Karolinka In & Around Bulgaria

Last weekend at Take a Cake, we were told about a cafe that was also carrying their cupcakes. We were given so-so directions and I figured: I’ll find it sometime. Then I wrote a post about how great Take a Cake is (and it’s great). In this post, I explained how I thought the shops are owned by the same people as SupaStar given their similar interiors.

Small sign on the door +tova

Turns out that I was wrong. These shops have all been designed by the same design/architecture team funkt studio. Ah, good to know. Even better?! They’ve opened their own space +Tova–it’s a space that feels very Brooklyn-Etsy cool.

+Tova is located at ul. Marin Drinov 30 which if you’re walking from San Stefano is at the very other end of Marin Drinov and it really doesn’t look like much is along this street until you’re right in front of the shop. There’s also currently no sign. Maybe that will change, maybe not–the shop apparently hasn’t been open long.

+tova from the street looking in

The shop is open and light thanks to a hung row of ceiling to floor windows along the front of the shop. There are a number of clusters of tables, chairs and couches. It’s one of the first spaces I’ve seen in Sofia with a little table and chairs for kids. Does that make it kid friendly? I’d assume so but there were no kids around when I was there.

The bar +tova

More importantly there’s a long glass bar where you can buy coffee, quiche, cupcakes as well as beer and wine. Just a word about the beer and wine. Yesterday there were rows of wine glasses but not a single bottle of wine to be seen and the cooler for draft beer had a coat and purse draped on it. Both of these things suggest that there will be beer and wine just that it might not be working now.

Coffee at +tova

View from the top at +tova

That’s okay. I went with my friend A. for the coffee and to plug through some student essays that have been taunting me for tw0-plus weeks. A., well, she was lucky enough to be able to read her kindle. (Me? Totally jealous.)

The cappuccino that I had was hot with an excellent ratio of coffee to milk/foam. Bravo. This seems to be a ridiculously hard balance to find in Sofia. I’ve had more lukewarm cappuccinos that I’d like to count in this country. In fact, I’ve had so many I should probably given up and just drink long-espressos but I haven’t been willing to do that just yet. That’s the eternal optimist in me.

Oh and the cookie on the side?! These were sweet, slightly chewy and I’d have loved to take a dozen of them home with me. I didn’t but I’d have loved to. I ended up with some other things instead. Things that will last longer than a dozen cookies.

Couch at +tova

Flowers and wall art at +tova

The shop is also full of interesting handmade/homemade things. It’s like a spacious etsy shop where you can actually touch the things before you hand money over for cutesy-cute postcards, ink and watercolor “portraits,” pins and other prints. Oh and there’s also furniture but I didn’t spend much time examining these pieces–I am not really in the position to be buying any furniture these days.

Cafe/kitchen/bar area

I bought an ink and water color portrait with a girl in square framed glasses, braids and a bird in her hair. I also bought a post card of a girl reading a book and an adorable wooden and ribbon pin. The only problem is that now I want my own portrait. I’d like a version of me with my laptop done in the same style.

Art from +tova

It felt very weird to just take down the ink and water color portrait that I wanted off the wall but when we asked, we were told: everything is for sale. Well, then. There you have it.