3 Best Restaurants in Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

The ground-floor restaurant at this family-owned inn on a beautiful cobblestone street serves classic Bulgarian fare in a traditional tavern setting. On the menu are wonderful house-made flatbread, kebabs (grilled vegetables available), and big salads; try the refreshing "vitamin salad"–shredded carrots, shredded apples, and diced celery tossed in a lemon-olive oil dressing. The inn is inside the Samovodska Charshiya area, and Gurko Street is lined on one side by picture-perfect traditional homes and on the other by a low stone wall and trees that overlook the Yantra River.

Book ahead for a window seat or on one of the terraces for views of the river and the surrounding cityscape. The shopska salad, a traditional Bulgarian dish of diced tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, parsley, and sirene (a white brine cheese) is a nice light way to start off the meal. The menu is pan-European, featuring dishes like seafood risotto, lamb with mint sauce and yogurt, and several toothsome pizzas.

If this restaurant is full, there's a second outpost at Ul. Hristo Botev 5, +359–62–606–053.

At one end of shopping street Samovodska Charshia is this multi-level café inside a lovingly-restored old house. The tables on the large covered terrace look out over Samovodska Charshiya's narrow streets and the Yantra River while interior seats face the atrium. On the menu is simple fare done well—pizza, toasted sandwiches, and soup. Desserts are where Stratilat really shines, with thick slices of cake like banana, walnut, and the eponymous Stratilat, a tower of chocolate on chocolate.