Sun, Jul 05 2009

Latest venue reviews

Looking for the perfect local

Everyone needs to have a local. Somewhere to escape the daily grind, meet up with friends, talk, debate, drink. My local in Sofia happened more by accident than design. Having lived, until last week, in a small village on the outskirts of the capital, for convenience's sake I ended up adopting a place closer to work (and also because the local in my village was a shack-cum-cafe by the bus stop - OK for a coffee or a beer while

VENUE REVIEW: flocafe

I suppose the brand name itself suggests a more casual and laid-back coffee-shop atmosphere - flo-w! But on the other hand, the vision itself and the setting of Flocafe is more of a bar and restaurant type indeed. Which means, firstly, that it is not actually a small premise at all, complete with stools and sofas, a bar and restaurant area and secondly, that it is not self-served, it has waitresses. It is a rather mixed up venue. But the fact is, it offers a small selection of kitchenette foods. We supposed this was simply due to being more refined in taste, as it consists of a few small pizzetti, bagels and salads, like shopska and Caesar, and various shakes, coffees and sweets.

GIVE ME THE NIGHT... OR THE NEW DAY

We all gave them the night of July 19, the hot Sofia summer night, or rather evening. Hall 1 in the National Palace of Culture (NDK in Bulgarian) was full, to my big surprise, I had thought this unlikely, given that the cheapest tickets were 100 leva, somewhat above the norm for concerts in Bulgaria. It appeared that the country has many more jazz fans than I had imagined, especially admirers of jazz legends George

McCarthy’s Pub

Finally, there appears to be an Irish pub in Sofia actually run by Irish people, if that makes any difference.

It's not plastic, it's art

Something about the total lack of atmosphere or class keeps people coming back to Shipka 6 Union of Bulgarian Artists (Съюзът на българските художници). A three-storey gallery, office space, rez-de-chausse of art supply shops and a pitiful cafe have somehow become (or remained) the purlieu for everyone ranging from the big names of Bulgaria's art world to students, diplomats and locals - of all ages. It's

The time necessary for a cup of tea

I went to Magazin za Vreme i Chai (Магазин за време и чай, A Store for Time and Tea) to meet Anton, one of the people behind the shop, with a few questions in hand, determined to provoke an interesting and unusual conversation. But a non-spontaneous question is the last question Anton would answer. My expectations about the "interview" I was to conduct, the article I was going to write and even the photos I

VENUE REVIEW: flocafe

I suppose the brand name itself suggests a more casual and laid-back coffee-shop atmosphere - flo-w! But on the other hand, the vision itself and the setting of Flocafe is more of a bar and restaurant type indeed. Which means, firstly, that it is not actually a small premise at all, complete with stools and sofas, a bar and restaurant area and secondly, that it is not self-served, it has waitresses. It is a rather mixed up venue. But the fact is, it offers a small selection of kitchenette foods. We supposed this was simply due to being more refined in taste, as it consists of a few small pizzetti, bagels and salads, like shopska and Caesar, and various shakes, coffees and sweets.

Jumbo

If I were a child, I would definitely want to spend most of my time at Jumbo. It really is the "jumbo jet" of mega-stores for kids in Sofia, part of a Greek chain that has branches in Greece and Cyprus. A palace full of wonderful things, with an air of novelty about it, it slightly resembles Ikea in that it has plenty of goods for the home, and it's cheap. But Ikea is more focussed on grownups, while Jumbo will

McCarthy’s Pub

Finally, there appears to be an Irish pub in Sofia actually run by Irish people, if that makes any difference.

Sinatra piano bar

If you feel like having a glamorous evening drink, the piano bar named after Frank Sinatra provides a suitably relaxing atmosphere. Slam bang in the centre of Sofia, behind NDK (National Palace of Culture), it's also open all night long. Legend has it that Sinatra had mafia connections. When he decided he wanted to record his first song, Sinatra approached a producer and gave him a tape. The producer laughed,

Slavyanska Dusha Guesthouse

Imagine waking up after a night spent snug and warm, in an historic-style house in the centre of old Veliko Turnovo, and first thing on looking out the window, seeing Tsarevets looming over a green valley. This was my experience at a recent stay at Slavyanska Dusha, a guesthouse in the Samovodska Charshiya area of Bulgaria's medieval capital.

VENUE REVIEW: flocafe

I suppose the brand name itself suggests a more casual and laid-back coffee-shop atmosphere - flo-w! But on the other hand, the vision itself and the setting of Flocafe is more of a bar and restaurant type indeed. Which means, firstly, that it is not actually a small premise at all, complete with stools and sofas, a bar and restaurant area and secondly, that it is not self-served, it has waitresses. It is a rather mixed up venue. But the fact is, it offers a small selection of kitchenette foods. We supposed this was simply due to being more refined in taste, as it consists of a few small pizzetti, bagels and salads, like shopska and Caesar, and various shakes, coffees and sweets.

VENUE REVIEW: flocafe

I suppose the brand name itself suggests a more casual and laid-back coffee-shop atmosphere - flo-w! But on the other hand, the vision itself and the setting of Flocafe is more of a bar and restaurant type indeed. Which means, firstly, that it is not actually a small premise at all, complete with stools and sofas, a bar and restaurant area and secondly, that it is not self-served, it has waitresses. It is a rather mixed up venue. But the fact is, it offers a small selection of kitchenette foods. We supposed this was simply due to being more refined in taste, as it consists of a few small pizzetti, bagels and salads, like shopska and Caesar, and various shakes, coffees and sweets.

© 2000-2009, Sofia Echo Media Ltd.

Web Design by RIZN

The news and information content on this website is provided by our editorial team and is copyrighted. Any unauthorised reproduction or use of it is strictly forbidden. Reproduction of this website's content is permitted only with prior written permission from the Editor-in-Chief, should be propertly acredited and provide an active link back to our site. Comments posted by the website's visitors are independent of the editorial materials and do not represent the views of sofiaecho.com. Sofia Echo Media cannot be held responsible for the statements contained in visitor comments. The percentаge change in the shares' prices are based on the price of the last transaction of the current session compared to the price of the last transaction of the previous session. Bulgarian Stock Exchange data is not real-time, but updated every 15 minutes, and should not be used as a basis for decisions about buying or selling stock options.