As if the majority of us would notice the difference tbf
Think of Pap as the Pompey of web development.
Heās up and around the top half of the 3rd rateā¦
The Wine review
Birthday dinner at Momaās nice ambience, local specialities and great vibe but they really lost the plot with the main courses & it took 4 hours when we only had 2.5 in our schedule.
Anyway, chose this lovely refreshing little Rose with the starters and it was a real hit - 15 quid so was upper range in their menu. Light, not notable fruity but lovely balance. A big hit.
Unfortunately the Mavrud was unavailable so chose this Mavrud Rubin mix. While it was noticably young that meant the flavours had not balanced out perfectly, so to our plates we had a wine with a myriad of different flavours breaking out across the tongue. Not as heavy as a Cab Sauv and yet stayed in that level of āsweetnessā making it disappear really quickly. Found the same on sale at Casavino for about 6 quid.
Half of Casa Vino - this is mainly the choice of White & Rose on offer
The red Section!
These were my ābring homeā wines. Buy 6 get a 10% discount was a great idea until I couldnāt get a taxi and had to walk 2 miles back across town to my hotel in 24C - was bloody hard work!
I was assured the Rose (Sarva) was from Varga region and makes the one we had for dinner seem like vinegar. The Monogram is the big Daddy of Mavrud/Rubin mixes, and being a 2013 will be much better balanced when it goes down. Aurelia was in the Top 10 and actually won a silver medal at this yearsās Wine Festival beating the Vinica into 3rd place. I hold much hope for Aurelia - it is my Mavrud. If itās shit Iāll set the the Soviet onto you.
The other two were again top 20 and recommended but so many beers have passed under the bridge since I got them Iām lucky I actally packed them!
But basically the 6 wines cost me 60 quid - which is the price of a bottle of mass produced Spanish Plonk out in the desert here. Iāll give the full I just drank xxx bottle.
Somehow Iām now going to have to drink a bottle of this every match day - this was our Saturday Lunch wine. It was more of a Blush than a Rose which made andaluciansaint happy as he could show off by putting ice in it. I found it a bit flat compared to the Black Sea Gold., but with that tag line we HAD to buy it (back side view of bottle below:) It cost 12 quid in the cafe.
On Saturday afternoon, before the game, Iād done the packing in bubble wrap and guesstimate weighing and worked out I could get one more bottle in the suitcase. Was fvcked if I was going to walk across town again, but we had to buy some stuff for sandwiches on the plane home and there was a Lidl very close to the hotel.
I felt I was light on Mavrudās so picked this one up for 8 quid (yes there were about 5 other types all cheaper but I hope being Lildl, the good stuff is decent.
To be honest, I aināt going to want to go anywhere NEAR a bottle of wine - hell, any alcohol at all for at least a month 
weāre totally broken! but will let you know if any are worth searching for to buy on tāinternet before Brexit
The Sofia Review
Fucking loved it.
The End.
Actually the joy of the city is that it has NOT been globalised. Saw Lidl and a Lilly (Dutch) chain but most everything else was little local Mom & Pop (or Souvenir) stores. Vitosha Boulevard in the sunshine is just heaven - yes it is tourist trap stuff but still cheap.
We were suppoed to do the New Sofia Pub Crawl on my birthday but the meal fvcked that so we went Friday - lots of hanging around in a park - seemed to be WAY too many people - that kicked in some negative waves from our crew which worsened when we walked about 10 metres to a wooden shed in the park that we could not even fit into, had only one loo and took them about 15 minutes to get the (included in tour) bottle of beer to us. The tour then took off without telling us (and many others) to a much larger āModern Warehouseā style bar playing RnB/Hip Hop stuff - here we got a free shot of some orange thing.
And the night started to go tits up. I went to one end of the bar and bought a round of beers while andaluciansaint did the same at the other end - so now we have 2 beers each - a non-descript but refreshing local lager and THIS
It was really nice - but more like a Sam Adams than a Hobgoblin if Iām honest. We actually liked the place despite the music. Then off to a dark alley down some steps into a Cellar with about 5 rooms and the shots were flying in, the Irish kept singing about Shane Long, more local lager and everyone got to mingle and chat and it WAS fun.
Final stop was a small club just off the main street that was playing anything BUT RnB & Hip Hop and things just went to rat shit. I staggered out about 1:30, Damascus Saint fell asleep and was carried home at 4am. The tour went on to one more club but that was very āyoungā & Hip Hop so most people came back to our club. Bottles of Prosecco for 10 quid, Sambucca shots, beers 2 quid - now we were in Sofia proper.
The tour opened our eyes and meant we now noticed all the little places off the main streets - we found an English Pub and Alehouse which made their own beers and we had Schweinhaxe & lots of beers during the WBA game for 10 quid a head - pour your own at the table was a BIG hit - like a fuel pump basically and you paid by the Litre.
The city is quirky - it is not 5 Star that is for sure, we had burnt Omlettes, forgotten side dishes, Starters served after mains but everything (apart for one dish) was tasty and edible.
Already planning our next trip - and for 20 quid return from Luton on Wizz Air (motto: We arenāt Ryanair) it is a great short break.
And OMG the weather was STUNNING - 24C during the day - Mrs D_P even got sunburnt! Lolz
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LOL. Restaurant service in BG is hit and miss at best! We used to bet on whether the main courses would come out before the starters.
For those who donāt read BG too good, the top RosĆ© is a Cabernet Sauvignon 
Glad you had a good time Phil.
Oh and Ā£2 per beer is not the real BG. Iāve bought 6 big bottles of Zagorka for that in a local bar 
That was NIGHTCLUB price!
And seems that after I went home the girls stayed on. No problem with that they were having fun dancing and stuff, but now seems there was a snapper in the club & their night out has gone āviralā ie splattered all over the clubsā FB page - Oh I am so scoring points with that today!