Trip to Bucharest, Romania, 30 Oct - 5 Nov 2016 (Part 2) - Caru' cu Bere Restaurant

It was my 1st dinner in Bucharest, so PA graciously brought myself & my 2 Singapore office colleagues, SN & M to the well-known restaurant in town called Caru' cu Bere Restaurant.

Palatul/Palace CEC

Caru' cu Bere isn't located on the main road in town, so look out for the Palace of CEC, a large building on Calea Victoriei road opposite the National Museum of Romanian History. This building was built in 1900 & is the headquarter of CEC Bank.

Caru' cu Bere is located on one of the small lanes opposite the Palatul CEC. You can't really miss it as it's the ONLY restaurant with a large crowd, pretty much everyday!

This place is so popular that it's best to make a reservation before heading there, especially on weekend nights.

The restaurant has 2 floors, but most people would prefer to sit at the ground floor as Caru' cu Bere is very popular for their performances as well. You can enjoy their performances during lunch hour & more so during dinner time as the dancers will only appear in the evening :)

List of events taken from their menu

Their menu looks like a newspaper/magazine!

It was actually very confusing to read through for a foreigner; there were just too many words (small fonts too!!) & it seems like there are too vast a variety to choose from that I lost interest in reading the menu after a while. You can take a look at a copy of their menu, available online: here. I noticed that the prices of food here are slightly above average, but there's a constant crowd, which tells me that people find it worth coming here for a meal!

Here are our orders for the evening:

Starter: Platou De Toamnă/ Autumn Platter (RON12.90; RM13.57/serving)

Smokey eggplant "Zakusca" dip & Romanian bean casserole with onion

Surprise, surprise! We actually enjoyed this very simple starter of smoked eggplant spread with the fluffy house bread :) It was one of the better dishes that evening. Even the bean casserole was delicious, like a humus, although the eggplant was the winner :) The zakusca was slightly sweet & savory with light seasoning of herbs & spices.

Pâine de casă “Caru’ cu bere” ~ 400 g (RON7.90; RM8.31/loaf)

Homemade "On the day" bread - traditional recipe

What's to complain when it comes to freshly-baked bread (apart from having too much served at one go)? :P

Main: Cotlete De Miel Tânăr La Grătar Cu Mămăliguţă (RON56.50; RM59.44/serving)

Grilled lamb chops with polenta ~ 290g 

We found the lamb chops slightly too dry/over-cooked. The polenta was still quite nice, but the lamb chops was a disappointment & was really tough to chew & swallow.

Specialitatea Casei Coilan De Porc Cu Varză Arcă Călită (RON84.00; RM88.37/serving)

House specialty roasted pork knuckle with braised sour cabbage

The pork knuckle is slightly different from the German-style of roasted pork knuckle. I personally prefer the German-style to the Romanian-style as I enjoy the crispy, crackling pork skin that wraps the moist & tender meat. The Romanian version is in my opinion best for pork knuckle porridge...hahaha. This dish came with pickled cabbage, chillies, horseradish, & gherkins plus a side of polenta. Overall, this dish wasn't a total winner, much to our surprise! Perhaps if you're a solid meat eater, you'll enjoy this, but it was just "too much" for us to enjoy.

A magician/clown came over from table to table as well & we didn't know what to do with him, so we 'entertained' him when he wanted to place hats & the parakeet on us...hahaha...we didn't even know if we're supposed to tip him!

Dessert: Papanaşi Delicioşi Cu Brânză Dulce, Smântână Si Dulceaţă ~ 420g (RON19.90; RM20.94/serving of 2 pieces)

Delicious “Romanian” doughnuts with sweet cheese, sour cream and jam

We were actually really full, but we just had to try the recommended dessert of sweet doughnuts ala Romanian-style. Frankly speaking, this was the best dish among all the dishes that we ordered that evening (fluffy doughnut + "sauces")! I'll recommend that you try this, especially if you love doughnuts, cheese, sour cream & jam. It's lip-smacking :P Not overly sweet & has a slight acidic tang to cut through the sweet cheese & sour cream taste.

Our 1st Romanian dinner experience ended with some dance performances by the staff at Caru' cu Bere. It was lovely to witness such traditional folk dances in a typical Romanian-looking restaurant from decades ago. Although the food that evening wasn't to our expectations, I would say that dining at Caru' cu Bere is a must, at least ONCE, if you're in Bucharest :)

Enjoy a short video of 2 dances that I managed to record using my camera :)

Caru' cu Bere
Strada Stavropoleos 5
București 030081
Romania.
Tel: (+40) 213 137 569/ (+40) 726 282 373 - mobile
Business hours: Opens daily Sun - Thurs 8:00a.m. - 12:00a.m.; Fri & Sat 8:00a.m. - 2:00a.m
URL: www.carucubere.ro
GPS: 44.431991,26.0981124


After dinner, we walked towards the car & stopped by for a photo moment with Trajan & the She-Wolf! :D

Outside the National Museum of Romanian History - Statue of Trajan & the She-Wolf

This is an iconic status, right outside the museum. My first impression of this status was "eeuuww...what a strange-looking statue!".  This bronze 2.15m high statue depicts a nude Trajan, the Roman emperor who conquered Dacia. holding in his arms the Capitoline Wolf (the she-wolf in the founding myth of Rome; the head of the wolf is joined to the tail of a Dacian Draco), which is doubled as the Dacian Draco, the war standard of the Dacians. - Wikipedia

That was the end of my 1st day in Bucharest. Up next, some restaurants reviewed :P


Satisfying Day 1 in Bucharest,