Bulgarian food is still something of an unknown in the UK. Despite the increasing numbers of Bulgarians living in the country—estimated at just over 100,000, rising from around 5000 in 2001, and predominantly based in London—there’s a dearth of Bulgarian restaurants celebrating the culinary traditions of the country.

Bulgarian-born Aleksandar Taralezhkov is gradually changing that from a cosy space above a theatre in Margate—Dolma Bar. His specialities are, unsurprisingly, dolma and sarma. Intricate little parcels which include leeks folded around toasted bulgar wheat, or lamb rolled with smoky Balkan kashkaval cheese, alongside less traditional versions like the Asian-influenced kimchi sarma filled with pork, rice and Szechuan oil.

Aleksandar initially came to the UK in 2007 to study interior design. At university, his tutor Afroditi Krassa—the designer behind various restaurants including Dishoom—introduced him to the idea of hospitality design. It combined the two things he loved: design and food, so it seemed a good fit. After graduating, he worked as a creative consultant for Busaba Eathai, restauranteur Alan Yau’s casual dining Thai chain, and found the sense of vision that Alan had for his projects inspiring.

He became a creative director at Code Hospitality—the company behind the highly successful Code app—and worked on several major projects, eventually setting up his own hospitality design firm in 2016. But, not after long, he found himself unsatisfied with life in London. He found that the high rents suffocated his creativity, that clients only wanted things they’d seen before and that there was little space to experiment, push boundaries—or to have fun.

““I was on the path of being assimilated by British culture. I made a conscious effort not to sound different.””

— Aleksandar Taralezhkov

Nearing 30, he felt the need to make a change. Aleksandar had been doing various small pop-ups when a wine bar in Margate called Urchin reached out. One of the owners’ parents had been to Bulgaria on holiday as a child and had fond memories of the country and the food. They offered him a residency in late 2019 and two weeks in, he made the decision to move down there for good.

Living in Margate allowed him to get an allotment, to start growing his own vegetables, to forage (“There are certain things that are made such a big deal of in the UK, and in the western world,” he laughs, “like foraging. We don't even have words for them [in Bulgaria]. It’s just picking stuff”) and explore the coast—when we speak his long hair is still wet after a morning dip in the sea.

He started cooking on the beach, which soon became popular with other restaurants in town. Margate’s Tom Thumb Theatre had a bar upstairs that couldn’t operate due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so Aleksandar was able to set up his Dolma Bar in this space in May 2021. Dotting it with rugs, using his design skills to create a cosy atmosphere, and serving up variations on the titular dolma alongside with home-baked breads and pies, he uses ingredients grown on his allotment or foraged, and serves them alongside a delicious selection of natural wines.

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Natasha Tripney: What is Balkan food to you, and how would you define it to people who aren’t so familiar with it?

Aleksander Taralezhkov: Bulgaria and the Balkans were part of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years. It was a mixture of cultures. The Ottomans didn’t just come and bring stuff with them—it was a two-way street. Most of the chefs in palaces in Istanbul were from other countries. They brought their cuisines with them.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what came from where but there are also all these influences from the surrounding countries. Bulgaria is in the middle of the Balkans. On one side there’s Romania, but there’s also Greece, Turkey to the east, Macedonia, and Serbia. Borders have shifted. People have fled from one region to another. So while there’s a very heavy Ottoman influence there are also all these regional influences.

NT: When people think of dolma, I’d imagine most people picture Greek vine leaves but you make such a wide variety.

AT: All these countries tend to use them interchangeably, but technically dolma means stuffed and sarma means wrapped. They’re very much a Christmas staple for us, but also a summer one—the vine leaves are especially popular. But I do other things. The possibilities are endless.

I often refer to them as Balkan dim sum, because of the attention that goes into them. I think of the kitchen in terms of a dim sum bar too, because you have one section that’s only for prep and you need to start on Wednesday and for Friday and it’s a question of rolling and rolling and rolling.

There is a certain sort of magic to this kind of food. But I didn't necessarily think that people would see this and appreciate the amount of work and effort that goes into it. That's what I've focused on in Dolma Bar. I haven't seen anyone else specifically doing this. I know why—it's a bit mad. But there is an advantage of having a huge community around you—you have a much bigger pool to draw from of people who understand and who are trained in this.

NT: Filo-wrapped pies recur across the Balkans in different forms with different names—pita, burek, borek etc. Tell me about your version.

AT: I actually a hand-stretch all the filo every day before service. I really love doing this. There is nothing wrong with the shop-bought stuff. It's incredibly convenient. But it does make a difference in the taste and the texture and everything. It was really challenging at first. I wanted to be really good at this; it was a skill I wanted to master. There's so many variations, you’re right, but for me, that one thing I haven't done yet, that I really want to do is include this element of fortune cookies [known in Bulgaria, North Macedonia and Serbia as banitsa—ed].

NT: Fortune cookies? I’ve not heard this before.

AT: On New Year you write fortunes and you put them inside. And when you take a piece, opening it is like your fortune for the year. You can even buy them in the shops [with] pre-made fortunes for you to cut out and fold up and put inside. I like the fact that it's coiled, like the universe, like infinity. There's a little bit of a spiritual element to it and that’s part of why I want to really master this skill. People look at you differently if you can do that.

NT: Is there a large Balkan community in Margate?

AT: There’s a massive Balkan community in Margate. We have more stuff here than my mum's local shop. I've got this wonderful place around the corner and they source everything for me. They tell me exactly where it comes from, what is in season. It’s a real joy being here.

There is a big conversation here too, which is ongoing, about the so-called DFL (“Down From London”) people and the local people, but I have ended up with an Eastern European team. It’s wonderful. It was so unexpected to find this community and be a link between the Eastern Europeans and the DFL people.

““There is a certain sort of magic to this kind of food.””

— Aleksandar Taralezhov

NT: Do you think there’s a growing interest in Balkan food in the UK? I’m thinking of the self-styled pan-Balkan Peckham Bazaar or Spasia Dinkovski ’s Instagram smash Mystic Borek. And if so, why do you think that is?

AT: There is a certain stigma to like being Eastern European. But this is slowly like lifting and people are really proud of where they come from and a bit more confident about who they are. They have partners and they want to bring them and say: look, this is our thing, this is our culture. And I’m super happy about that.

I wanted to do something similar when I was still a designer 10 years ago. But my chef friend, who is also Bulgarian, said to me, “who's going to eat this peasant food?” He had a point. Where has this food been showcased? It's very much something that happens at home.

Initially, I was on the path of being assimilated by British culture. I made a conscious effort not to sound different. But as you grow, you realise all these things matter. And food is a massive part of this. And suddenly I was like, you know what, we've got something really good here and I'd love for everyone to try it. It is surprising to me now, when people say: we haven't really tried anything like this before. There’s Turkish food on every corner—how have you not?

NT: What about your wine list? How does it complement your menu?

AT: We do natural wines only and I always go for less popular regions like Hungary, Bulgaria, Georgia and Greece. Being small and in Margate, we are limited on who can deliver to us, but I'm working on co-producing a Bulgarian natural wine and bringing it over.

NT: Your food philosophy feels very grounded in nature and you've spoken about the importance of waste reduction. How does this work in practice?

AT: We try to set things up with minimal waste in mind in our recipes and use many of our waste products—combining recipes so we can upcycle things. At the moment we are looking to make our bread from the excess whey produced during our labneh straining, for example, and the food waste we take back to our allotment for compost. Small steps but I want everyone to slowly get used to it.