with the loud music which is OK if you want to listen to loud music. [We had to go there to watch footy when Morrigan’s had a technical issue]. We had a pleasant snack and drinky at Zagreb Cocktail Bar in Kapana [see photo at the top of this page] which also has some quirky rooms available for rent.
If you are in need of a drink in the old town Rahat Tepe [see above] is always a good option and so is the Satori Magic Cafe which is just down the road from the Hebros Hotel.
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