We have spent the last week in Bansko, Bulgaria (actually, we will be here through the end of November). Here are some of the Bansko specialties we tried over the course of the week, we went out for lunch 3 days, date night one night and a late afternoon snack one day:
Harvester’s Salad- A salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, corn, feta cheese and roasted peppers. How I love roasted peppers!! This salad was absolutely fantastic and even the tomatoes were full of flavor! This was my lunch one day during the week and it was surprisingly filling! Most restaurants have lots of salads on the menu, perhaps the best known salad here is the Shopska Salad:
The Shopska Salad features tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, peppers (of course! Peppers seem to make a cameo in most of the dishes in Bansko), feta, parsley and a dressing of red wine vinegar and oil. We ended a long day of hiking with a stop at a pub at the foot of the ski lift and enjoyed this salad, some garlic bread and a local beer, Zagorka. It absolutely hit the spot being both refreshing and filling with the addition of the garlic bread.
Bean Broth Soup- a broth based soup with tons of beans and a surprising kick to it. It was served with red pepper flakes and was a great choice on a cool fall day!
This grilled skewer was a delicious accident. We stopped at one of the restaurants along the main street here in Bansko after seeing a sandwich board with an advertisement for a rotisserie chicken specialty. We went in and had some communication difficulties with our waiter- this is what we ended up with. It came on a long skewer full of grilled chicken and pork, peppers and onions. The red sauce in the back is a Bulgarian specialty sauce, reminiscent of BBQ sauce, but not quite as sweet.
This was called the “Health Salad.” It boasted quinoa, buckwheat, assorted lettuces, tomatoes, avocados and a light lemon vinaigrette. This was probably the biggest disappointment of the week. The grains were cooked nicely and were fluffy, but the avocado was rock hard and crunchy. Yuck. The light lemon vinaigrette? Actually just a lemon to squeeze on top of the salad. I had a few bites and then volunteered to share Nick’s pepperoni pizza, which was pretty good!
I am not sure this counts as a Bansko specialty- we got it at a small bar here run by a Greek man. While they do not have a food menu, every time we have stopped in on date night for a glass of wine, he has brought us some delicious snack or another. This time it was grilled pita bread stuffed with pepperoni and mozzarella and brushed with olive oil & lemon and finished with a sprinkle of chopped rosemary. It was heavenly! All in all, a delicious week!