Traditional food, Bucharest

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This is also a typical Romanian restaurant with the same culture of "Hanul manuc" .
You can eat in the open air, in summer time.Ciorba means Soup and the origin is a turkish word ( corba) Drink soup as a starter which is a Romanian tradition too.

The food is excellent, if they have what they say they do. I have taken business and personal guests here 3 times and each time whatever we wanted from their feature menu was a problem.

They can be absolutely RUDE and NASTY to foreigners. They do not know how to run their credit card machine. They advertise that they take VISA and MASTERCARD but they don't and won't take it and then proceeded to humiliate me in front of my guests.

They tried to make us pay for a dish for 4 that we ordered, than came back 2 minutes later and said it would take 2 hours to prepare. We said we no longer wanted it, but they insisted since we ordered it we must pay for it. This was only resolved when I stood up and told my business guests this was a mistake and went to leave.

Favorite Dish: The food is great, if they have it. They do not actually carry everything on their menu and be careful when you order to ask how long it will take. If you order something they are not prepared for, they will try to require you to pay for it anyway.

Vatra serves traditional Romanian food and the restaurant has a separated smoker's/non-smoker's section. Non-smoker's place is located downstairs and there are no traits of smoking at all in that section which suprised me.
I always come to this restaurant while staying in Bucharest. Highly recommended for great food and a relaxed atmosphere which can be hard to find in Bucharest. Good cooking, tasty and nice staff. Highly recommended. Rated no. 6 of Bucharest's restaurants.

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When you are walking in the historical centre around Lipscani street in search of a place for a dinner, you may see lots and lots of pizzerias, Irish or German style pubs, tens of “modern”, “fashioned” cafés, but may have hard times to find something looking “local”.
This place looks nice, well designed in traditional way, sort of “medieval” decoration, a bit “made for tourists”, but locals and tourists enjoy the excellent food there.
I ordered for a mixed grill which came after some long time during which I enjoyed a local beer and had time to listen to the music band which played some traditional music for guests who liked it. The meat was excellent and grilled the right way for each type (rare for the beef, well done for the pork chops, etc. . ), the sausages were spicy and the vegetables grilled as well; I liked the pepperoni (like the ones you see on picture 2) and was not disappointed by the red wine, probably of Cabernet type (did not note the name of the grape variety). I had a local “crème brûlée” for desert.
The menu card displays various local dishes, and there are probably more “typical local” choices than I did, but I was happy with what I ordered.
A less pleasant thing in that restaurant was that I forgot my handphone on the table when I left the restaurant, and when I noticed it, after 5 minutes, I came back and it had disappeared (the table had not been cleaned at that time); I looked, spoke with the waiter who finally pulled my phone out of his pocket and asked for a “recompense” (reward). I considered he had to bring the phone to the reception in case the owner would come back, and not wait for a reward; I guess if I had come back next day I could have said bye-bye to my phone. . . .
But this was my fault and important here is that the food was quite enjoyable.

70 Lei including a bottle of wine.

This is a great family spot. The food is varied but they have some great Romanian favourites like Tripe soup, traditionl sausages and lmb pastrami.

Ask the waiter for a palinca or mulled wine to add to the experience!

They also have some great Italian food, salads and dessert.

The summer terrace is a peaceful break in the hot city.They are close to the Herestrau park and the village Museum in the North end

Favorite Dish: Hot lamb sausages on mashed potatoes with a fresh salad on the side was a favorite with the boys. I went for the broccoli with gnochi with a creamy cheese sauce. Full flavoured and delicious. The hubby was seduced with a grilled trout with garlic butter. mmmmm.

A traditional (and moderately tourist-oriented) restaurant, with music show and old-style wooden decoration. The available menu is not so large as it appears on the list: just try! The price is low (less than 10 Euro), and credit cards are accepted.
Terasa Doamnei
Strata Doamnei 9 - In face of the National Bank of Romania.
A former cinema, renovated with modern wooden decoration; the style is country-looking, with a traditiaonl Romanian music group playing (a bit too loud) and dancing on the scene. During summer, a nice terrace is available for dining outdoor. The price is low (aroun 8 Euro) and the menu is very well variated, with all traditional Romanian preparations available and well cooked. Credit cards are accepted.
Museum
Strata Dr. Clunet 15 - 15 minutes walking from the University, along
Bul. Mihai Kogainiceanu and Bul. Regina Elisabeta.
Very quiet and relaxing small restaurant with traditional dishes. Price is around 10 Euro and credit cards accepted.
La Taifas
Strata G. Clemenceau 6 - behind the Athenée Theatre
A couple of small halls, it may be crowded. The menu is made by traditional dishes and it is confortably written on green blackboards. The atmosphere is nice and warm, with relaxing colour decoration on the walls. Price is around 8 Euro, credit cards are not accepted.
Bistro Atheneu
Strata Episcopiei 3 - beside the Athenée Theatre
Strategically situated, close to the Theatre, the Hilton Hotel and not far from the Lido, the Intercontinental and the Bucuresti Hotel. This is the typical expatriate
gossip place, very warm and cosy place, with soft music and a clever mixture of Romanian dishes and International cuisine... if you like the environment, this is the place you would want to go.
Golden Falcon
Strata Hristo Botev 10 - close to Rossetti Square, not far from the National Theatre.
A Turkish restaurant, very classy, still relatively cheap and with an interesting menu, well prepared and carefully served. The price is around 15 Euro and credit cards are accepted.
All the restaurants I mentioned offer a Romanian menu, except for the Turkish
one. The main items of a Romanian menu will be described in my Romania
page.

Caru cu bere was recommended to us because of its traditional food and reasonable price. The food is really good (though It might be because I love romanian dishes) and the space is terrific. High ceilings, traditional interior and a lot of effort has been done to create a place that feels like a century ago. Try to find the speakers, we couldn't locate them. They might be hidden in the large pillars that divide the room into several spaces with a dome-like ceiling. Service is good, smoking and non-smoking areas are available. Don't miss it!

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Restaurant Vatra is a very nice place with great food and the best service at any restaurant in Bucharest. It has a Romanian folk theme. There is peasant-style wooden furniture and hand-woven textiles draping the walls and, of course, there is Romanian folk music in the background.

I had Ciorba de Fasole cu Afamatura (bean and bacon soup), Saramura de Pui cu Mamaliguta (baked chicken and polenta) and Clatite cu Ciocolata (chocolate pancakes) and it was all delicious.

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My friend and I ate lunch at Restaurant Ana Rustic on the first day of our stay in Bucharest in March 2008.

This traditional Romanian restaurant is located on Strada Bijuteria (Pasaj Macca), a café-lined alleyway behind Strada Lipscani and just off Calea Victoriei.

Pass through the large wooden door (with its wooden sign above the door and a menu board, completely in Romanian, standing outside), follow the signs through the passageway and you will arrive at a door that leads to the underground dining area.

True to its name, the dining room has a rustic feel to it with wooden floorboards, large chunky wooden tables and chairs and traditional rugs and pottery items decorating the walls. Romanian folk music plays in the background.

The menu is in Romanian only and while we were able to translate some of the dishes (those that had names similar to the English or French names), we were determined to try some genuine Romanian cuisine so we asked the friendly waiter to recommend a dish for us. His English was excellent, so he was able to describe in detail the Romanian pork stew dish that he recommended we try. This dish consisted of pieces of pork, liver and sliced sausage in a red wine sauce, with polenta (known in Romanian as Mămăligă), melted white cheese and a fried egg. It was tasty and filling, but the quality of the meat wasn’t particularly good.

We each had the pork stew, along with a side dish of pickled vegetables (a bowl of gherkins, pickles, pickled cauliflower and carrots). We had 2 bottles of Timisoreana beer (a Transylvanian brewed beer) each and an espresso coffee each.

I had pancakes with chocolate sauce (2 pancakes filled with Nutella chocolate spread and topped with chocolate sauce) and my friend had an apple and sultana pie for dessert.

The total cost of both our meals was 72 Lei / 15 GBP, so it was very good value for money.

Good value Romanian food in a rustic restaurant near Lipscani.

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The inn was built in 1808, and originally owned by a wealthy and flamboyant Armenian, Emanuel Marzaian, better known under his Turkish name Manuc-bei. The inn was the site of the preliminary talks for the Treaty of Bucharest, which put an end to the 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish war. In 1842 it briefly housed Bucharest's town hall. Around 1880 a hall at the inn as used as a theatre, and was the site of the first Romanian operetta performance.

The inn has a very nice restaurant and a nice bar and coffee shop. The food served here is very tasty. The prices are a little bit higher than in other restaurants, so if you are on a budget, stop here and get a drink or a coffee instead of a full meal.