On one of the first warm afternoons in May we arrived for lunch in the garden of the Aegean Fish Restaurant. This – to offer a "signpost" – was previously home to Egur Egur, an Armenian establishment that used to have two restaurants in Sofia but now only has one – in Dobroudja Street.

Only two tables were outside on a mild Sunday afternoon, but the atmosphere in the garden was pleasant enough, with blossoming trees and a little rock garden. A couple of ravaged wastrel cats, no doubt alerted by the smell of fish, lurked near our tables. Gentle Greek music emanated from within, but the interior seemed slightly too "brownish" for my liking, so I was glad to be outside.

The menus arrived, one in Bulgarian and the other in English. We noticed that some of the prices differed on each menu (notably the tsipura fish) but, strangely enough, not in the usual way. Ironically, several of the dishes on the Bulgarian menu were more expensive. This must be an all-time first in Bulgaria! The waiter assured us that this was an oversight and that the prices on the English menu had not been updated. (On my next visit I noticed that the English menu had indeed been corrected so as to tally with the Bulgarian one.)

The menu itself, billed as authentic Mediterranean fish imported from Greece, seemed a little thin in actual choice of fish. (The food is almost exclusively fish, seafood and vegetable dishes, a fact worth bearing in mind if you bring guests or young children. For example, my daughter wanted soup but none was available.)

We decided to share our selections. Our first course was an avocado salad (9.80 leva for 300g) with lettuce, parsley, apple, walnuts and Roquefort blue cheese. The salad was tasty but they had rather scrimped on the avocado – as they always seem to do in Bulgaria – but at least it was ripe. A bonus was that it arrived accompanied by a generous
serving of toasted French bread served with butter and chubritsa.  

We then ordered some fried calamari (22.50 for 250g) although they seemed to be lighter than that.  There was nothing wrong with the quality but the portion definitely seemed small. For our main course we had tsipura fish (350g for 22.80 leva) – but marked at 18 leva on the English menu. The waiter brought it to us and filleted it before our eyes. It was nicely presented with a dressing of lemon and olive oil served in a small jug.

We had four orange juices (2.80 leva each) between the three of us, served for some reason in (very) large wine glasses. The glass was too cumbersome for our three-year-old daughter and so the waiter quickly agreed to pour the juice into a smaller tumbler for her.  

We turned our attention to dessert but this turned out to be complementary, a kind of creamy chocolate cake with fruits of various kinds – apples, grapes and bananas – and topped with a caramel sauce. A nice touch, of course, to have a free dessert, although this sometimes conveys the impression that a restaurant  has nothing else.

The total bill, including the drinks, was 62 leva. I later concluded that we had been charged the English rate – if you’re following this strange case of (unintentional) dual pricing – for the tsipura rather than the Bulgarian one. In other words, we paid the cheaper price.

On my second visit I again sat in the garden at lunchtime. I noticed that an extra table had been added outside but the space was perhaps still a little underused. I had a Mediterranean salad (350g for 8.80 leva) composed of olives, lettuce, croutons, red peppers, cheese and gherkins. I also had a diet coke (2.80 leva). This was served without ice and lemon, a commonly irritating occurrence in Bulgaria. On my second visit the waiter again offered the toasted French bread topped with chubritsa but this time no dessert - boo hoo!  

Service, just like on the previous occasion, was friendly, polite and unobtrusive but the waiter did not speak much English.

Info

Address:  18 Sheinovo Str, Sofia

Tel: 089/9798879

Open: 11am to midnight daily

Credit cards: yes