What to eat in Varna: dishes, sweets, drinks

Bulgarian food and drink in Varna: Black Sea mussels, banitsa, shopska salad and tarator, sweets such as Garash cake, and rakia, wine and boza.

This section explains Bulgarian food and drink as you will meet it in Varna: what the dishes are, when locals eat them and what to order first. Start with 18 dishes to try: Black Sea mussels and fried sprats (tsatsa) by the sea in summer, cold tarator soup and shopska salad at lunch, kavarma or grilled kebapche for dinner, each with a place to order it and a price in euros.

The local day often starts with banitsa, filo layered with eggs and white cheese, savoury rather than sweet, with a bottle of boza on the side. Desserts and pastries covers the sweet side, from Garash cake to tikvenik for Christmas Eve, with bakeries and cake shops in the centre and the Greek quarter.

Rakia, wine and boza explains how strong rakia is, which grapes to try, such as Mavrud and dry Dimyat, and where to book a wine tasting in and near Varna. Wine even has its own feast day: Trifon Zarezan on 14 February.