Meshana skara, also called a mixed grill, is a full meal consisting of a meat platter and sides. It includes one kyufte (minced meatball), one pork steak, one kebapche (minced sausage), one pork skewer, french fries, lyutenitsa (spicy vegetable relish), and a bean salad.

You can easily split this meal between two or three people.

Banitsa is a baked filo pastry filled with feta cheese, yogurt, and eggs. These are most commonly eaten at breakfast, but there’s a sweet version with pumpkin added to the filling that could be a dessert.

You’ll also see banitsa written as banica and banitza. You can eat a banitsa cold, but I think it’s better warm.

Most people think moussaka is a Greek dish, but it’s prevalent in Bulgaria. It’s an eggplant or potato-based dish, often including ground meat. This is a very hearty and filling dish that I always struggled to finish on my own.

Bulgaria’s moussaka is unique because has more vegetables than meat, and the eggplant is generally fried.

Shopska salata is Bulgaria’s national salad and one of the most popular and commonly-served dishes in the country. This is the default salad to accompany any meal or dish.

The ingredients were chosen to make the salad predominantly green, white, and red, which are the colors of the Bulgarian flag. Shopska salata’s dressing is usually a mixture of sunflower oil and vinegar. The vinegar was always too strong for me, but if you ask for the dressing on the side, they should bring you the sunflower oil and vinegar separately to make your own mixture.

Chushka biureks are stuffed peppers served with a side of mixed greens and olives. I saw a lot of variations of this dish. I ordered it once, and it looked like the picture above. Another time I ordered it, the meat was sandwiched between thin strips of peppers held together by fried batter.

So, this is the one “wild card” dish on this list that might come out looking quite different from my picture. But both versions of this dish were delicious, so I highly recommend chushka biurek no matter how it’s presented on your plate.

Kebapche is minced meat. It’s part of the meshana skara meal I wrote about earlier in this article, but it can also be eaten on its own. You’ll often see it served on a stick from street vendors, so it makes for a perfect meal if you’re on-the-go.

Palacinka is a thin crêpe-like pancake that’s usually served with fruit and fruit syrups. But you can also find ones filled with chocolate and topped with powdered sugar.

This is another one of those light and refreshing dishes I couldn’t get enough of. Your Bulgarian bean salad could have anywhere from three to six bean varieties in it. It has onions and tomatoes and a sunflower or olive oil dressing.

But unlike most salads, the Bulgarian bean salad is a warm salad.