Unica Restaurant

Unica is a modern Italian restaurant with Bulgarian accents, set right on the "yellow cobblestones" of Sofia at 8A Tsar Osvoboditel Boulevard, in a listed early-20th-century building. The concept came out of years of conversations between the team behind the well-known Cosmos restaurant — Italian cooking, but on Bulgarian soil, with ingredients and techniques from both traditions brought together. The interior is one of the most distinctive in the city: three levels, a wood-fired pizza oven on display, 47 hand-painted spherical lamps, sculptural wooden "vines" running across the ceiling, and large vertical gardens built into the walls — a design that earned it first prize in the 2022 "Public Interior – Restaurant" awards. The ground floor has a more relaxed daily vibe, while the upstairs rooms offer a quieter, more elegant setting with views over Tsar Osvoboditel. Dishes range from a modernized Shopska salad to handmade pasta with salsiccia and reinterpreted melanzane, along with pizzas made in front of you. There's also a small in-house deli with selected Italian and Bulgarian products. A strong pick for a longer lunch or a special dinner, and one of the more interesting new additions to central Sofia in recent years.