This is BULGARIAN FOOD?! Never Had Anything Like This!

quite a tough sausage. >> And we are incredibly excited to be trying some traditional Bulgarian food. There's going to be a huge protest here tonight. Proper haunted house vibes. And I've never eaten anything like this in my life. 100% is a yes for me for Bulgaria. >> Very nice. Thank you. Nice. >> Good morning everyone from an early start here. Well, actually, it's not that early. It feels early. It feels really quiet. There's not many people out on the street, but it's actually already half 10. But that's 8:30 UK time. So, we're still very much on UK time. We're all out and about. We've come to get a coffee from a coffee shop called Better Specialty Coffee. Really good coffee. And actually, if you're traveling, download the app European Coffee Trip and you find all the actual good coffee shops cuz a lot of places say specialty coffee and they're not very special. Um, so yeah, very, very good coffee. And we are heading straight for some breakfast this morning. Loving Bulgaria so far. It's our second full day here in Sophia. We had the day we landed and we sort of had our first impressions. Really enjoyed the travel day over here. Actually, it was very smooth. And then we had yesterday to sort of get our bearings and fully start exploring and we saw loads yesterday. Really enjoyed it. Really great day. We had a small taste of Bulgarian food yesterday. We had the um the eggs of yogurt and herb and garlic and like the bacon chopped on top. And that was our first taste of Bulgarian food. The rest of it, I mean, we've had food in Bulgaria, but it's not necessarily been Bulgarian food like traditional Bulgarian food. So, that's what today is going to be all about. I don't know about you guys watching, but when I travel, when we travel as a family, food is like a huge part of it for us, and we love going around and trying different foods. Uh we've got several plans today. Um for food, lots of eating. Starting with a another traditional Bulgarian breakfast, a different type. The sweet I think it's sweet. See, this is in Bulgarian language. I think it's called makita. And I think it's like a kind of It looks like a kind of thick pancakey kind of bready pastry type thing. uh that's kind of fried and then you have it with different toppings and I think it's quite a traditional breakfast. I think it's more of a breakfast food than anything else just from my research. That's the first plan for the day. Um and then we've also got lunch booked at a very traditional Bulgarian restaurant later on. Our three-year-old is currently refusing to leave the coffee shop because it's so nice and warm. So once he's plucked up the courage to brave the outdoors. It's like 2° today. It's not It doesn't actually feel that cold. I'm in just a coat and a jumper underneath. Um I don't know. Maybe I'm just not feeling the cold for some reason. But anyway, yeah, we've got a traditional Bulgarian restaurant booked for lunch and they've also got a bakery stop later um for some pastries. So, full food day. Very excited to see what Bulgarian food is all about in more depth and um explore more things on the way as well. So, like we'd like to plan out a day where it's food stops with bits in between. So, although the food may be the main focus for the day, uh we're still going to see some sites and stuff on the way. First stop, Makita and Coffee, I think it's called, which is about 3minute walk from here. as soon as our son finishes his baby Chino in the warm and braves the outdoors. >> Cheers, guys. >> Day two in Bulgaria. >> Okay, we found the breakfast spot. >> Oh, is this it? >> Yeah. I don't know what you think. I might ask what's the most like traditional. >> Yeah, >> it says outside Bulgarian breakfast with a modern twist. So, I wonder what twist. >> Oh, interesting. >> Hello, tram. >> Yeah, you have to mind out for trams here. They're quite close to where you stand, aren't they? >> Like in Vietnam, the train stream. Bit less dramatic. >> Yeah, it's true. Insert footage here. >> Crazy. >> That was That was scary. >> Sorry, George. Editing. >> Great. >> Okay, this kind of food looks incredible. Let's go in. Let's have a little look. Thank you. >> Okay, so here is our breakfast today. This looks so good. >> £3.70 for both. >> £3.70 for both. We Yeah, like some of the food here is really cheap. >> It's all freshly made. It's not making it. This was the most traditional, she said. And then we also got the blueberry jam with cream cheese. Okay. >> Both recommended. >> Oh my god. Good. >> Well, come and try this, guys. >> That's like the freshest donut ever. >> Really? >> So yummy. >> Yum. >> Oh my goodness. >> That's interesting. The cheese is very savory. >> No way. >> It doesn't taste like normal cream cheese. It tastes more like cheese with jam. It's good. It's satisfying, but I definitely prefer the powdered sugar. Yeah, that is actually really nice. >> Definitely noticing a bit more of a temperature drop today, I would say. I have been wearing gloves for the first time today. Didn't really need them the last day or two, but definitely more chilly today, which is nice. Like, it's very festive here. It's Christmy. They do the decorations really well. every kind of street it seems or every square we end up in. They've got their own kind of Christmas setup and display which is so so nice. We dipped our toes into the market, the Christmas market yesterday. That was really cool. We're going to go back and spend some more time there on one of these days. That'll be a future video. If you're enjoying these vlogs or if you haven't seen the previous ones, we've got a few Bulgaria vlogs out already and a few more to come as well. So, if you're potentially new around here, then please make sure to subscribe. Then you'll see our videos pop up if you're enjoying them. And if you're still watching, you haven't clicked off, hopefully that means you are enjoying it. So give it a thumbs up. That really helps us out as well. Hit the subscribe button. And yeah, we tend to do these trips to see if this is like a place or a country that we'd want to come back to again and maybe do a different city, slightly different location, explore a little bit more, do some less touristy spots potentially. And already I'm 100% is a yes for me for Bulgaria. Like the people, the food, we feel really welcome here. We don't Sometimes you go somewhere and you feel a little bit like do they really want like the tourists, the foreigners and stuff like that, but we feel very welcome here. People are super friendly and chatty. >> Another person. >> I was just seeing that. Yeah, another little mini Christmas market there. So, yeah, getting really, really good feelings from Bulgaria in general. So, actually, leave us a comment if there's anywhere that you've been in Bulgaria or maybe you're watching and you're from here, then where should we go next in Bulgaria? Which is like the best spot or if you've done Sophia already, where should you go after that? Okay, next stop of the day. We are going to check out the National Museum of Natural History. See what this is all about. Let's go. Wow, these are cool. >> Oh my goodness. Imagine that being a coffee table. >> That would be so cool. Coffee table feature. These are massive. Look at this. I've never seen something this big. >> Look like kryptonite. >> This Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. >> Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. >> What? What is it? >> So, in here we have Wow. like lizards. Lizards and nes and things in like jars. I've never seen anything like this in my life. We have a a snake. A snake eating a deer or something. >> Eating. >> Yeah. There. Look, it's eating a deer. >> Christ. >> We have another snake here. >> A massive turtle. >> It's got a turtle. No wonder Kod when Kod was little. He taught George taught Cod lion and tiger the wrong way around. >> Yeah, I did by mistake. That a turtle. >> What is it? Tortoise. >> That was the biggest tortoise I've ever seen. >> No, it's not. You actually bigger than that. That's a turtle. >> Yeah, that's a turtle. >> It's so weird how they've got like them in jars. >> Creepy. >> It's a bit like science experiment gone wrong. >> What's that frog? They're like diseased ones. I think >> he's so interested in learning stuff. >> He's walking around going, "Oh my goodness." Do >> you know what this >> Oh my goodness. >> Do you know what this one called? >> What's that one called? >> A toad. Brilliant. >> And it's called a toad. That was a baby one. And the big boy one. >> There's so much here. Like so much. They've actually got whole lions here. >> Wow. >> That's mad. And in the other room there was a bear. A leopard here. I think that's a leopard or a cheetah. Wow. Oh, that's so cool. Whole bear here. >> Whole bear. >> And a whole What's this? A tiger. Amazing. I just can't believe all these animals are just here. This is actually better than any museum I've been to in the UK. >> Wow. >> Look at that. >> Oh wow. A whole zebra. >> Can you stop saying whole as though it's going to be half? >> Oh yeah. No, I I'm just like overwhelmed. I'm just amazed to see these things. A couple of humans as well just to uh >> just to mix it up, you know. Another brief walk. >> That was the oldest museum in all of Bulgaria. 130 years old. >> 135 years old. >> Is it? >> Please get your facts straight on the channel. Lucy, we're at lunch now. This is the place we have booked for lunch and we are very excited and we are incredibly excited for the first time ever to be trying some traditional Bulgarian food. We have never well we've never been to Bulgaria and we've never tried Bulgarian food. We love One of the main reasons we travel is food. So, we are very excited about this. Lucy's found this spot. Let's go and get our table, see what's on the menu. Okay, the food's coming out. We've got the traditional shopska salad. Look at that cheese on there. There's not chicken in it, is there? And then we've got this, which is the cold soup. >> Territorial with cucumbers, garlic, dill, olive oil, and walnuts. So, cold soup. It's really nice, isn't it? >> Yeah. So, very like fresh starters. >> Okay. Trying a little bit of the salad. Looks like quite a simple dish, but the cheese looks delicious. Perfect starter. Not too heavy. Don't want to be spoiling the mans. >> Just really nice. It is simple, but it's very fresh. It's the cheese is delicious. The onions work. Peppers. Going to try some of the cold soup here, which like for us as Brits, we would never have cold soup really. So an unusual concept in our minds. Let's try. >> Do you know every day there's light one and a one. >> Wow. That is full of flavor. The chibives. Garlicky. I don't know if it's garlic. You then get a crunch of cucumber, I think, inside. Again, it tastes very healthy. It tastes very light and fresh. And I've never eaten anything like this in my life. Okay, mate. >> I've got the baked goats cheese here and pastry. And it comes with like a some sort of jam. Looks like blueberry, maybe. But I'm going to try on its own first. That's so nice. My perfect dish. >> I love goats cheese. >> The pastry is nice and crispy and thin as well. It's really good. >> Try some with the jam. and a bin. >> Delicious. >> Thank you. >> Oh, thank you. >> Sausage. >> Wow. >> Amazing. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chris. >> It's okay to order some bread as well. But I've got a kimchi or >> Okay, the main dishes have arrived. This is called Granny's chicken and it's chicken >> in pastry with bacon and cheese which just sounds unbelievable. It looks great served with some potatoes and oagene. And we got the handmade sausage here again with potatoes. A very like wintry warming food. >> Quite a tough sausage. >> Is it really nice and herby and fresh? very nicely seasoned, nice and salty, but the actual texture of the meat is quite like lumpy in a good like not not in a negative way, like quite chewy. It's hard to explain. It's not like, you know, some sausages sort of like dissolve into nothing. It's quite quite a bite to it. >> Okay, it's good. >> Okay, this is my order. >> Granny's chicken. I'm tempted to pick this up like a sandwich. I don't know if that's >> said no one ever. >> I don't know if that's acceptable. So, we tried to order the most traditional dishes, have an array of dishes on the menu. So, we asked where we came, we said, "What's the most traditional?" And she was like, "Everything's traditional. Order whatever." So, we got for it. We got a nice little mixture here. I'm going to dip it into this dip. Again, pastries here just seem to be such a thing. >> Yeah. This goat, this goat's cheese pastry is unbelievable. >> Yeah. We got chicken, pickles, bacon wrapped in pastry with cheese, I believe. >> Just like granny used to make. >> That is so good. I could eat that every single day. I'm trying to get a bit from the middle. I pretty much all have pastry though. It just all works together. just so satisfying. >> I think I can resonate quite a lot with Bulgarian food because it seems they're like, "What would make this dish better? >> Let's add some cheese. Let's just sprinkle some cheese on top. Let's mix a bit of cheese in. Let's melt some cheese into it." Um, and cheese is like my favorite food ever, so I'm a fan. really love the architecture. >> And it's kind of in this big square area. Very vast. We just sat on a bench cuz what happened? We left our Santa hat in the restaurant, didn't we? >> Yeah. >> Daddy's gone back to go and find that that way somewhere. And then we're heading off for our next stop. >> We managed to forget Koda's hat in the restaurant. the Santa hat. So, I've just gone all the way back to the restaurant, picked it up luckily. And these two are just chilling here, taking in the view. That is so cute. That's beautiful. >> Look, daddy. He loves my car. >> How is it? >> This one. >> Yeah. You're going to have a bit of all of it, I think. >> Do a little taste test. >> Oh, he's he's he's off round the other side. Yeah. Okay. >> I had this before. It was yummy. >> Yeah. >> It might be a new one though. >> This boy so into his food. >> Good. Nice, mate. Very nice. So, we're here at Savvi and they do um pastries, quissants, all these. Thank you. All these amazing things. I've just looked in the window as well. The size, you can't really see it. The size of that croissant is just ridiculous. It's longer than my arm for scale. It's hard to kind of get the picture, but then next door they do specialty coffee and some like gelato and ice cream and stuff as well. >> I just tried this. >> Unbelievable. So, look here. It's kind of got this like glaze over it. Can you see it's kind of looks a bit wet? >> And then inside, look at this. >> Oh my god. >> This is an absolute joke how good that pastry is. Like I'm a bit in shock. It's delicious. Like probably one of the best I've ever had. >> Wow. >> So good. that Kod's tucking in with an almond croissant as well with this nice filling inside. It's just delicious. It's all really yummy. >> Amazing. And we got the ice cream, the gelato as well. >> You going to try that one? Good. I >> was waiting to leave this. You >> can try that one as well. Is going to tell us which one is the best. That one. Really? Wow. That was honestly all incredible. Grabbed the flat white from there as well. So Savvy is on the coffee app I was talking about earlier. So, instantly approved. You can trust the coffee and it was very good. Behind me here, this yellow house, it feels to me like one of those houses out of like a movie. Like it's haunted and like the kids kind of dare each other to go inside and it's got like Christmas lights on and they're working on it. But it just is really giving off that the vibes like with the gates and the graffiti and stuff giving off the vibe. Proper haunted house vibes. But just being sat here on the street watching people go past and taking it all in. Just really really enjoying this little little stop. I say little. We had an absolute feast of pastries which we have pretty much demolished at this point and finished off. But yeah, can highly recommend Savvy definitely. And it's nice and quiet. It's that time of night. It is time of night 3:00 p.m. I mean that's getting on to like night time for parents. It's that kind of like the sun's going down. It's a little bit more getting into that golden hour and everything just feels a bit more calm and it's pretty quiet on this street and it's just a relaxing little stop. Just got out taxi on the taxi me app which was very very easy to use. I tried using Bolt because there's Bolt food here but apparently there's not actually Bolt ride here yet. So anyway, Taxi Me really good, really friendly driver. He's dropped us off at oh my god it's massive. The mall of Sofia. So, we're going to have a little bit of a look around here, just see what like a shopping mall is like in Bulgaria. And as we were driving, we saw a ton of police, like a massive police presence. And we were kind of chatting in the back. Oh, look at that. And then the driver was like, yeah, there's going to be a huge protest here tonight against the current government. Um, young people aren't happy with what's going on. He gave us a little bit of the backstory to it. And he was explaining to us that this evening or the the last one there was over 100,000 people um in the streets. they closed the roads and things like that. Um, and tonight they're expecting to be more. So, he actually recommended that we kind of get back to our hotel and just kind of not get caught up in all of that because we're not going to be able to get taxis, they closed the roads, it's going to be a little bit difficult to get around and obviously like with the kids and stuff, we don't want to be caught up in like some massive protest with loads of people and things. So, yeah, very interesting. Um, we're in the mall now. We're going to just have a little bit of a look around. We don't need to buy anything particularly, but we just wanted to kind of see what it was like in here and kind of get an idea. Looks very nice so far. Very modern. Wow. I think it's huge. I think it's massive. And of course, Ooh, it's really nice. And of course, very Christmassy and festive. If you watch the channel regularly, you know Lucy and I love a shopping mall. We've got a little bit of a I don't know why. I think it's from our time spent in Asia, particularly the Philippines, where they just do shopping malls so well. They're just I don't know. is just such a nice comforting place to go to. In the UK, we just don't have quite that or where we live anyway, we just don't have like good shopping malls. So, when we find them when we're traveling, it's just I don't know. It's just a nice thing to do.