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EATING AND
DRINKING |
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Under Communism the only people not driven to the black market for
food were package tourists, fed huge meals to obscure the realities of
life in Romania, and the Party elite, who had their own supply network.
Visitors can still opt for the security of a package tour and confine
themselves to eating in tourist hotels, or come prepared to forage for
themselves. Winter is tough everywhere, but the availability and variety
of food improves as the months pass, so that you can eat relatively well
during the summer and autumn, especially if you can cook for yourself.
Restaurant menus are, sadly, very predictable. Imported foods such as
oranges, bananas and German yoghurts are also available, at a price
Breakfast and snacks
Staying in a hotel, you'll normally be guaranteed breakfast on the
premises or in a nearby café, the cost of which will be included in the
charge for accommodation. Typically it's a light meal of rolls and
butter (sometimes known as ceai complet ), to which an omelette, salty
cheese or long, unappealing-looking skinless sausages can be added. This
is washed down with a large white coffee or a cup of tea.
Should you rise late, or not fancy the above, then look out for snacks ,
known as gustari (also the Romanian word for hors d'oeuvres); note that
a "Snack Bar" serves only drinks. The most common snacks are flaky
pastries ( pateuri ) filled with cheese or meat, often dispensed through
hatches in the walls of bakeries; brioche, a Moldavian speciality;
sandwiches ( sandvici ); a variety of spicy grilled sausages and
meatballs, normally sold by street vendors and in beer gardens; and
small pizzas topped with cheese, salami and ketchup. Ice cream is also
sold on the streets almost all year round.
Restaurant meals
Outside the cities, you'll find most restaurants are in hotels or
attached to them, although small private cafés are springing up in many
towns. It's best to go upmarket if you can, since the choice of dishes
in cheaper restaurants is limited to cutlet ( cotlet ) and chips, and
they tend to be thinly disguised beer halls. At least the grisly self-service
Autoservire canteens that Ceausescu intended to make the mainstay of
Romanian catering have largely vanished; unfortunately they've been
replaced for the most part by burger bars which are little better.
Lacto-Vegetarian restaurants are also vanishing; these were in any case
never particularly vegetarian, but where they still exist they can offer
affordable food in reasonably congenial surroundings. Whatever place you
settle on, always enquire Care feluri le serviti astazi, ve rog? ("What
do you have today?") or Ce îhmi recomandati? ("What do you recommend?")
before taking the menu too seriously, for sometimes the only thing going
is the set menu ( un meniu fix ), usually dominated by pork.
However, at smarter restaurants and hans (motels, which are actually
more like traditional inns with olde-worlde decor), there's a fair
chance of finding authentic Romanian dishes , which can be delicious.
The best known is sarmale - cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, meat and
herbs, usually served (or sometimes baked) with sour cream or
horseradish; they are sometimes also made with vine leaves ( sarmalute
in foi de vita ) or with corn ( sarmale cu pasat ), as in Maramures.
Mamaliga , maize mush or polenta, often served with sour cream, is
especially associated with shepherds and the authentic outdoor life.
Stews ( tocane ) and other dishes often feature a combination of meat
and dairy products. Muschi ciobanesc (shepherd's sirloin) is pork
stuffed with ham, covered in cheese and served with mayonnaise, cucumber
and herbs; while muschi poiana (meadow sirloin) is beef stuffed with
mushrooms, bacon, pepper and paprika, served in a vegetable purée and
tomato sauce.
Wherever you are, keep an eye out for regional specialities (
specialitatile regiunii ). Moldavian cooking is reputedly the best in
Romania, featuring rissoles ( pârjoale ), and more elaborate dishes such
as rasol moldovenesc cu hrean (boiled pork, chicken or beef, with a sour
cream and horseradish sauce), tochitura moldoveneasca (a pork stew, with
cheese, mamaliga , and a fried egg on top), rulade de pui (chicken
roulade), and pui Câmpulungean (chicken stuffed with smoked bacon,
sausage, garlic and vegetables). Because of Romania's Turkish past, you
may come across moussaka and varieties of pilaf, while the German and
Hungarian minorities have contributed such dishes as smoked pork with
sauerkraut and Transylvanian hotpot.
Cafés
Establishments called cofetrie serve coffee , soft drinks, cakes, ice
cream, and even beer. Romanians usually take their coffee black and
sweet in the Turkish fashion; ask for cafea cu lapte if you prefer it
with milk, or fara zahar without sugar. The instant varieties are called
Ness . Cakes and desserts are sticky and very sweet, as throughout the
Balkans. Romanians enjoy pancakes and pies with various fillings, as
well as Turkish-influenced baclava and savarina (crisp pastry soaked in
syrup, filled with whipped cream).
Vegetarians
Vegetarians will have a tough time in a country where voluntarily doing
without meat is simply beyond comprehension. It's hard even to get a
pizza that's meat-free. You could try asking for ghiveci (mixed stewed
veg); ardei umpluti (stuffed peppers); oua umplute picante or oua
umplute cu ciuperci (eggs with a spicy filling or mushroom stuffing);
oua romanesti (poached eggs); or vegetables and salads. However, in
practice, you're likely to end up with omelette, mamaliga (maize mush or
polenta) or cascaval pané (cheese fried in breadcrumbs). You can try
asking for something fara carne, va rog ("without meat, please"), or
check este cu carne? ("does it contain meat?"), but you're unlikely to
get very far. Watch out, too, for the ubiquitous meat stock.
Drinking
The national drink is tuica , a tasty, powerful brandy usually made of
plums, taken neat. In rural areas, home-made spirits can be fearsome
stuff, often twice distilled (to over 50 percent strength, even when
diluted) to yield palinca , much rougher than grape brandy ( rachiu or
coniac ). All spirits are alarmingly cheap (and served in large measures,
usually 10cl; ask for a mic , 5cl, if you want less), except for whisky,
which retails for around $12 a bottle.
Most beer is European-style lager ( bere blonda ). Silva (from Reghin),
Valea Prahova (from Azuga), Ciucas (from Brasov), Ursus (from Cluj),
Ciuc (from Miercurea Ciuc) and Hateg are probably the best regional
brews, while Bergenbier and Eggenburger are acceptable mass-produced
brands; you will also occasionally find brown ale ( bere neagra ). Beer
is usually sold by the bottle, so a request for o sticla will normally
get you one of whatever's available; draught beer is known as halba .
Romania's best wines - and they are good - are the white Grasa from
Cotnari, near Iasi, Tamaioasa , a luscious late-harvested Moldavian
dessert wine, Feteasca Neagra , the blackberryish reds from Dealu Mare,
east of Ploiesti, and the sweet dessert wines from Murfatlar (notably
Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, and white Muscat Ottonel). They can be
obtained in the better restaurants without too much trouble; other
restaurants may just offer you a choice of red or white. Sparkling (
spumos ) wines from Alba Iulia and Panciu (north of Focsani) are very
acceptable. Wine is rarely sold by the glass, but it does no harm to ask
- Serviti vin la pahar?
Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Romanian mineral water are omnipresent; other soft
drinks are more or less drinkable nowadays, but only severe dehydration
justifies resorting to the indigenous sirop .
Buying your own food
Most shops now have a fair choice of foodstuffs, both locally produced
and imported; a few new supermarkets have a wider range of imported
foods but these are relatively expensive. There are also kiosks almost
everywhere, selling biscuits and chocolate as well as their mainstays of
booze and cigarettes. You should always check the sell-by dates on
imported goods as they may have been dumped by the countries of origin.
The basics are sardines, meat paste, pickled fruit and vegetables,
pasta, jam, processed cheese and biscuits. Fresh cheese, eggs and meat
can be bought in the general foodstores ( alimentara ), while fruit and
veg should be bought in the market ( piata ), where honey is also a good
buy - in smaller towns and villages you may be expected to bring your
own bag.
Most bread is white, and not unpleasant, but it's worth asking for
wholemeal bread ( pâine graham or pâine diatetica ). Most, but not all,
stores will sell a half-loaf to a solo traveller.
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