Stamen Radev launched Amour Propre in 2022. A clothing brand that runs less like a business and more like an open guest list: restaurant takeovers, screen-printing nights, a hoodie giveaway in London where he traded shirts for strangers' stories. The name means loving yourself, and he built the brand so it never had to close around one idea. It makes coats and leather jackets as often as hoodies, though most people assume otherwise until they see it. He still isn't sure if people should call it a clothing line or something else entirely, and he likes that nobody else can tell either.
Stamen has been coming to Pavaj since it opened in 2015. He is close with Raycho, the owner. Close enough that Raycho picked every dish on the table himself. We started with a traditional Bulgarian salad. Tomatoes, roasted peppers, Bulgarian white cheese, olives, all grown in the restaurant's own garden. Stamen joked the tomatoes were the size of his head. They tasted just as big, the kind of sweetness I've had only at my grandparents'.
Two more starters followed. A zucchini pâté with pistachio came creamy and buttery, the zucchini's freshness still coming through under the nut. The katak, a traditional spread of white cow cheese and home-roasted red peppers, was simpler and just as good. Both were built for the bread. Warm from a Plovdiv bakery, crisp outside and soft in the middle, with a drizzle of olive oil.
The mains held the same standard. The spicy fried chicken, a recipe by Bulgarian-Japanese chef Jun Yoshida, was some of the best chicken I've had. Crisp outside, tender inside, coated in a tangy teriyaki-style sauce, mild spice and sourness keeping the sweetness in check. The chicken skewer came off the Josper with roasted corn and potatoes. Everything cooked through and well seasoned, paired with a homemade snezhanka salad. The beef steak, with roasted potatoes and grilled zucchini on the side, did exactly what it needed to.
Dessert was the real performance, and Raycho said as much himself. Pavaj started its pastry program five years ago. They kept building it since, bringing in pastry chefs from abroad to develop new plates alongside the kitchen. Their take on tiramisu, coffee ice cream, caramelized coffee beans on top for crunch, might be the best I've had. The pavlova isn't usually a cake I go for. This one I did, the cold of the coconut ice cream cutting through the sweetness of the meringue.
Raycho ran the floor with the rest of the staff, carrying plates and checking tables himself. The rest of the team was attentive, though a second ask was sometimes needed for drinks or more bread. The restaurant was full and moving fast. We sat outside, in the center of Kapana, dim fairy lights overhead, a constant pass of people, and historic Plovdiv buildings on every side.
behind the door
Raycho founded Pavaj in 2015, one building on Zlatarska. He never stopped expanding, and today most of the street belongs to the restaurant, one neighboring space folded in after another. Nearly everything green on the table comes from his father's small farm outside the city. The dairy and meat come from a handful of regional producers he's stayed loyal to. Raycho and his wife travel constantly, chasing new food and new restaurants. What they find abroad pushes them to rework the menu every season. The newest building is dedicated to football. Memorabilia and jerseys line the walls, the space hosted watch parties during the World Cup, and a small corner sells Amour Propre clothes. Stamen designed two capsule collections with Raycho, a tenth-anniversary run the staff still wears, and a jersey set for the tournament.
