Lyudmil Georgiev and Neli Sirakova, owners of the restaurant “Vishnite”, holding the “Restaurant of the year 2002” award

On October 27, in “Gramophone” club in Sofia, Bakhus magazine, announced the 10 nominated restaurants for the contest. For the first time among them was a restaurant from Varna (Capitol), the others were from Sofia. The ten finalists were: “Vishnite”, “Da Vidi”, “Doyran 1”, “Egur, egur”, “Enoteca Uno”, “Capannina junior”, “Capitol”, “Kibea”, “Moderato”, “Beyond the Alley, Behind the Cupboard”.

This was the fourth edition of the contest, in which participated 50 restaurants from the country chosen beforehand. The kitchen, the professional selection of wines, the service, the environment, the menu with suitable content, the adequate prices were assessed. The commission is of professionals in the restaurant branch – chefs, enologists, sommeliers. Traditionally, guests from abroad joined the final phase. This year for the first time a foreign expert – Samantha Russell, the sommelier of “Ritz” London, joined the competition from the beginning. She recommended to the Bulgarian keepers to pay attention to the overall perfection and organization of the restaurants. To offer exceptional kitchen, or to count on the excellent wine selection is not enough. Overall desire to reach high level is necessary. Samantha Russell recommended the sweet course to be in a separate menu.

One of the main targets of the competition was: special attention to be paid to restaurant-keeping and its development as a business important for the state, responsible, connected with serious rules aiming to bring pleasure and satisfaction. The authoritativeness of the competition will stimulate the restaurant keepers of the elite restaurants constantly to improve their restaurants.

The organizers also introduced the guests with the European trends in the restaurant business. Out of the ten new EU members, Poland has the biggest turnover in the restaurant sector. The classification of the food habits of the Europeans was interesting. The French drink most wine, followed by the Italians. France holds the first place in meat cheese and butter consumption. The Portuguese eat most fish. The Polish lay emphasis on bread, followed by the Czech. Ireland is first in milk and potatoes consumption, whereas Belgium – in chocolate. Most of all the Finnish are partial to coffee.

Tatyana Petrova