I'm admittedly very late in checking out the Soup Me! cafe/restaurant in Sofia. I've walked by it what seems like a million times and either I was in a hurry, meeting a friend for lunch elsewhere or I didn't feel like soup.
<a title="Outside Soup Me by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951471319/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6951471319_330d2e9021_z.jpg" alt="Outside Soup Me" width="640" height="427" /></a>
Well, I finally went this past weekend to Soup Me! (55 Neofit Rilski). It's right around the corner from <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2009/11/24/sofi-french-bakery/" target="_blank">the French bakery Sofi</a> at Rakovski and Rilski.

My friend A. wanted to try it out. This is her first year in the city and she's in the business of exploring Sofia. She's been actively reading blogs like <a href="http://www.spottedbylocals.com/sofia/" target="_blank">Spotted by Locals</a> and <a href="http://programata.bg/" target="_blank">Programata</a> looking for interesting things to do and to try in the city. And really, who am I to say to trying new things?<!--more-->
<a title="Soup Me! by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951470569/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/6951470569_5a9c47de31_z.jpg" alt="Soup Me!" width="640" height="427" /></a>
We got to Soup Me at about 2pm and there were only three choices of soup left on the Saturday we showed up. Cream of potato, cream of vegetable and cream of tomato. They were all meat free but they also all had cream in them. Surprise, surprise--given the names. Anyhow, I went with the cream of tomato topped with some shredded cheese and a coke light (that's the fancy name for diet coke in Europe). My total was 6 leva. Not bad but not really cheap for a lunch of soup.
<a title="Tomato Soup by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6805354740/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7069/6805354740_daeb608543_z.jpg" alt="Tomato Soup" width="640" height="427" /></a>
The shop is super cute inside. The menu is written out on two chalk boards. There's open seating.  A wall of mirror which makes the smallish space seem bigger and a huge bay window at the front of the shop which is perfect for people watching. The lighting is inter-spaced with pots hanging from the ceiling and the door handle is a big soup spoon. Clever, clever.
<a title="Ordering at Soup Me! by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951470187/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6951470187_43e5fd1c5a_z.jpg" alt="Ordering at Soup Me!" width="640" height="427" /></a>
<a title="Behind the counter a Soup Me! by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951469377/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7205/6951469377_f44e8afdb4_z.jpg" alt="Behind the counter a Soup Me!" width="640" height="427" /></a>
I thought my soup was just so-so. It was only warm-ish which isn't great but my bigger complaint is that the soup wasn't very flavorful. For a tomato soup it was only semi-tomato-y. I was hoping for a big tomato flavor. Instead, I added some salt and pepper and later I also added some chili pepper flakes. I ate the whole but I kept wanting the soup to have a better flavor. The whole wheat roll on the side was fine but nothing to write home about.
<a title="Inside Soup Me by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/6951470927/"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6951470927_68e2d07ce4_z.jpg" alt="Inside Soup Me" width="640" height="427" /></a>
All in all, I am glad that I had good company for lunch but I think that if I was seeking out soup in Sofia I'd just stick with<a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2010/04/18/new-find-supastar/" target="_blank"> my tried and true favorite SupaStar</a>.