It is to up to us to put Bulgarian produce on the World Culinary Map

August 10 marks the Professional Day of Chefs. This prestigious profession has always attracted interest, but this year there has been heightened attention surrounding Bulgaria’s culinary scene amid reports that inspectors from the renowned Michelin Guide have been visiting the country to assess whether any Sofia restaurants could qualify for inclusion in the prestigious gastronomic guide.

Although their “audit” has not officially been completed, numerous statements have appeared in the media suggesting that no Bulgarian restaurant will be included in the coveted guide. Bulgarian chef Nikolay Popov, who lived in Italy for 23 years, has first-hand experience of working in the kitchen of a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Italian capital. He is also familiar with the requirements a restaurant must meet to stand a chance of being visited by Michelin’s inspectors. Today, he is head chef at one of the renowned restaurants in central Sofia.

“There are not actually that many criteria a restaurant has to meet in order to be visited by Michelin inspectors. The main things are good service and the right attitude towards food. The most important thing is to offer delicious, distinctive food. Beyond that, the size of the menu, the wine list and the overall service are also important. All these elements come together to create a wonderful experience.”

According to our interviewee, Michelin is not disappointed with Bulgaria:

“The Michelin inspectors will come, but when they do depends on us and on how long it takes us to address the shortcomings. It is being said that such a visit is unlikely to happen this year, but according to my information, these types of audits take place in September and October. So I think there will be a point in September, October or November when they may come again. But that is just my opinion, and we will see whether that is actually the case.”

Nikolay Popov drew attention to some of the recommendations that have already been made:

“There are restaurants that have wine lists, as ours does, because Bulgaria has quite a few wineries and some very good wines. The point is to highlight them, because Michelin’s task is to show the world Bulgaria’s riches. We need to understand that it is up to us to put Bulgarian produce on the world culinary map.

This is where we need to start working more intelligently and more seriously, because another recommendation is to use seasonal products and offer seasonal menus. Every product has its own right time to be used. What matters is that we combine it at the right moment, present it in its most refined form and offer it to our customers.”

Discipline, consistency and dedication are the most important qualities a professional develops when given the opportunity to work in a restaurant of this calibre. They are also essential for practising this demanding profession in general:

“The advice I can give young people is not to give up when they realise that the road to becoming a good chef is quite long and difficult. Nothing is achieved easily, and in order to succeed, you have to give something in return. That means making many sacrifices.”

To spark young people’s interest in the profession and encourage them to develop a responsible attitude towards food, Nikolay Popov has launched an initiative that offers a good example. Through his membership in a prestigious French culinary association for chefs under the age of 40, he invites fellow chefs to his restaurant and, together with them, organises gourmet dinners specifically for young people:

“We create menus that extend the dinner to perhaps two or three hours, but we offer them at more accessible prices so that young people can broaden their culinary knowledge. After the first dinner, one or two young men expressed an interest in helping organise the next one. They are chefs and agreed to work for free simply to enrich their knowledge and their ‘flavour library’. They did not create their own dishes, but they demonstrated discipline and a willingness to work,” Nikolay Popov says proudly.

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With their opening up to the world, Bulgarians are changing their eating culture

English: R. Petkova