sabale — Restaurant in Sofia City

Breakfast is served until 11.30 and lunch starts at 12.00. We visited on a Sunday a little after 11, managed to get a table right away and try both menus. A certain number of bakery items are served all day long. Probably until they run out. A good selection of drinks await you as well.

Around 12 there was already a good number of people waiting to be seated. The place is large and open. The positive side to this is that you witness the magic of food creation. The staff is very friendly and professional. The cooking, plating and customer care is done with impressive precision. It is really amazing to watch. It is worth noting that you are your own waiter here. Perfectly fine by me. Dogs are welcome guests. The 4 out of 5 stars for atmosphere are only because when it's full the open space brings a good amount of noise. So not exactly the place for a quite time alone or with someone.

We tried the chicken pate, served with toasts, the tomato soup, served with grilled cheese sandwich, the rice pudding and some of the breakfast items. Everything was very tasty, buttery, creamy and cheesy. All items give you a sense of homecooked food and care. Which is no surprise if you've been following the cooking journey of the mastermind behind Sabale - Kristin Radoilova. Her cinnamon rolls (Y Dough) already made her quite famous and I'm happy to see that the next step even more unfolds her talent. I definitely want to try more of her masterpieces and hope to be...

Chose to celebrate my birthday with my closest family at a brunch at the famous "Sabale".

Well... honestly the most overrated place in Sofia.

To start with, nobody welcomed us and greeted us at the entrance. The ventilation system doesn't work and it's garlicky. No place to hang your clothes. Self-service. Very small portions from what we saw on the other tables.

At 10:00 on Sunday they didn't have anything from the bakery menu and their breakfast menu was a tragedy - just one type of eggs, comple (very poor portion), two types of granola - that's it! You cannot order from the lunch menu (which looked way better, to be honest)

The coffee was nothing special - the long espresso was terrible - no foam at all! A coffee from a street machine is way better for a fraction of the price.

The best decision was to leave that poorly managed place and to enjoy the awesome atmosphere and food of Cafe 1920, which I hardly recommend.

Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time, money and energy at Sabale! Every other place is literally better!

That's my first time leaving a place in such a way in more than 5 years.

Ps. The photos below are from...

The kind of place and food I've been missing since moving here 9 years ago. The interior is a simple yet beautiful open space that felt cozy and was properly heated. The restaurant is self-service, I did not have to queue for ordering and the food came fast. Now, let's get to the food. From the coffee to the pastries everything tastes amazingly, and you can perceive the quality of the ingredients on each dish. The tomato soup was outstanding, and I would definitely recommend it for everyone to try. (I don't even like soups, let alone tomato soup, but this one is just different). The staff is very kind and smiley. A small downside, you can only order the breakfast menu up to certain hours ( not sure it was displayed), and while it makes sense, there are several brunch places where breakfast is served during all open hours, which is nice during the weekend, as you may be having a late breakfast if you had a wild night. All together, great place that I'll be...