Be careful what you wish for…
Be careful what you wish for… sometimes it actually comes true.
We made it—but it still feels unreal. Somewhere between exhaustion, doubt, and a strange kind of pride, this place was born. No glamour, no perfection—just stubborn belief, a bit of madness, and the refusal to give up.
In a small village in Northwest Bulgaria, we’re building something that stands shoulder to shoulder with the best—not for stars or recognition, but simply for the love of cooking and the joy of doing it our way.
Be careful what you wish for…
Well, here it is—my strongest wish actually came true.
So, like Snoop Dogg, I want to thank myself first. For believing in myself and never letting anyone or anything convince me that this madness is actually madness. For never allowing anyone to talk me out of something I had already decided to do. And for staying calm and not killing a single handyman, not a single water company worker, not a single electrical company employee, not a single lazy lady in any government office—in fact, no one at all.
After that, I want to thank whoever invented valerian, Sadhguru, and Tyson Fury for the motivation!
“SHE” is a fact.
We made it. I still find it hard to realize it, hard to process it at all, and hardest of all—to truly enjoy it. But that’s probably normal.
Only today do I find the strength to sit down calmly with my phone in hand and write a few words about the realization of this long-awaited project. Especially for myself. I wish I had done it right after opening on December 1st—taken great photos with my camera, talked about the menu, made it all a bit more ceremonial. But the photos and videos are all from our guests or from my Instagram stories, because I honestly don’t even know where the hell my camera is. As for editing photos—I don’t even dare think about it.
I’m exhausted to the bone, worried about 1500 things, realizing just as many the hard way. And at the same time, I keep telling myself I’m a complete idiot with no common sense, yet I look at this place from the side and feel this incredibly strange satisfaction. Truly strange—mixed with laughter, anger, happiness, fear, sarcasm, irony, confusion…
Northwest Bulgaria is a grinder, brother. It’ll crush you if you let it. But we have no intention of letting it. We’re ready to deal with every nasty, dirty difficulty that comes our way.
People will know that in a small village in Northwest Bulgaria, there is a place that doesn’t fall behind any fine dining restaurant in the big European cities—even if we have to cook only on fire with Stankata (Stanislav Svetiev) and carry water from a spring!
We’ll still make the best menu, we’ll still send off the happiest guests, and we don’t care about Michelin stars at all. We just want to cook in peace and enjoy it.
