Walking home from school this afternoon, I found myself thinking about pizza. I was dreaming of my old-roommate Nick’s mashed potato pizza. Then I started thinking about all of the different pizza I’ve eaten in my day. I’ve eaten a lot of pizza–pizza for dinner, cold the next morning, or late night slices in Adams Morgan. In the past, I even drove from my neighborhood in Washington DC to Northern VA to buy pizza (for the record, it’s a drive but not really as far as it may sound).
The as I passed Pizza Ugo I thought about what a cruel and punishing thing it is to lust for a pizza that is impossibly unattainable. And so instead of obsessing about past pizza I cannot have I started wondering: where is the best pizza in Sofia? I mean Ugo pizza is good but I am not sure it’s the best. One problem I have is that the many of the pizzas have surprise ingredients–things that I think I should like on pizza but which I still haven’t gotten totally used to. It’s the slices of hot dog, corn and pickles that trip me up.
Of course not every pizza has these ingredients and if you don’t order when your not paying attention usually you can get a decent pizza there. But I am not interested in just a decent pizza. I’m looking for the kind of pizza you’d drive across town for. I am looking for the kind of pizza that you daydream about and then find friends to go there after work.
I haven’t had this kind of pizza in Sofia yet. I’ve eaten at Don Domat, Pizza Victoria and I think it would have been nearly impossible to make a year in Sofia without eating at Ugo. But none of it has been wow. So it makes me wonder where’s the best pizza in town?
I would totally mail you one if I could…
@Nick Well now you know what you have to make me the next time we see each other. Or maybe I’ll give it a go on my own one night… but that’s a lot of work and I am kind of lazy.
Do you get Dr. Oetker’s frozen pizzas in Sofia? The Calzone is the best…
@Beth I have no idea. I’ll have to look!! But I know and have lots of other Dr. Oetker cooking/baking products. I am going to keep my fingers crossed and hunt in the frozen food aisle of Billa.
I am not sure what qualifies as good pizza but the best pizza slices according to me are on the “Patriarch Evtimii” boulevard across НДК. You just start from НДК and walk ahead until you cross the street. There you cannot miss them because there are always at least ten people waiting in line, that’s how good they are 😉 However I’m a huge fan of the surprises, especially corn, and not sure if it will suit your taste. And yeah, I’ve driven across town just to get some 😉
As for regular pizzas I prefer “О’Шипка”‘s ’cause they contain a looot of yellow cheese, however some regard them as too fatty.
As it seems “the best pizza” is quite a hard thing to define 😉
I am not sure there is such a place in Sofia, where it serves such good pizza that would make you drive across town. But that being said there is tons of varieties of pizza made in BG and yes with strange stuff in it which would be like nothing you have ever had, so keep on trying them.
Pepperoni pan pizza @pizzahut is my pizza.
Next to your apartment is Pizzi Frizzi or Deja vu, they are some of the better ones.
And last about pizzas …some grannies who have never eaten in a pizza restaurants make mean ass home made pizza.It’s all in the dough.
Osteria Di Sofia, Christo Belchev Str 32, phones (02) 987 09 99, 088 942 49 30.
They did good pizzas last year. Then I was disappointed once, but overall I think it’s the best pizza in Sofia. The house is nice and it’s held by Italians.
There is pizza I’ve taken the subway halfway across town for. It’s right next to the Вардар (Vardar) station. The place is called Джиков (Gickov with the G as in gerbil). Here it is on a map:http://www.bgmaps.com/map.aspx?sid=22cd468b46da5defc6a31366d0438529&tip=1
You can see the station at the crossroad near the top.
My favorite is Канибале (Canniballe) with four different types of meat. If you don’t like the hot dog slices, there’s a lot more to choose from.
And while you’re there, you can try something called Глезотийките на Франческа (Glezotiykite na Francheska, or Francesca’s little indulgencies) – potatoes, mushrooms, fillet and sour cream, covered in yellow cheese. One of the best dishes I’ve had in a restaurant.
Murphy restaurant, 12 Madrid
Actually it’s on the corner of Madrid and Murphy streets. It looks a bit shaggy on the outside, but inside it’s cosy, the staff is great, and the food(including the greatest pizza and pasta for the greatest prices) is awesome.
Note: Many people associate it with J J Murphy’s irish pub – it’s not. It’s just called Murphy. 🙂
If you like real pizza you have a big problem in Sofia.
If there is only 1 place I should recommend it would be Spaghetti Company in TZUM.
The other 3 places that offer decent pizza would be Pastarito in the CCS mall, La Piccola Casa on Boris III (one tram stop from Pirogov) and, as Elenko said, the Osteria.
And pray there will be an Italian festival again next summer – they had amazing pizza this year.
Do avoid places like O!Shipkam, Ugo, Victoria or any other pizzeria chains…
May I suggest Casa Pizza? http://www.casa-pizza.eu/
When I’m at home, usually I purchase pizza from Pizza XL, the websites from where you can do it are http://www.amam.bg or http://www.gladen.bg I’m not sure which one has an English menu though. The dough is quite thick and the ingredience are not always matching the amount of dough, but try them and then give feedback. Just make sure not to try the pizza with Frankfurt sausage – it’s the worst pizza I have ever eaten or at least is in top 3. Good luck with your pizza hunting and let us know which pizza have you found as the most delicious in town!
P.S. Have you tryed Bulgarian pancakes? If you haven’t, make sure to correct this mistake. The best pancakes (not exactly pancakes, but bigger and called Катми) in town can be found at Borovo Market. Just take the 9 trolley and get off at the last stop, then go towards the avenue where the other trolleys and bus 204 stop and just 50 meters past the stop on the right you’ll see the stand with the pancakes, they have various topping you can choose from, I usually take one or two with chocolate and one with ham and Кашкавал cheese.
http://www.mammamiabg.com/ in Lozenets
[…] funny that P. and I became friends over pizza. Believe it or not, I wrote a post last fall on the best pizza in Sofia. My blog got plenty of comments about different options and the result? P. and I cemented our […]