Review: Secret Chef Table

16 June 2019

Well, it has been a cluster of a 48 hours since my cluster of a dinner at Lode & Stijn in Berlin. I made it to Sofia, no thanks to a last-minute booking that took me through Beograd. I really like that city, but the airport — and the security staff, in particular — made that 2hr+ layover rather unpleasant. Then a tiny, rickety flight later we arrive in Bulgaria…

This whole leg is starting off very bad, and it got worse. I had a wonderful dinner at Bagri [Багри], which by the way is highly recommended. But then the night got very nasty. I won’t go into details, but it involved a physical confrontation, a stolen phone, and a few bruises. Needless to say my short Sofia trip was essentially ruined, as I spent most of the one full day I had in town dealing with the crap that comes with having a phone stolen. AT&T really made it a fucking pain to deal with it from overseas. Thank goodness I always carry my back-up device with me; it worked as a wifi device but had no aerial service until I get my hands on a new Simcard. Great…

Yet I tried to make the best of it. I kept my reservation at Secret Chef Table [Сикрет Шеф Тейбъл], a place I had accidentally discovered only a few weeks earlier. How had I never have heard of a place like this in Sofia? I arrived and was told that a group had cancelled due to their flight being cancelled (goodness, summer flying SUCKS doesn’t it?), so I would be the only diner at the Table tonight…

I relaxed at the counter, taking the first space to make it easier for everyone. I relaxed though it was a little awkward, like having a private chef and sommelier for a night… A very capable sommelier worked with Chef Kalin Savov in guiding me through my 20+ courses and multiple pairings… First up, a symbolic bread service…

Tasty bread, with dips matching Bulgaria’s tricolour. And by the way, from this point on for the rest of the trip, I unfortunately have to reply on said back-up device (Galaxy S-5) for photos. That phone has a notoriously bad focus, so I do aplogise for the poor quality photos for this review and many of the ones coming up… Alongside that came the first snack item, a lettuce wrap with whey and nice local truffles.

Quite nice, helped to get the palate going. Then we have a “shopska cappuccino” — a liquid version of the national salad.

Interesting, with a touch of tapioca to help it along. After a bit more bread, the next snack came with a bit of show…

The essence helped to carry all the wild foraged herbs and plants out, a lovely aroma. Beneath all this you can see a hollowed-out turnip, filled with those foraged herbs and shredded pork shank. Quite delicious. I was gonna eat the turnip too, until Chef Savov reminded me we have nearly 20 more items to go! Next up was some trickery…

There’s clearly 6 covered slots and for some reason I picked the 5 empty ones first before finding the tartar!

Trickery I say!

Quite delicious, goes well with the spelt chips there. I can see how this could be entertaining for a larger group. This is the kind of entertaining dining that I prefer, as I shudder thinking about the “entertaining” dining at Namaaz in Jakarta… Anyway, next up is some calamari…

Again, with some trickery, as you put the lemon juice on both the ice and the sauce the colour changes a la litmus test.

But the fried calamari itself is delicious, trick sauce or not. The ice was a good palate cleanser, visualised by the “pH test” in real time. Again, this is the kind of entertainment that I prefer than movies being forced to put on a poncho for the dessert course a la Namaaz…

So far things are moving well. I didn’t get the wine details on my notes, sorry, but they were all very tasty — and very generous pours as well. Next up, a shell…

Which reveals a shrimp cocktail…

…which was quite delicious. The shell was sprinkled, btw, with real shrimp shells. Next up, a local whitefish accompanied by a fruit cream and foraged wild begonia…

Refreshing and nice, this is how you should do acid. It should not overwhelm, but complement. This is what Copenhagen gets wrong, it wants to overwhelm and dominate — like what Paris wanted to do with strong sauces in the 20th century. Nothing wrong with fresh! We now start to move to larger items, and the wines are flowing very nicely. Next up, turbot.

Delicious, done here with nettle, trout roe and seawater. The fish is of good quality and cooked very well, the nettle a nice way to bring it out alongside the seawater. Excellent item. Next up, a palate cleanser of elderberry jelly.

Mmmm, worked very nice, accompanied by wild flowers in an edible ricepaper wrap. At this stage Chef Savov starts to hand-make some mozzarella, and it’s so ridiculously fresh he hands me one piece…so good. Sorry, no photo, it all went down quickly. The rest of the mozzarella was to “mature” until later. Then we have an egg…

So delicious this yolk… Eggs always taste better the further east you go in Europe. And far, far better than the awful ones you get in the US, whether it’s factory or “free range” they are all awful compared to this…

At this point Chef Savov talks about how in olden days pork lard would be used as lamp fuel, and this is evident by the next item…but also a smoked piece of lardo…

Oh this is so good I can’t describe it. It’s even better than the salo I had in Kyiv… Wonderful local breed of pig they use here… So good… We need another palate cleanser, so there’s a nice red cocoa sorbet…

…with some Peruvian wood burning for ambience. This marks a shift in the evening as we move onto more substantial main plates. First up is wild local chicken…

Oh this is so good, love the burn here. Lots of local truffles that perhaps weren’t needed, as the chicken was of very good quality. BTW, for those of you remembering my previous review (of that cluster called Lode & Stijn), do note that we have not even entered the 2nd hour here on this dinner so far… And next up is a dual of beef…

The first piece is marinated in water from the Mediterranean Sea…how nice and simple. Cooked over a hot stone in a historic traditional way, topped with some excellent local foie gras. The lichen was delicious too. Really good beef. The second piece is simpler, simply flavoured with garum.

As Bulgaria’s history is greatly intertwined with Greece and the Roman Empire, garum was a much-used condiment that is also being re-discovered locally. Fish sauce on beef sounds very Asian, but worked fabulously here. I was shocked to hear that the very good quality beef came simply from the supermarket. Wow, really?

I love the fact we’re (well, I am) getting a history lesson here too on Bulgaria’s culinary history from its Thracian roots to more modern times, before Communism utterly wrecked the country’s traditions. The dishes are very tasty, and I’m glad they are using techniques like hot stone cooking that represent older traditions. And talking about that, the next dish is squarely in that distinction…

This is pork cooked in a rotten pear. Wow. The pear, albeit having started to gone bad, worked quite well as a way to help cook meat to prevent it drying out. Lovely flavours in this pork, I wish I got a better picture of this. It was delicious, and I love this take on an ancient tradition. Wow…

And remember the leftover fresh mozzarella from earlier that’s “maturing” on the prep table? Well, drizzle it with pine and forest honey and you get a wow…

I wrote in my notes that it is absolutely CRIMINAL this place is empty. It’s worth a bloody flight to Sofia just to eat here frankly. And it keeps coming, both wine and food. Next up is an apple pastry…

With sauce and cream…oh this is fabulous. Then a macaron…

With some freshly-made ice cream on top…a wonderful wee snack. And it keeps coming! Chef cracked a “mandarin” here and the chocolate goodness started to goo out…

Rich and delicious, I’m really enjoying the post-savoury segment here too!

Then a coconut with its meat and flavoured ice. Quite a nice little item. Chef Savov joked that the coconut is not local but it was fun to play with. Then we have a wonderful chocolate surprise…

Made from 3 different chocolates — dark, milk, white — this was a fabulous and delicious end to this extended dessert segment. And it’s not quite over, especially the entertainment!

The excellent sommelier brings a helium “balloon” as the last snack…it’s a mess but it’s fun. I’m not gonna show anyone the video!

But I’ll show you the closer, which is just a fun way to clean one’s hand after that sticky mess that housed the helium. No, I am not posting the video! I would NOT even show this video, where I’m speaking Bulgarian in a helium-messed voice, to my Bulgarian ex… No, no, NO!

But I have to say, wow. That was quite an evening. For the number of items, I did not feel overly full at all. It was surprisingly balanced and paced well so that it didn’t feel slow or rushed. In fact, the entire experience was under 2 hours…

The paired wines, nearly all local, have been excellent, working well with the local ingredients. There were some quite wonderful moments throughout the evening, such as the turbot, beef and chicken.

I’m asking myself again, how have I not heard about this place before? This is the problem in the world of fine dining, with info monopolised by those who are basically Michelin or 50-Best fanboys and fangirls who care not to explore the greater, wider world but to chase the list. And once those outside of that world, screaming to be heard, gets into that world, they get sucked in and starts to ignore the rest of the others. It’s a vicious game that keeps places like Dewakan in Malaysia and Stages at One Washington in Dover (New Hampshire) off people’s radars when they travel. I can say at least a dozen of the places on the 50 Best list is pure rubbish that you cannot PAY me to ever eat in again.

In any case, this place is heavily recommended to anyone visiting Bulgaria — or anyone a flight away. So worth it. And it’s ridiculously cheap considering the volume, service and quality. Frankly it’s probably cheaper than a three-course meal in any major European city. So worth checking this place out, what a great find!

Despite the phone debacle, I made the best of it, and am so glad I got to enjoy this evening. Off to London tomorrow for a week of headaches… Now to get a Simcard at Heathrow…ugh…

Secret Chef Table [Сикрет Шеф Тейбъл]
12 Цар Освободител [Tsar Osvoboditel]
Sofia [София], Bulgaria [България]

A Soul-Cleansing Journey to the Black Sea…part 2

25 November 2012

I woke up my first morning in Varna with a nasty hangover, as expected from last night’s excess of rakia from the local Varna region and down the coast in the Pomorie area. A bad sleep as expected, and felt rather lethargic with a healthy dose of headache. A shower helped, as did the entertaining Bulgarian television morning programmes. I realised I understood much, much more than I thought…

But in a significant symbolic move, I took a pair of scissors and cut my goatee… As some of you know, the length of this goatee (grown originally to mark my 40th birthday) had become ridiculously long. So I slashed it and trimmed it to a “presentable” length and saved the longest strands (at almost 13cm/5in)…

As a non-breakfast eater, I just relaxed and tried to catch up on some tweets (roaming, so had to be conservative…hotel wifi still down). But in keeping my slow pace, I did not emerge from the room until about midday when I headed into the centre of town and explored some of the town’s best known sites.

Varna has some life in late November, but in the centre. But still, it’s a sleepy town, and the residents are clearly dreaming of the warmth of summer and hate the cold. It’s only about 5C today, and many are walking quickly from door to door, from shelter to bus. I enjoyed the chill as I walk by beautiful iconic buildings and Orthodox churches. Take a look at the Wikipedia page to see some of the beautiful sites (better than my pictures).

After nearly 2 hours I was getting hungry so I looked for something appetising around town. By now I was just wandering aimlessly and decided to hop into one of the country’s best known chain restaurants — Happy Bar & Grill. I know what some will say — why a chain — but it is a darn good chain. I’ve had their food in Sofia before, and I’ll happily eat here all the time. But being on the seaside there were more treats here. So for lunch was a plate of fried sprats…mmm…

I love sprats, not just stuff from the Baltic, but also these. Fantastic, from head to tail, all washed down with some nice local beer. It was a nice rest and the friendly service showed that chain restaurants, when done well, can be very satisfying. I ate a second plate of the fish fry before taking off appreciatively.

I then slowly strolled back towards the seaside and headed to the beach again. I treaded on the sand going out to the water. The air is so nice, it really is cleansing. And as a symbolic gesture, I took out the long strands of my goatee, and let it go in the wind at the shore of the Black Sea…as if I’m letting go of something very dear to me here…

Surprisingly, no tears fell this time, just some heavy baggage. The strands of hair flew in all directions, some took off, some fell in the sand, some were seized by the water. But I felt relieved, and although this was a symbolic act, it made an unexplainable difference in me. It’s like I’ve finally made peace with everything relating to the last 7 1/2 years, and it’s time for me to start to be myself again. This is priceless.

I left the beach and walked up the promenade and just strolled around the busy pedestrian areas just north-west of the beach. So this is where all the residents of Varna are! It was busy with people shopping, strolling, and just people-watching. It’s easy to do as Varna is full of very beautiful people. Eventually I headed back to the hotel to chill out for a bit.

I didn’t manage to head out again until way after dark. Unfortunately it is Sunday night, and it’s not easy to find good food. I was going to go down to the beach, but decided to go for something in the centre instead. Wandered around and after about half hour of fruitless search, I almost gave up, and ended up (in utter capitulation) in Armenia — which, not surprisingly, serves Armenian food.

From the blaring of Russian TV to the heavy smoke filtering through, I was about to leave. But they had brought me some plonk to drink, so I had to order something. It was not pleasant inside, and the other table of foreigners trapped there felt similar I think. I ordered a plate of veal tongue…

Less butter, not as substantial nor tasty, but still good. They know how to do their tongues here. But the smoke was just too much, even though they had turned the TV off (knowing the guests were annoyed). But I headed out, now a little fortified, to continue my search for food.

I wandered around more in the old town and finally spotted some lights from a dining establishment, this time at a small square where the House of Architects was. I walked into Burjani — and was immediately smoked out the door…ugh…

It was an empty night so the staff was just chilling and smoking inside in the warmth. So I made due with the situation and chose to sit outside in the 3C temperature. They were shocked but accommodated me. Coat off, I enjoyed the subsequent meal in the cold, especially once the wine started flowing.

The server, freezing outside, tried to talk me out of my order, saying it was too big, but what the hell…it’s my last meal here. So, before everyone here goes yech, it began with a heaping plate of sauteed lamb intestines…no, it is not pasta! 😀

It was far too oily, but was quite good. This offaly good dish is a Bulgarian specialty (that they usually don’t talk about because of the squirm factor). Before I got about a third of the way done, my main came out…but they said they’ll put it back in the oven. I worked on this a bit more and I had to stop at some point. However, this is why I ordered more food than necessary…

By now two stray cats had appeared. One was just sad and not talking, and I fed it some of the intestines. It really liked it. But then another more dominant stray came, and was talkative, meowed a lot. But it kept trying to steal the other’s food, so I reprimanded it. And after a little while they were sharing and playing nice. Yes, I’m good with strays, as I said in the last post… I’m the cat whisperer…

When the server came out with my main and more wine, she was trying to shoo the cats away in disgust… But the dish was piping hot and it is the pork shank…mmm…

It was huge, but I know the cats will help me. It was also so nicely cooked that at one point a fat bubble inside the shank exploded all over the table (and myself, burning me). Oh, what a treat… The meat was extremely tender and seasoned perfectly, and I slowly finished it, sharing it (and the leftover intestines) with the cats.

I pretended to keep picking at the food while the server, now wearing two coats, brought out rakia for me. Obviously she didn’t want to come out for awhile, so she brought me a large wineglass full of rakia! I enjoyed the cold, the strong drink, and feeding the two cats more intestine and pork. Other strays were nearby but they saw I was only feeding those two and talking to them in my own way, so…

Eventually I finished and was nice enough to bring all the stuff inside (so the servers didn’t have to go back out into the cold), and paid, and thanked them for a good meal. Outside the two cats were still there, but they didn’t follow me. As I walked away I heard meowing and I turned around. The second, dominant one that had been meowing to me had already gone. But it was the silent, first one that meowed for the first and only time, almost as if it was thanking me. And slowly walked away.

And so did I, with a big smile. I walked back to the hotel and enjoyed the rest of the evening with a few more rakia in the bar, which was dumb considering I have a long day flying tomorrow to Berlin with a long annoying Vienna layover. But I wanted to enjoy the last bits of my time here. And really, with all that’s gone on, all the emotions that flowed today, I felt more and more at peace…

Maybe this trip to Varna was a good idea after all, and my soul is being cleansed one sea breeze at a time…one meow at a time…

Happy Bar & Grill
4 Драгоман [Dragoman]

Armenia [Армения]
7 Архимандрит Филарет [Arkhimandrit Filaret]

Burdzhani [Бурджани]
10 Мусала [Musala]
Varna [Варна], Bulgaria [България]