Visit Startsevo

Local Cuisine

• Our Food Philosophy

  The food specialties of the Rhodope Mountains are famous all over Bulgaria. We also like to grow what we eat. Therefore, if you opt for our cooking, dishes will be prepared from our home-grown produce, without any artificial agents. Food tastes infinitely better when prepared from organic produce. This is how we cook for ourselves, too.

• Passion for Food
  

  Beans and pulses grow in Startsevo in amazing varieties. They are used for salads, stews, and eaten on their own. Tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, potatoes, bell peppers and pepperoni, aubergines, carrots, leek, onions, and garlic are other baseline ingredients of local cuisine.

  In short, this will be your chance to taste butter beans, red-and-white beans, purple beans, or black beans, or yummy green beans earlier in the year. You will love our roasted paprika or chilies with marinade, fried zucchini in garlicky yoghurt sauce, real fried potatoes, roasted aubergines in tomato sauce, a refreshing tarator (cold yoghurt soup), or a rich tomato, cucumber and onion salad.

  Depending on mood and weather, you can never go wrong with mish-mash, a simple dish containing many seasonal ingredients like green and bell pepper as well as tomatoes, mixed in with cheese and eggs. You can opt for moussaka of potatoes and minced meat, or try sarmi, delicious vine leaves stuffed with rice. Our gyuvetch from a selection of vegetables, prepared in a beautiful traditional earthenware casserole, is another favorite with visitors.

• Baked Goods
  

  We often prepare delicious yeast and soda breads and mekitsa (deep fried flat bread), katma (thick pancake), and banitsa (cheese pastry).

  Nor should we forget what are arguably the most famous specialty of the Rhodope Mountains, patatnik (grated potato pastry), or klin, its rice counterpart, which rarely leaves anyone indifferent. And we always have creamy yoghurt or thirst-quenching ayran on the side.

  On the sweet side, we offer the amazing local baklava with walnuts from our own tree. Moreover, you can enjoy a selection of home-made fig, strawberry, cherry or quince jams from our preserves, or locally produced honey to go with all the doughy specialties.

• Traditional Recipes
  

  Simplicity has always been the main characteristic of local cuisine and we are determined to follow in our ancestors' footsteps. We still prepare most of the food the way they did, with few ingredients and preserving as much natural flavor and texture as possible.

  Many local dishes get their taste from being cooked on the typical outdoor summer kitchens on wood-burning stoves that give them extra warmth and additional flavor. This makes for outright addictive food that offers a rich gourmet experience.

  In Startsevo, all dishes and preserves are prepared differently from one house to the next, thus you can be sure that what you taste is truly unique.