Walking the streets of Bucharest's old town we stopped at a landmark, a famous restaurant, a place everyone talks about, a traditional restaurant built over ten years ago in this old house.
The Caru' cu Bere (the beer wagon) is a bar and restaurant on Stavropoleos Street in the Lipscani district of Bucharest, Romania, opened in 1879 and moved to the current location, a gothic revival building designed by Austrian architect Siegfrid Kofczinsky, in 1899. It is noted for its interior decoration, in art nouveau style. It is operated by Dragoș Petrescu's City Grill chain, and is classed as a historic monument, even a Romanian writer Mateiu Caragiale's frame story, Sub pecetea tainei, is set here.
Enter a beautiful restaurant set in an impressive structure… An overwhelming cultural space where you'll enjoy beautiful gold artwork and floral artistic motifs on rugged wood structure set under this high ceilinged space. It’s a cultural space where you'll understand a big part of Bucharest's history.
The menu:
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Student menu
- Seniors menu
- Soups
- Starters
- Special salads
- Grilled dishes
- Homemade dishes
- Side dishes
- Salads
- Homemade desserts
- Fresh fish
- Homemade bread
- Menu is printed on a newspaper and has four large pages.
We ordered:
- Romanian cheese platter: Burduf mature cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese, buffalo cheese, curd, fresh cucumbers, spring onions and tomato.
- Mixed minced meat rolled in cabbage with polenta, sour cream and a chili pepper on the side. Tender cabbage filled with molten meat mixed with rice. It feels like stuffed cabbage leaves, the version we have in Lebanon with more fat, more spices and more flavor.
- Romanian cold meat platter with accompaniments: Babic and plescoi sausages, Romanian cascaval cheese, spring onions, Romanian telemea cheese, liverwurst, kalamata olives, tomato and pork fat.
- Classic Romanian skinless sausages "mici": It looks like kafta kabab, its extremely spiced, rich and heavy with a flavor of pork meat. It’s an adventurer's plate.
- Fresh eggplant dip with tomatoes and onions. A salad of mashed eggplant served with diced onions tomatoes on the side, it reminds me of our chanklish and waiting to be mixed or baba ghannouj without tahina.
- Bean soup with smoked pork in a bread bowl: This is my favorite of them all. It’s juicy with a lot of taste and flavors. You’ll feel the mix of different ingredients under your palate. Served in a bread bun, this soup is something I recommend.
- Smokey eggplant "zakusca" dip. It's like moussakaa, the Lebanese eggplant mix with tomatoes and vegetables. It’s a good one as well. Tender, smokey, rich and flavorful.
Ok, let's be realistic. This place might be the most profitable restaurant on earth and the second most profitable company in Bucharest but food lacks finesse and taste. It's a like a food machine making restaurant.
It's a must try and see experience for sure while in Bucharest but don't expect to enjoy the real flavors of authentic Romanian cuisine. Even the service is not as good as it should be.
