Address:  Varna, 2 Vladislav Varnenchik Blvd
Tel: 052/ 60 53 28
Working hours: 8am-midnight

Why did she choose Rafaela? After a day of trekking around Varna, bus travel, time spent in churches, a cemetery, a museum, parks; with babies in prams staring at her; adults, taxis honking, neutered and tagged street dogs (!), children chasing balls, reading The Master and Margarita, views of the waves breaking on the opposite shore, and the random seagull (the coastal version of bird-come-rat with wings) pecking at a sandwich crust, she felt like pizza. And, despite a reticent feeling about the letter “r”, she liked the name. The view of the Dormition of the Theotokos Cathedral across the boulevard didn’t hurt, either.

There’s a nice covered patio with seating for about 40 out front, but it was dark and the air was cool and there was a breeze and she went inside. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but said to herself that if it was a smoky den, then she would give herself the permission to leave. Obviously, it wasn’t and she didn’t, at least, not for another almost two hours.

Two hours at a pizza restaurant, by herself? Hey, she was reading the book (un roman fantastique is the best way to describe it) and relaxed.

Finding herself a non-smoking table in the actually rather distinct non-smoking section, she sat down, and immediately noticed that there was an old-style outdoors-style clock on a post in the restaurant, and it kept correct time. The interior also appeared to have been recently redone, with all the padded chairs and benches apolhstered in a matching, clean, burgundy fabric, which matched the glaze on the wooden tables.

At first, the music (Radio Edno, like everywhere) was a bit loud, but she decided to not say anything, because she knows that she tends to have sensitive ears. And she didn’t think that Woland or Margarita would mind additional noise at their ball.

The waitress quickly brought the menu, which included a number of Bulgarian meat dishes and pastas, though Rafaela advertises itself as a pizzaria. Prices were more than reasonable, with a small (25cm) pizza fungi at 2.60 leva. For accompaniment, she ordered a green salad with egg (2.60 leva) and a side of tomato sauce (70 stotinki). Young waitress was kind enough to bring her a glass of water, no plastic bottle necessary.

In between reading, she looked at the people. Most seemed to be Bulgarians, younger locals who all knew each other, which confused her a bit, as all around the cathedral were foreigners. Maybe these latter go elsewhere for dinner. In any case, the menue was trilingual Bulgarian-German-English.

The salad came: a good surprise, as it was – can one say for something of only simply and typically arranged sliced green leaf and romaine lettuces, chopped spring onion, quartered hard-boiled egg, five black olives (pitted) and cucumber rose? – beautiful. The egg was perfectly boiled, with no grey around the creamy yolk.

Right soon, the pizza arrived. Thin crust pizza now has competition, as this crust was so thin that it would have been in some places nearly transluscent, had it not been covred in sauce and fresh mushrooms and spices and much kashkaval. And it, too, was heavenly (though in terms of visual appeal it lacked panache. But was a three-leva pizza.).

Why, exactly, she found hard to describe, but this comes close: to think what things come out of the random kitchen! The food there just tasted fabulous.

Then there was the side of tomato sauce, which arrived in a little individual-sized milk pitcher, with Silistra demitasse spoon. (For those who care about the Silistra-Veliko Turnovo spoon competition...)

It was katsup.

“Excuse me,” she said.

The waitress turned around: “Are you talking to me?”

“Yes, excuse me. I ordred tomato sauce, not katsup. Tomato sauce like on the pizza.”

Eyes rolled, huffed: “This is a tomato sauce. It’s what we use on the pizza”.

“Yes, but I don’t want katsup.”

The waitress removed the offending vessel, and came back a few minutes later with katsup, doctored up with Italian spices. After that, though, there were no mishaps. The waitress just seemed a little stiff over all.

But the food! In an atmosphere that was calm and visually pleasant, a few hours passed, eating, reading, people watching. She’ll surely go back again.