I went to the sweet-shop Romans in Bistritsa last night. It was intense.

Apparently this shop has been open since the 1990's when it was <em>the</em> place to go. I guess calling it a shop doesn't really do it justice. They make cakes and sweets of all varieties and sell them in a three or maybe four story tall restaurant-cafe that overlooks Sofia.

<img class="alignleft" title="Romans" src="http://distilleryimage4.instagram.com/8bc8ef0e8f0911e1a39b1231381b7ba1_7.jpg" alt="" width="428" height="428" />I'd been instructed to go for either the pancakes or the waffles. Um okay. I do have to say that the cakes looked pretty good too. The menu was page after page of desserts. The kind of menu that has both pictures and a written description.

I dig the pictures. It makes it that much easier to imagine what you're ordering. And, when there are too many choices you can also eliminate based on what things look like. This it seems is sometimes the only way to move forward. I don't want to spend my whole time worrying about what to order and 9 times out of 10 this method works for me. Sometimes pickles sneak into things I'd rather not have them in (pizza) but mostly it's okay.

It was dinner time-ish when we went so I ordered a savory chicken pancake (think crepe or in Bulgarian палачинка--palachinka), a small forest fruit waffle and a sparkling water. A. ordered a pressed sandwich, the large palachinka with forest fruits and a vanilla milkshake.

At first when my savory palachinka arrived I thought: this is okay. It's not too much food. But when my dessert waffle appeared I knew that I was doomed. The small waffle was actually pretty big and had lots of toppings.

<img class="alignleft" title="Pancakes" src="http://distilleryimage11.instagram.com/19bb94888f0a11e1b10e123138105d6b_7.jpg" alt="" width="428" height="428" />I ate what I could and left the rest behind.

Then I spent an hour on my couch wondering why I ate so much and bemoaning the sugar comma I was slipping into.

This morning everything seemed like a dream.

The waffles and crepes with strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and sour cherries, clouds of whipped cream and even a scoop of ice cream topped off with shaved almonds.

It seems too good to be true.

The only way I know it's real is because I am still full this morning. Phew.