It is not every restaurant in Bulgaria that has Cold War curiosity value. Diana, in the centre of Plovdiv at the foot of the Sahat Tepe hill does, because a trip to its toilet facilities may be a matter of curiosity as well as necessity.

In times past, a part of the hill was hollowed out to create a nuclear fallout shelter for the military, and a souvenir of the times is the imposing white-painted metal blast-proof door that one passes to reach the toilets, reached at the end of a similarly institutionally-painted narrow corridor that, had history turned out differently, would have heard the thunder of Warsaw Pact boots before the multi-pronged wheel on that door was slammed shut.

That conversation piece aside, Diana is a place well worth visiting for the cuisine and atmosphere, too.

We have been there a number of times, in part because of the restaurant’s convenient location close to the city’s main shopping street. The place is large, with extensive seating inside and outside, but while we had no difficulty getting a table outside at our most recent visit in late May, by mid-June weekend evenings saw every outside table taken.

The menu is extensive, with mainly traditional Bulgarian cuisine along with some popular European-international cuisine dishes, and is presented in Bulgarian and English-language versions along with photographs. Similarly, there is a comprehensive selection of drinks, including a wide range of Bulgarian, European and New World wines.

I am particularly fond of the restaurant’s sach dishes and its kebabs, the latter tending to be of generously large portions. Again, there is a wide choice, and unlike many other places, the weights of the meat dishes indicated on the menu tend to be borne out in reality.

On our most recent visit, we ordered meshana salata (2.95 leva), kupoolu salad (2.90 leva), with large and small Bourgaska rakiyas to accompany (8.10 leva) and meatball soup (2.10 leva). The rakiyas arrived well-chilled, fortunate when so many restaurants now tend to present rakiya at room temperature, necessitating a further wait for ice.

The lesser appetites present added mish-mash (three leva), kebapche (1.20 leva each), and a side-order of potato chips with cheese (2.75 leva).
I ordered the lamb sashlik (skewered lamb kebab, 11.90 leva).

Everything arrived in good time, and actually in the order in which it was requested. Fortunately, conversation was easy because Diana has decided not to drown out talk with over-loud music, and for the children, the exterior of the restaurant with its fountains makes a place to scamper around, with the fence along the side keeping them from hurtling into the traffic.

To round things off, I chose a creme caramel – an item once ubiquitous at Bulgarian restaurants but which more lately appears to have been shouldered off menus by more fashionable competitors – and was rather astonished to be presented, for two leva, with a notably large representative of its kind.
With additional soft drinks, the bill came to a total of just less than 50 leva.


info

Address: 3 Dondoukov Str, Plovdiv

Tel: 032/ 623 027

Open: All hours

Credit cards: yes