After a bit of a disaster that was our meal at Cosmos, Hubs’ stomach had properly recovered, and we went to our second scheduled meal on our final night in Sofia at Secret by Chef Petrov. We started our night from a must visit location in the city, that of the rooftop bar at the nearby Sense Hotel. We were unfortunately required to leave as there was a wedding reception starting (not that we could blame them, the view is stunning), and thus arrived at our reservation at Secret a bit early. I’ll use the term reservation quite loosely, as NO ONE else entered the restaurant for the following two hours (7-9PM, Friday evening).
I can’t be bothered to go into too many details, but here’s a breakdown of the highlights and lowlights of the visit.
- Quite possibly the most poorly designed restaurant I’ve been in this year. I’m talking…bad. Overly bright lights. Bizarre layout. Strangely cramped. Mirrors everywhere. Best of all? The Silence of the Lambs KNOCK OFF ART ON THE WALL. I never realized how the design of a restaurant could so completely impact a meal, however, the juxtaposition between the attempted caliber of food and interior of the venue was so great that I’m confident the team needs to move to a new location and start over again. Even if the restaurant had been full of visitors, I don’t think it could have overcome the disastrous design.
- The Christmas music. In August. And not just any holiday tune, but rather one that had been in discussion earlier that afternoon, the stylings of Mr. Chris Rea, and ‘Driving Home for Christmas.’ Nope, I’m not lying. Look, I don’t mind an eclectic soundtrack, but paired with an ugly venue, the music had us all laughing. The soundtrack was memorable, in a bad way.
- An all over the place tasting menu. I understand that sometimes a degustation will meander, but this one was a bunch of courses that felt no connection to each other. They were all creative — some more than others — but there was no cohesiveness. With a bit of execution and focus, I do think the menu could be condensed to a more reasonable experience.
- Unique dishes. Even though the dishes were all over the place, there was something different going on in the kitchen. Balloons of cheese. Light up presentation. Beets and fish (hard pass, there). I can’t think of a time I’ve had a more random meal.
- Temperature issues. I like my dishes quite warm and most of ours seemed to arrive at our table lukewarm.
- No wine pairing offered. Again, not a deal breaker, more that I think the staff could have at least mentioned something along the lines of, “Oh, you might like to try this wine with the menu. We find some guests enjoy it.” There was a place for an upsell, and none was made. It’s choices like these that I don’t understand. It must be reasonably easy money to bring a few bottles together, so why not offer something to go with the meal?
- Value for money? While 90L per person is not a bargain in Sofia, in the rest of the world, USD$50 was a fair bargain for the sheer amount of food we tried.
- And finally… Whatever this was. Apparently, it’s a way to clean your hands at the end of the meal…if you want to smell like yeast.
Would I go back? Sorry, gang. This was another strikeout, and yes this made me 0 for 2 in Sofia (in the category of fine dining). As creative as the presentation was at Secret by Chef Petrov, the overall ambiance and experience was not one I would go back for.
Who is Secret by Chef Petrov best for? Um… I honestly couldn’t tell you!
Seriously, where should we have visited in Sofia?
The Verdict
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Atmosphere
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Food
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Price
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Service
Summary
With a few tweaks, especially in the interior, this restaurant could move up by a few levels. Unfortunately, even with a creative menu, the meal wasn’t memorable.
