Hadjidraganovite Kushti
Address: 75 Kozloduy Str
Tel: 931 31 48
[www.kashtite.com]
Opening hours: every day 12.00-2.00
credit cards: yes
After living in a city for 13 years, there’s a certain routine that sets in. You have your favourite stores, your favourite restaurants, your favourite taxi company, your favourite bus line, and you get out of the habit of finding new things. Sofia can still surprise you, though – take Hadjidraganovite Kushti (The Hadji Draganov Houses) for example: out on Kozlodui street, nearly in the shadow of the Princess Hotel, where, frankly, I would never have thought to look for a good restaurant in a hundred years.
But, there it is: a collection of wooden houses around a small central yard. From the street, it is almost unremarkable except for the massive wooden doors that are swung open in front of the gate, but as soon as you step through the gate it becomes clear that this place is something special. The sides of all the houses are beautifully painted in old Bulgarian style. In a corner of the small yard, some outdoor seating is available under a grape arbor from which dried gourds and flower pots also hang down.
More seating is available inside the various houses – the one that we were in had three large rooms (with one reserved for a private party). Both of the other rooms slowly and surely filled up over the course of the evening, so despite the surprisingly large capacity, reservations are recommended for anyone intending to arrive after seven.
Inside, the decor continues in the same vein as outside – antiques are everywhere, the majority of them agricultural artefacts. The lights are actually old oil lamps – the kind with the mirror at the back to increase their illumination – attached to the walls and outfitted with lightbulbs. There was also a “chandelier” consisting of multiple such lamps attached to a wagon wheel and hung from one of the ceiling beams. Dried corn, gourds and tobacco also hang from the ceiling, along with cowbells, various old-timey pots and pans and even a pair of old boots strapped on either side of a saddle. The walls are covered with sheaves of wheat, antique tapestries, Bulgarian folk costumes and various other charming knick-knacks and miscellany. The overall effect is to leave one with a keen sense of anticipation – if this place puts half as much work into their food as their decor, I thought to myself, I’m in for a real treat.
The menus came, and inside – in English and not in Bulgarian, oddly – they had an entire page dedicated to the story of the restaurant. In short, Hadji Draganov was a merchant in days of yore who travelled around Bulgaria and, impressed by the various schools of architecture and hospitality that he found in his journeys, decided to call master builders from Koprivshtitsa, Zheravna, Melnik and Bansko to build four houses, wherein he would represent the best of Bulgarian architecture, decor and hospitality. We, it seems, were in the Zheravna house – possibly the largest, but there were in fact three others in addition to the outdoor seating. A fascinating story – and to think that this place has been here all these years.
I had, it seems, been missing out. The food completely lives up to the expectation created by the atmosphere. The menu is quite extensive and so far everything I have tried has been good. On this particular occasion, I ordered the Razyadka (2.90 leva), an appetiser consisting of a garlic-and-walnut paste for eating on four bread wedges, surrounded by tomatoes and various spices. It was excellent – and strong. Highly recommended for anyone who loves garlic – or has a cold – and is not on a date. For a salad, I had the Starosofiska Salata (5.90 leva) (the English names in the menu are usually just a transliteration of the Bulgarian name – in this case “old Sofia salad” – but followed by an explanation of the dish in English): cooked peppers with cheese, various seasonings and a generous helping of shredded walnuts. For a main course, I had the djolan po mehandjiski (12 leva) – a pork knuckle with an excellent sauce. It comes without a side dish, but I decided that with a salad and another appetiser, I had better save room for dessert.
The others around the table sampled a variety of dishes, as well: a salata tikvichki (2.50 leva), consisting of fried courgette in a white sauce (I don’t actually like courgettes, but the others pronounced their satisfaction); the Klopanitsa, a pork fillet with red pepper and various other seasonings; chushki v domaten sos (3.90 leva, peppers in tomato sauce); and sharan na keremida (9.60 leva), a dish of carp on a tile with various herbs and spices. A bottle of wine (an Oriachovitsa Cabernet, 25 leva) and water provided drinks and for dessert we passed around a creme brulee (three leva) that was simply heavenly, as well as baklava (three leva) and a dish called banitsa s lokoum (2.20 leva), which is actually a sort of baklava with pieces of Turkish delight inside it. Heavenly, though my rather sated appetite was by that point hardly able to do it justice.
All in all, I have to call this a simply delightful dining experience: excellent food in ample portions, and wonderful atmosphere. The only complaints would be lack of parking, price (112 leva for four people, though that included a 25 leva bottle of wine) and the tendency of the background Bulgarian folk music to be a little loud.
