In season with Suli Yurukov of Casa di Fratelli
Where Italian tradition meets a very personal memory of home.
Suli Yurukov wants his food to carry a signature.
Early experiences in Italy and Paris shaped his respect for the classics and his willingness to reinterpret them. In Belgium, he worked with Sergio Herman at Le Pristine, developing an exacting eye for detail. Our May 2026 conversation finds that approach at Casa di Fratelli, where tradition and personal memory meet.
What does a dish look like when you think of it as a story that should stay with someone after dinner?
I follow the principle of keeping it simple, an approach Marco Pierre White has strongly influenced. But my greatest inspiration is still my grandmother’s cooking. It takes me back to childhood through its simplicity and its perfection. Whenever I create a dish, the finished plate in my mind carries something of her food. Good ingredients, natural colours that please the eye and flavours that make memories.
Handmade pasta needs patience and rhythm. When did you realise it was your language in the kitchen?
When I encountered real craftsmanship in Italy. Pasta there is more than food. It’s tradition, emotion and a way of bringing the family around the table. It’s a language of love. That was when I knew it was how I wanted to express myself in the kitchen.
You describe your cooking in terms of light after darkness. How does that personal journey become something guests can taste?
Restaurant work is demanding. There are difficult moments behind the scenes that guests never see. A plate that speaks through flavour and tradition takes discipline, rigour, respect for the ingredient and persistence.
That daily effort creates the light: the finished dish.
The greatest reward is when a guest feels it and that work becomes their pleasure.
How did spring’s sense of renewal shape the Casa di Fratelli menu?
We always work with seasonal ingredients because we believe they offer the quality and flavour we’re looking for.
Spring means colour, fresh beginnings and freshness on the plate.
For that season, the idea was a lighter, more colourful menu with delicate flavours and a feeling of balance.
Where does Italian tradition end and your own signature begin?
My signature begins where tradition meets a personal memory. For example, taking the kachamak of my childhood and turning it into fine polenta, enriched with creamy cheese, butter and honey. That’s how I bring my roots together with Italian classics and make something both familiar and new.
Plovdiv, 9 Vechernitsa Street
+359 88 821 8318
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