Kandahar /Кандахар/

Address: 4 Evlogi Georgiev Blvd, Sofia
Tel: 865 25 35
Open: every day, 11.00 to 23.00Think fabulous Bulgarian grill, not south-east Afghan city – and don’t be put off by the almost ramshackle wooden gate that separates it from the street. Behind and inside, Kandahar is another world.

It took me two years to get over the gate, and the slightly tottering letters that indicate, in the first place, that the restaurant exists and is not just another residence.

Once up the steps and inside, the intimateness of the place is a bit shocking: spartan decor and six tables, in two parlours separated only by a half wall. The room at the entry door has the small bar, with a few stools, but either these or the table adjacent are usually occupied by staff.

Except for when it’s busy, which is often. Unless you’ve made reservations, even for seemingly random times like a Monday evening, you’ll be lucky to get a table – or just be prepared to be embarrassed when there is no table for you and your hungry date.

Like the facilities, the menu (only in Bulgarian), too, is small – one page has a few appetisers and the grill listings, the next has salads, some stove-cooked food and three or four side dishes, then there are a couple pages of drinks and voil?! C’est tout. For the size of the restaurant, though, there is a decent selection of quality wines – by the varying quality but not bad pitcher, yes, and more notable ones like Katarzyna Estate, some aged Assenovgrad mavrouds and, wonderfully, a few bottles of gumza (a native Bulgarian varietal bottled only by two cellars).

Pitty the poor grill cook, for the massive grill is outside in a tarp-tent. Esteem the grill cook, for from that grill comes marvels like homemade nadenitsa (наденица, a type of wurst), drob v boulo (дроб в було, liver in caul), momitsi (момици, some type of gland; we’re not sure which), chicken, pork, and kyufte and kebabche (and when in season, fresh-roasted peppers).

One time we were adventurous, and ordered the drob v boulo and the momitsi – tender were the momitsi, with a mild, curiosity-piquing flavour. The liver, grilled a little more than I would like it, had the added pleasure of the webbing of caul and a small accompanying sauce boat containing a pungent, more-inducing mixture of olive oil, masses of chopped garlic, parsley and carrot. (Note that the cruets on the tables contain olive oil, too, not corn or whatever oil.)

Another time, the nadenitsa ordered combined a balance of spices and grill aroma, along with a tender juiciness and actual cubes of meat. The kyufte patties have similarly proved delicious.

Accompanying this are some salads – the traditional ones like shopska, Greek, lettuce (маруля) – all at prices between 2.50 leva and 4.50 leva. I love the homemade tourshiya (туршия, pickled mixed vegetables) and order bowls of it when in season.

We have also been pleasantly surprised by the soups – the lentil chorba was a good-sized bowl of hearty lentil stew, not the usual watery broth with a few token pulses sitting at the bottom, and the chicken soup could face off with grandma’s.

The crowd sometimes gets rolling, like on one Sunday evening some men seemed to have had a shot or two of rakiya too many and their wives were doing everything to shush them; it’s congenial, real, and accompanied by light pumpkin-coloured walls, softly playing music videos and a warm atmosphere.

Staff usually are a younger woman who can come across as lackadaisical, but is kind enough and does her job well (except once she forgot that we had ordered French-fried potatoes, so we had to order them again and wait again) and an older gentleman who has an air of proprietorship. He is proper and hospitable, and recommended the lyutenitsa (homemade), which, when we ordered it, was worth it: unlike the jarred variants on the tomato-pepper relish, this one was not cloying or pasty, and actually tasted of ripe tomatoes, peppers and spices. They both seem to have a basic command of English.

Prices are reasonable, with grill items ranging from two to eight leva, soups under four leva and not a huge mark-up on alcohol. Portions are on the larger size of normal for the soups and salads, and moderate for the meats. Like nature intended it.