Anyone that follows us regularly knows that one of our favourite things about visiting a new country is the food! We weren’t entirely sure what to expect before arriving in Romania, but we knew it would have Turkish and Eastern European influences, and be somewhat heavy and hearty. We definitely were not wrong. The food in Romania is especially appealing in colder months. Thankfully we visited Bucharest in late fall and had the perfect weather and temperatures to match the food style!
We started off at a very famous restaurant in Old Town called Caru' cu bere. Here we tried a few different dishes including:
Ciorbă:
We had some absolutely amazing soups while in Romania. One of the most famous and easy to find is a sour soup called Ciorbă. The one we were served was made with white beans and pork and served in a bread bowl.
Mamaliga:
You’ll find polenta on a lot Romanian menus, but referred to as mămăligă. The dish we tried at this restaurant was called Mămăligă cu branza si smantana, which is made with cheese, sour cream and an egg. Polenta is a well known and popular dish in Romania and you’ll find it all over the place.
Jumari:
We also tried to order a pork dish called jumari which we thought was made with pork rinds but what arrived at our table was a piece of bread with a pork spread and pickles and onions.
Romanian Wine and Cheese:
Later in the day we headed to a wine bar to try out some Romanian wine and cheese. We each got a glass of red wine which was so much better than we expected, and a cheese platter entirely made of Romanian cheese. Unfortunately it’s very difficult to find Romanian wines outside of the country (at least in Canada!), but we were incredibly surprised by the quality of wine that Romania is producing. If you’re a wine connoisseur it’s worth adding Romania to your list!
Because we needed to try even more Romanian food, we lastly make our way to one more restaurant to have some dinner. Here we tried:
Even More Soup!
At our last stop we tried another Ciorbă or sour soup, this time made with turkey, at least according to the menu. Many commenters on our YouTube video have claimed it was likely pork.
Cabbage Rolls:
You cannot visit Romania and not try their cabbage rolls! It’s one of the most typical Romanian dishes, the version we tried was made with pork meat and they were delicious.
Papanași:
This is another dish you absolutely must try when in Romania! Papanași is an absolutely incredible dessert which is essentially small fried doughnuts covered in sour cream and with jam on top.
For more information, watch our YouTube Video:
This is just a small selection of all the delicious foods to try while in Romania.
If you’re interested in finding out about street food in Bucharest, watch our video here:
On our visit to Romania we also visited the Transylvanian city of Cluj-Napoca, it’s more than well worth a visit if you’re heading to Romania and you should definitely add it to your itinerary. While there we filmed a video about Transylvanian food, watch it here:
