Breakfast and Brunch in Sofia: My Favourite Places

Sofia eats breakfast standing up: a slice of banitsa from a bakery hatch and a cup of ayran on the way to work. Brunch is the weekend version, and the city has taken to it in a big way, with queues out of the door on a Sunday. These are the 13 places I go to, what I order at each, and the Bulgarian breakfast dishes to try before you settle for eggs Benedict.

My favourite places for brunch in Sofia at a glance

What a Bulgarian breakfast looks like

A Bulgarian breakfast is pastry, dairy and fried dough, and you'll see the same few things on bakery counters and on the trendiest brunch menus. These are the 5 I'd order first, all everyday Bulgarian food sold across the city.

Banitsa with ayran or boza

Banitsa (баница) is filo pastry baked with whisked eggs and sirene, the salty white cheese, and it's the city's default breakfast. Bakeries sell it warm by the piece first thing in the morning, wrapped in paper. I eat mine on the pavement. My best banitsa is the leek one at Handmade Banitza on Solunska 17, open 8am to 6pm every day.

Drink ayran with it, a thin salted yoghurt drink, or boza, a thick, sweet fermented grain drink with a sour finish. I go for ayran on a hot morning and boza in winter.

Mekitsa, Bulgarian fried dough

Mekitsa (мекица) is a flat round of fried dough, served warm with icing sugar, jam or honey. Eat it within a few minutes of the fryer, while it's crisp at the edges, and one with a coffee will keep you going until lunch. Mekitsa & Coffee is built around them, and Kompaniyata serves them with jam.

Panagyurski eggs

Panagyurski eggs (яйца по панагюрски) are named after the town of Panagyurishte: poached eggs on a bed of yoghurt mixed with garlic, with hot butter and paprika poured over the top. Brunch cafes in Sofia put them where you'd expect eggs Benedict. They're on the menu at Cafe 1920, Fabrika Daga and Ozone, and I order them every time I see them.

Kozunak and kozunak toast

Kozunak (козунак) is a sweet, braided Easter bread with a stringy, brioche-like crumb. It's baked for Easter in Bulgaria, but bakeries sell it all year, and cafes fry thick slices in egg to make kozunak toast (козуначени филийки), the Bulgarian French toast.

Kompaniyata and Cafe 1920 both have it on the menu, and it's my order when I want something sweet.

Yoghurt with honey and walnuts

Kiselo mlyako (кисело мляко) is Bulgarian yoghurt, thick and sharp, made with the bacterium named after the country. A bowl with honey and walnuts is the lighter Bulgarian breakfast, and the one I make at home. Bulgarian yoghurt also goes into ayran, tarator and the garlic base of panagyurski eggs.

You'll also pass kiosks selling gevrek (геврек), a sesame bread ring, which makes a cheap breakfast on the move.

The best brunch in Sofia: my favourite places

These are the cafes I send friends to for a sit-down brunch. Most are in the centre, a short walk from Vitosha Boulevard.

Cafe 1920, by Lions' Bridge

Cafe 1920 is my favourite brunch in Sofia. The first cafe sits on Maria Luiza Boulevard by Lions' Bridge, with two floors, a retro feel and outdoor tables looking across at the bridge's bronze lions. A second, more central cafe opened at Shishman 24 in 2025, and it does dinner too.

Order the panagyurski eggs or the house lion's breakfast (лъвската закуска). It's popular with locals and visitors alike, so expect to wait for a table.

Fabrika Daga, near the Doctors' Garden

Fabrika Daga, also called Rainbow Factory, has served brunch since 2014. Its cafe is on Sheynovo Street, a short walk from the Doctors' Garden, a small park of old trees and ancient carved stones that's my favourite of Sofia's parks for walking off a brunch. It opens at 8am on weekdays and 9am at weekends, closes at 8pm and serves brunch all day.

I go for the panagyurski eggs or the slow-roast pork sandwich with a flat white, and add avocado toast if a friend wants something green.

Kompaniyata in Oborishte

Kompaniyata (Компанията, "the company") is a small, bright cafe at Oborishte 109, about 5 minutes from Mall Serdika. It's almost always full, and it's the one I'd cross town for. Expect several versions of eggs Benedict, kozunak toast and mekitsi with jam.

Starata Gospozha, on Oborishte and Vitosha

Starata Gospozha (Старата госпожа, "the old lady") has two cafes, at Oborishte 18 and on Vitosha Boulevard at number 119. The menu has French omelettes, waffles, pancakes and eggs with bacon and avocado. The lady's and gentleman's breakfasts are big enough to share with a friend, which is how I'd order. Queues are common on Oborishte Street, and it also delivers.

Wonderland Sofia

Wonderland is a colourful cafe at Petar Parchevich 26. Order the pancakes. The menu also has eggs Benedict, vegetarian sandwiches and homemade lemonade, and the cappuccino comes with a deep cap of foam.

Beyond Brkfst, for a full English

Beyond Brkfst at Petar Parchevich 50 is where I'd take anyone homesick for a fry-up, since it does an English breakfast. The rest of the menu runs to American pancakes, porridge, smoothie bowls, eggs Benedict, omelettes, focaccia and fresh pastries, with specialty coffee. My order is the savoury pancakes. There are only a few tables inside, plus some outside, so arrive before 10.30am for an indoor seat.

718 Breakfast & Brunch, behind the Palace of Justice

718 does American-style brunch at Knyaz Boris I 99, just behind the Palace of Justice. Don't expect American pancakes. The savoury side has crisp bagels and a Cuban sandwich of ham, pulled pork, pickles and spicy mustard, which is my pick, and the sweet side has smoothie bowls with granola. The pastry counter has cardamom buns and chocolate biscuits, and at lunch the tomato soup is the order. Vitosha Boulevard is a few minutes' walk away for a stroll afterwards.

Le Soleil Crepes and Coffee, near NDK

Le Soleil at G.S. Rakovski 186, a short walk from the National Palace of Culture, makes crepes to a French recipe. Sweet ones come with French jams, fresh fruit or Callebaut chocolate; savoury ones with French cheese and sausage. I'd order the honey and walnut crepe. Its house cream has no added sugar, and you can have a mimosa or a French cider with it. The tables are small, so expect a wait at weekends.

Cafe 43.12 on Hristo Belchev

Cafe 43.12 is the Sofia branch of a Varna cafe, at Hristo Belchev 27, a street of cafes a block from Vitosha Boulevard. It has indoor tables and a garden, and the menu covers eggs Benedict, avocado toast, granola, fluffy pancakes, sandwiches and burgers. You order and pay by card through a QR code on each table. The garden sits mostly in shade, which is perfect in July and chilly in October.

An early breakfast before the sights

On a sightseeing day I either sit down at Sabale at 8am or eat banitsa on the move.

Sabale on Georgi Benkovski

Sabale at Georgi Benkovski 11 is a small, minimalist cafe that serves breakfast from 8am to 11.30am, then lunch from noon to 3pm. Drinks come from one bar and food from another. I order the oat porridge with plum jam, the scrambled eggs, or the set breakfast with rye bread, jam and freshly churned butter. The bakery counter does pastries to take away if there's a queue for a table.

If even Sabale is too slow, do it the Bulgarian way, with a slice from Handmade Banitza eaten on the walk to Alexander Nevsky Cathedral.

Hotel brunch at the weekend

Ozone Skybar on the 29th floor

Ozone is on the 29th floor of the Grand Hotel Millennium at Vitosha Boulevard 89B, and the view over the city to Vitosha is the reason to go. Brunch is a weekend thing here: Ozone opens at 11am from Friday to Sunday and not until the evening on other days. It's pricier than the cafes, from €9 for a homemade banitsa and €10 for mekitsa to €13 for panagyurski eggs, €14 for American pancakes with Nutella and €16 for avocado toast. It's one of the rooftop bars in Sofia that also works in daylight. Book ahead and ask for a window table. Parking nearby is hard, so come by metro or taxi.

A Priori at the Crowne Plaza

A Priori, the restaurant and garden at the Crowne Plaza hotel, serves brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11.30am to 3pm. The menu mixes eggs Benedict, a Scandinavian breakfast, shakshuka, a breakfast burger, banitsa, mekitsi, American pancakes and fried brioche. It's out in Mladost, away from the centre, with plenty of tables indoors and a summer garden.

For Sofia with kids, it's the brunch I'd pick: there are high chairs, room for a pushchair and a baby-changing table.

Vegetarian and vegan breakfast in Sofia

Every cafe on this list has meat-free plates, from pancakes to eggs, so vegetarian food in Sofia is easy at brunch. For a vegan breakfast, my first stop is Furna, a vegan bakery on Stefan Stambolov Boulevard that bakes banitsa with fillings such as red lentil, or pumpkin and walnut, from 8am, Monday to Saturday.

Slantse i Luna (Sun Moon)

Slantse i Luna (Слънце и луна, "sun and moon") is a vegetarian restaurant at 6th September 39, on Little Five Corners, and it runs its own bakery and shop as well. Its lentil banitsa is the one I'd order, and the menu adds salads, soups and mish-mash, eggs scrambled with peppers, tomatoes and sirene.

When to go and how to get a table

Weekend late mornings are when the queues form. On a weekday I walk in almost anywhere.

Coffee costs €2 to €3 a cup, even at the best cafes in Sofia, and a cappuccino averages about €3, less than you'd pay in London. On a weekend in Sofia, I'd eat banitsa on the street on Saturday and book a proper brunch for Sunday.