It was the words of Plamen Petrov, head chef at La Famiglia, upon receiving the award for original cuisine that truly stand for what it takes to be recognised for a Restaurant of the Year Bacchus – Chivas Regal award: "You have to work a lot, and work a lot, and work a lot."

The 2009 ceremony, held on February 4, took advantage of the Rainbow Plaza congress centre in Sofia, turning its large hall into a light-and-sound-filled dining chamber, where guests, seated at opera-terraced tables, ate and drank their way through a six-course, nearly five-hour-long live cooking show and conferring of Bulgarian magazine Bacchus’ eighth annual awards for the tops in Bulgarian restaurants and chefs.

After sunset-coloured cocktails in the lobby, attendees entered the hall, to await the start of the show, with Marian Borislavov, chef at Rainbow Plaza; Petar Mihalchev, sushi maker; Ivelina Ivanova, executive chef of the magazine Menu; Velin Velikov, executive chef at Musala Palace; Dimo Dimov, executive chef at Cult Gourmet Catering; and Andre Tokev, executive chef at The House with the Clock, rising up through the centre of the stage, surrounded by a cloud of smoke, arms crossed and faces resolute.

While Borislavov got busy describing how he made the first course – arugola with onion and radish sprouts, cantaloupe caviare, with prosciutto and parmesan chips – 40 waiters, co-ordinated by Ivan Madjarov of Cult Gourmet Catering, poured Montana Sauvignon Blanc Reserve 2007 from Marlborough, New Zealand, and soon delivered such a salad to each guest, with precise, harmonised movements recalling an army corps.

Cantaloupe caviare is more straightforward that it sounds: melon juice or purée is mixed with a gellifying powder, the concoction is put in a syringe, and then drop-by-dropped into a calcium chloride solution, and spherification takes place. We can thank Ferrán Adriá for this, and many of the other concepts that were seen on the tables at the gala evening.

At the end of the salad course, Bogdana Zlateva, editor of the Bulgarian edition of the magazine Amica, had the honour of announcing the winner of the Restaurant Début award – it went to Nino, a Sofia restaurant owned by Kamen Spassov, founder and owner of City TV & Radio.

While three screens projected the deft fingers of Petar Mihalchev working on rice, seaweed and fish, guests commented on how the Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut from Champagne, France, complemented perfectly Mihalchev’s creation of eel and kampyo omelette, wakame salad and a layered sushi sandwich.

Julia Kostadinova, wine journalist at Bacchus, presented the award for Best Selection of Drinks, which went, as for last year, to Stara Sofia.
Ivelina Ivanova, executive chef of the magazine Menu, demonstrated the making of her terrine trio of salmon, shrimp and asparagus with pomegranate foam, which she had come up with specifically to show that wine could go well with asparagus – in this case, it was a Graffigna Centenario Malbec Reserve 2006 from Mendoza, Argentina.

As Lyubomir Boyadjiev, manager of the Restaurant of the Year 2008 project and a journalist at Bacchus, told The Sofia Echo, this interplay among foods goes to show that "the number of chefs who are demonstrating the courage to experiment is increasing". The chefs selected for the cooking demonstrations were "people for whom cooking is a true passion and we [at Bacchus] were certain that they would be perfect for the idea that we held for the Restaurant of the Year competition".

Following Ivanova’s slicing and sautéing, Albena Shkodrova, Editor-in-Chief of Bacchus, presented the Readers’ Choice award. Again this year, the honour went to Chef’s, nooked on the outskirts of Sofia in a place called Pasarel. Chef’s also won the award for best website. Upon accepting the prize, Viktor Angelov, one of the two head chefs at Chef’s, together with Ivailo Petkov, thanked his wife for having created the site.

Sliced duck breast marinated in honey and cinnamon on a slice of parsnip cake, with roasted garlic cream, anise sauce and black truffle espuma was the creation of Velin Velikov, head chef at Musala Palace. This was served with a luscious Concha y Toro Terrunyo Carménère 2005 from Chile.

After having been nominated for the award last year, La Famiglia’s chef de cuisine, Plamen Petrov, received the recognition for Original Cuisine. The Varna restaurant is notable for its exciting interpretations on Italian-inspired cooking.

The final savoury course came in the form of a venison fillet with a sage-leaf chip and white truffle foam, with foie gras, and cornet of roasted celeriac and chestnut mousse, the delicious creation of Dimo Dimov of Cult Gourmet Catering. This was served with Jacob’s Creek Shiraz Cabernet Johann 2001 from Australia.

Since winning the Restaurant of the Year 2007 title in 2008 for Classic Gourmet Club, chef de cuisine Dimov has gone on to form his own company – Cult Gourmet Catering – which played an "extremely important role in co-ordinating each of the six chefs, along with the evening’s waitservice" at this year’s event, Boyadjiev said.

In an announcement that seemed long-awaited and much deserved, Andre Tokev, head chef at The House with the Clock and founder and president of the Association of Professional Chefs, received the award for encouraging development in the restaurant sector in Bulgaria. On presenting the recognition, Emil Koralov, Bacchus special projects director, said that through Tokev’s work, restaurants have become more than just a place to spend money, instead being somewhere where a person can feel special and where the food meets expectations of something special, as well.

Classing him "among the most notable figures in Bulgaria’s restauration sector in the past 10 years", Boyadjiev later told The Sofia Echo that Tokev had been one of the first chefs in Bulgaria to offer original cuisine, something that he continued to do until present.

Lobster ice cream probably saw its first mass apparition in Bulgaria when it was served at the event, accompanied by variations on citrus fruits and pineapple, a preparation of Tokev himself. Chivas Regal 12 Years Old was the whisky chosen to accompany the dessert.

And then it was time for the Restaurant of the Year Bacchus – Chivas Regal 2008 to be named: and it was Musala Palace, where Velikov and head sommelier Lyubomir Stoyanov assure that the experience is nothing other than one of classic gourmet luxury. It first received the Restaurant of the Year award in 2006.