There are days when you just can’t deal with yet another meal that has a paragraph-long description on the menu and sounds oh-so-French or exotic. You crave a wholesome delicious home-cooked lunch in a clean, cosy and comfortable place where you can take your time and forget about your mobile phone while someone serves you with a casual politeness, not stiffness. On such a day, go to Noble House.
Located in an old house on the tree-lined cobble-stoned Shipka Street, Noble House is a newcomer to the neighbourhood. It opened in late December but for a long time there was no sign outside, so only those in the know made their way into the courtyard and around the house to the restaurant’s entrance. Still, word spread quickly among those working nearby, and the restaurant filled up at lunchtime.
Though obviously everyone’s grandmother cooks differently, somehow almost everyone feels that the weekly lunch menu matches their idea of home-cooked food. Two different dishes (one of them vegetarian) are served daily, none costing more than 3.80 leva. These are traditional Bulgarian favourites, such as stuffed peppers or cabbage leaves, chicken baked with rice, zucchini with rice, beans with sausage, potato stew, pork with sauerkraut, moussaka, kettle and spinach soup, meatball soup, chicken soup. One item in that genre that is on the standard menu and no carnivore should miss is the buffalo meatballs with real home-made mashed potatoes (6.50 leva).
But Noble House will not disappoint the more adventurous guest looking for that off-beat something. Those willing to experiment can try the chicken fillet with Brie cheese and grapes (9.80 leva) or Camembert cheese with blackberry jam (6.50 leva).
Just as the kitchen does not strive to offer the world’s cuisine, the wine list features mostly fine Bulgarian wines to complement your meal. And, though I have not yet seen this happen, you can arrange for a live serenade with your meal. So, dear urbanite, when you need respite from the fast pace and slight chill of city living, find it at 46 Shipka St.
Noble House
46 Shipka St, Sofia
For reservations: +359 2 944 11 91
Working hours:
Mon–Sat 11:30am to midnight
