The air is alive with birdsong and the happy screams of children as they chase each other through the park.
The ground is a sea of green with the yellow heads of dandelions bobbing on its surface. Lovers stroll, hand in hand, with dreamy eyes. Businessmen sit, loosening ties, papers in hand. Birds flit, crumbs in claws, stolen from hands to angry cries. The scene in Doctors' Garden, Sofia, resembles something out of Doctor Dolittle. Spring has taken a firm hold on this sunny April day so, determined to make the most of it before the next inevitable shower, we decide to dine Al Fresco. Hot dogs and bananas bought from nearby street stalls are popular choices with those in the gardens. But, deciding that a review of a hot dog stand may be a little gratuitous - they do smell good, though - we head for one of the side streets off Doctors' Garden, where a number of small restaurants and cafes have spilled chairs and tables out onto the pavement.
We sit at one of three tables outside Vkusnoto Kebapche. The waiter is endearingly gruff. He reminds me of the air stewards on the Russian airline Aeroflot. Forget the stereotypes of camp boys and trolley dollies - these guys look like they'd be more at home in a security uniform than a pinstriped pinnie, and they dispatch the bottles of vodka without a trace of a smile in a manner which is both endearing and rather assuring.
The menu (in Bulgarian and English) is fairly short with the usual selection of salads, hot and cold starters and a couple of garnishes. As the restaurant's name suggests, the main focus is on meats from the grill, making this a suitable choice when you want to get a few dishes to share between you to pick at. We order a Shopska salad, a chicken spindle, marinated chicken wings and chips with cheese.
We sip our drinks. The street isn't busy enough for much people-watching, but it is pleasant enough just to sit under the trees, enjoying the sunshine.
We are not the only ones who have been benefiting from the sun, by the looks of our salad. During the winter, shopska can mean a few watery, flavourless pieces of tomato with some equally lacklustre peppers lurking under the cheese, but this was a much more flavoursome affair. Plump, ripe tomatoes put the flavour back into what is deservedly Bulgaria's best-loved salad. Some complain about the predictability of this ubiquitous dish, but in my opinion a good Shopska, with a drizzling of oil and vinegar and a scattering of salt is hard to beat, especially eaten in the fresh air.
When the meat arrives there is nothing particularly spindley about the chicken spindle; in fact there is a total absence of anything stick-like at all. Usually chicken spindle is chicken wrapped round a stick with some kind of stuffing, but this was just plain, grilled chicken fillet. However, the marinated chicken wings made up for this by being very tasty. In fact, so much so, that I had to spend the whole meal fighting off stealing hands from across the table. I felt something rub my foot under the table and thought at first that my boyfriend was trying to use distraction tactics so that he could pilfer another couple of tasty morsels from my plate, but this something had a distinctly furry feel. Looking under the table, my gaze was met by two big green eyes, also imploring me for some food. The little cat tried to endear itself to me by rubbing against my feet, but it looked somewhat flea-ridden and it was not too difficult to resist its charms. Instead, I manouevred the rapidly depleting plate, which had somehow found its way to the other side of the table, back to me, and popped the last wing into my mouth, victoriously licking my fingers. Delicious kebab indeed- only wish there had been more to go round. The bill was average at 14 leva including soft drinks.