Tea and eat.

It is terribly cold in Sofia these days. So much snow and low temperatures that ski fans cannot think of work at all because of snow, while the others just do not want to even think about going to work.

In such cold weather the only proper thing to do is just sit down somewhere warm and have a cup of tea (or other hot drink).
This is what I thought I've found one morning when passed by a small nice cafe and tea place and decided to jump in.
'Tea' is a part of a pastry-cafeteria-and-stores chain which I like because of their light cakes with modern taste and handsome waiters (only men, no women);-)

This forth site of their has:

a kind lady behind the bar,

no male waiters :-(

a great old-fashioned coffee machine

great horse-headed piles on the pavement in front

coffee and tea selection of the brand Richard

Italian food and wine and other bottles...

and last but not least - the tiny rounded paper for your chewing gum served together with your coffee.
It won my heart :-) Can you see it on the picture above?
Their ceiling was a strong competition to it though.

But it's too cold in the winter mornings there so I'll wait till April before visiting the kind lady again.

Memento amore*

It’s been quite a while since I haven’t written anything here, but it is summer time in Bulgaria – get it? I prefer to enjoy the café places with friends more than writing about them at home alone. But it would be really a sin to miss mentioning that one – Memento, my favourite place for this summer.

Although it is located at the corner of two busy streets in the ideal centre of Sofia, the feeling you get when seated there is as if you are at a seaside bar, or even, at a seaside bar on a Greek island. I’ve read an interview with the owner and this feeling was confirmed as it appeared that he is from Crete. So the guy has just managed to bring the same air of freshness and leisure to the noisy and relatively dirty centre of Sofia.

He tried it twice in fact, as there are two Mementos in Sofia, but I prefer the one on the crossroad of Gurko Str. and Rakovski Str. Even the trash containers on the street are not an obstacle to the nice view as they are fenced with some branded metallic cover with cute golden fish on it. Sorry, I didn’t take a picture of it, but look at their cappuccino (this one is grande, taste is very mild - the best coffee I’ve tasted recently! ) and tables , and flowers. And not as expensive as those at Costa and Starbucks, sorry, guys – Memento coffee is better and plus, you’re getting it served, not self-served!

And I loved the blue chairs hanging from the large tree above the café which were recently removed for some reason!

The inside rooms are very well designed and I guess they will be great and cozy in winter evenings – I will test them in October-November, you bet! And also, they offer a tea menu with quite a lot of choices. I went once with a friend who says the masala tea prepared at Paper cake is better… but as they have all other tea types in Memento except for masala, we couldn’t compare ;-) Oh, dear, I miss the feeling of that evening when I even declined a last-minute offer to go for free to the Sting concert in town (can you imagine? ) as it was sooo nice just to stay there and talk and relax…

And it is a great crowded lively place to go at a Friday night after a terrible day and a week and have 3 drinks and get pleasantly drunk with a couple of friends, hunting men and greeting life as it comes. So I have my great day and night memories from Memento, get your own if you like to!

*Hopefully, in Italian this could be read as a word play of ‘Remember love’ and ‘Love Memento’

How is cappuccino prepared?

Today I was asked a question I haven't heard for a long long time. And hoped I would never hear it again, but... I did. The question was: How would you like your cappuccino - with espresso or not? I was shocked and remembered the times when the market (including all cafes and bars) was flooded with those instant cappuccino drinks with different flavour - nuts, vanilla, etc.

They lacked any taste, but had great ad tools promoting them all around the city and even on the same table where they've been served to the innocent clients.

And then, during that dark period, I had to ask every time if the cappuccino is prepared with espresso and milk or poured out of a plastic package... it has become a habit for few years, and now that I've forgotten about it (as obviously enough clients have shown some taste for life and quality by boycotting those artificial things), now I was asked the same question in a neighbouhood patisserie which otherwiseI like for my Sunday brunch coffee with or without friends. Hope it will not happen soon again, or I will be seriously worried about the future of coffee lovers in Sofia.
For soothing their souls' pain, I publish here pictures of cappuccino and coffee with milk prepared in a nice way - according to my standards, of course ;-)

O'cafe - design and relax

After the yoga class on Saturday morning I always feel sleepy, so I need a warm cup of nice coffee to refresh and continue the day in good spirit. Usually it is the OMV nearby the yoga club which ensures me the refreshment. I like the coffee type they use at OMV, don't know which brand it is but it's good to me.

Still, today I decided to go and check the new cafe near our flat. It has been promoted at a magazine recently and that is how I heard about it. Called O'cafe it is located in the neighbourhood next to ours - a site which has been a plain field only 3-4 years ago. Now - a true result of the building boom in Bulgaria in the last years- it is an overbuilt quarter, with new apartment buildings and newly made streets, some still under construction. And somebody has dared to 'socialise' this place. And done it in the nice way!
A cozy place in white, with attention to detail and service, the place offers dishes, coffee and cocktails -shortly said, everything to satisfy the needs of the population of this newly built part of the Vitosha neighbourhood. Surprisingl, not crowded at all. To be honest, there were very few people inside. Don't know the reason, prices are not low at all, but not much higher than in any other elegant place in the city. My cappuccino was 2,90lv but served in a biiiiiig mug with a unique design plate and spoon, with a mini chocolate bar and a warm smile. Check here how the spoon is meant to be hung on the edge of the mug - at the O'cafe :-)
P.S. The outdoor part (which is partly visible on the second picture) is nice and has children facilities. But - normal for Sofia - it overlooks a street under construction so the view towards the inside of the cafe is much better that the view to the street.

Coffee...

Coffee is more than a drink. That is my belief that made me create this blog (in addition to the curiousity about how the hell is a blog maintained). It is a reflection of our personality. My personality is a lot of coffee with more milk - consisting of many black and many white features ;-)

I will share here how I try to get my coffee prepared in the best possible way (which, of course, is the way I want it prepared). Sometimes I will describe what was my experience in the coffee shops and restaurants in the town I live in, namely Sofia, Bulgaria. In other days I will tell you about my journeys and the ways I got my coffee prepared in these far, remote, exotic, rural or close and boring places. If not successful in this, I assume I will give up in few years...or less:-)