Космос - Cosmos

Ferments before the pass

Koji rice, shio koji and ferments reach the plate before the first course settles. Vladislav Penov, Executive Chef at Космос - Cosmos in Sofia Center, Sofia, has led that kitchen since 2017. His station is Bulgarian memory under pressure: moussaka, Stefani roll, kachamak, trout Lopushanski style, rose and village cheese kept recognizable, then cut, cultured, clarified or set against another texture.

Penov’s lineage here is stated through work rather than a long roll of names. The restaurant names his internship at Relae in Copenhagen in 2019 as part of the path, a period of observation and calibration inside a kitchen culture where restraint matters. At Cosmos, he folds that precision back into a Bulgarian pantry of seasonal produce, mountain herbs, river fish, artisan charcuterie and small-farm vegetables. The house language calls it Space Cuisine, also Traditional Space Cuisine. Under the phrase sits a practical method: keep the old flavor legible, change the handling, and let fermentation carry some of the distance between the two.

A tasting menu built from Bulgarian memory

The tasting menu is arranged as a 9-step progression, but the structure does not read as theater first. Bread and butter open the sequence, then the kitchen moves through tomatoes, fresh cheese, ferments, squid with Cosmos XO sauce, trout, lamb Gergiovski style, melon, milk with koji rice and artisan cheeses. The vegetarian path keeps the same discipline, with cucumbers and ferments, potatoes and mushrooms, Panagyuriski style eggs, kachamak, melon and a Chernomorets dessert built from peanut, orange, chocolate and peach.

Fermentation is not an accent at Cosmos. It is part of the bench language: koji rice with lamb and milk, shio koji with Black Angus beef liver, tempeh lentils inside cabbage rolls, tamari in sauces and vegetable work. Bulgarian Rose closes the meal in another register, with vanilla sponge, yogurt ice cream with pink pepper, strawberry and rose sorbet, and rose meringue. The kitchen has also taught fermentation through a 2-day course, bringing the method out from behind the pass without reducing it to a trick.

The room holds the movement

The room keeps a low, polished charge around the cooking. Minimal surfaces, daily light and moving elements give the dining room its cosmic reference without crowding the plate. The counterpoint matters: food that works with rose, boza, Smilyian cheese, lamb sauce, XO, sourdough and cultured butter needs a room that can hold both memory and revision.

Cosmos joined JRE-Jeunes Restaurateurs in January 2024, and Penov’s honors include The Best Chef Awards One Knife in 2025 and Restaurant of the Year. Those markers sit beside the quieter discipline of the pass: Bulgarian dishes kept in motion by fermentation, seasonal produce and a chef who has stayed at this kitchen since 2017. End the meal on Bulgarian Rose, and the house leaves its argument in yogurt ice cream, pink pepper and rose meringue.