Sofia

Type: Bulgarian restaurant
English Menu: Yes
Average price: 40-70 NIS
Address: 16 Ha'Arbaa st.
Tel. number: 03-5614725

Sofia Restaurant is little Bulgaria in the heart of Tel Aviv, which provides the taste of the Bulgarian cuisine - salads, pastries, soups and (a lot) of meat. So, the menu of Sofia fits vegetarians and carnivores as well.

We tried the Shopska salad, which is a normal Middle Eastern salad with amazing Bulgarian cheese (tastes like Feta chesse), and also the fries is topped with this cheese. What can we say, this cheese really does the trick for these two! No wonder it's a main ingredient in this cuisine. The eggplant with garlic spread (Kiopolo) is also great, but too bad the bun which is served with it, is not that fresh.

As for the main dishes, we took the Moussaka, which rocks! This Bulgarian version of this oven dish uses a yogurt layer on top instead of bechamel, and has less eggplant than the Greek moussaka - Quite a good one! We also took the Kebab, which was quite OK and is served with rice and salad. Also, we ordered the chicken meatballs, which are braised with a yummy sweet and sour tomato sauce (served with rice).

One thing to note about Sofia - it's relatively cheap. All the main dishes noted above cost less than 40 NIS. Although you can find some better meat restaurants in Tel Aviv (not to say the meat in Sofia is bad), the combination of the special flavors of the salads, appetizers and sauces makes Sofia an affordable place which is worth a visit very much - and the flock of people is an evidence for that (make reservations for lunch times).

To end the meal perfectly, you should definitely order the sugarless apple pie. It's unbelievable how sweet and good it can be without sugar (note: for apple pie lovers only!).

How to get there

Ha'Arbaa st. is located next to the Cinemateque, on Carlebach st. You can reach Carlebach by going to the beginning of Ibn Gvirol (go south), where it intersects with Yehuda Halevi st.

*Detail: If you really liked the meat, Sofia sells some of meat dishes as raw meat for home grilling (at a lower price).