A new look for Punchetata, with the same good taste

Sofia has known about Punchetata for a long time.

Word has spread from person to person, because when food tastes good and an evening feels right, you want to tell the people closest to you. For more than eight years, the restaurant has built its name on flavour and hospitality that feels sincere. Alongside the chef and the concept, the guest has always been central. The story began well before Sofia, at Arapya campsite on the coast in 1993, with unpretentious food and guests who returned every summer. When a Sofia branch opened in 2018, the idea was simple: bring the same feeling to a different shore. Nothing showy, nothing unnecessary. Just the spirit of a small family restaurant somewhere in Italy or France, where the tablecloths aren’t elaborate and the menu isn’t precious, but the food makes you close your eyes for a moment.

Head chef Atanas Balkanski (profile in Bulgarian) has been the backbone of the kitchen from the start. Wider audiences know him as the runner-up on Hell’s Kitchen Bulgaria; regulars recognise him through his cooking. His approach draws freely on world cuisines, seen through Bulgarian ingredients, terroir and a selection of local wines.

The menu is entirely seasonal,

a practical choice for fresher ingredients and a wider range of flavours. It changes enough to surprise you even on a tenth visit. Lunch has long been a ritual for many in the neighbourhood, giving Punchetata a place in the middle of their day. Tasting dinners and wine evenings are regular fixtures, built around good Bulgarian produce and the conversations it starts.

The owners and team know their regulars, a reliable sign of hospitality. Eight years on, Punchetata has taken a big step towards being even more itself.

The guest is at the centre of this change, too,

with a cosier, more elegant space to enjoy. The small restaurant’s scale and familiar warmth remain intact. There’s nothing ostentatious about the new look: the exacting standards are still reserved for the ingredients. All that’s left is to call, take a seat and let Punchetata do the rest.

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