There were quite a lot of foods I didn't expect to see again when I traded Los Angeles for Sofia. Smoothies were high on the list. Double the thrill, then, when I took my first sip of the creamy "Bonanza" smoothie yesterday at the new bagel shop in downtown Sofia: "O'Nice." Run by an Irish ex-pat, Chris, who cheerfully greets each customer and even dispenses advice about how to buy the cheapest weekend tickets for Dublin, the small green and orange cafe is a bright spot downtown.
Chris imports a variety of bagels, frozen, from other shores. He rounds out his menu with smoothies, gourmet desserts from Caramel (the French bakery I reviewed yesterday), and the O'Nice brands of coffee and tea. He says he is trying to lure the Bulgarian clientele in with great coffee, since most of them have never heard of bagels. The place is an ex-pat hub, but Chris says the numbers are evening out, and now he has about 40% Ex-Pat customers and 60% Bulgarians. The menu is available in both languages, and it's easy to check out the bagel sandwich ingredients since they are displayed in a huge class showcase (think Subway, but without that weird Subway smell).
Brett ordered a Thai Chicken sandwich on a Jalapeno-Cheddar bagel, and I had a toasted multigrain with three kinds of jam in little dishes on the side. Add a Bonanza smoothie with two straws and we had a fabulous lunch. On our way out we ran into our next door neighbors - Kate and Mike - who also work at ACS. I did say it was an ex-pat hub...
1 comment:
My comment seems to have been lost.
At the risk of repetition, I liked Betsy's little bagel plate with three jams or jellies. It's fun to "dine" with the two of you. As always, thank you so much. xom
Post a Comment