A 3,000-seat beer hall in a former exhibition pavilion by Herăstrău Park, serving mici and mixed grills alongside beer and live music, Romania's largest venue of its kind.
Opening hours: daily, roughly 10:00-03:00, Thu-Sat until 05:00 (please confirm)
Romania's largest beer hall by seat count, a Wikipedia-notable venue in a converted 1950s exhibition pavilion, rated well on TripAdvisor for its scale and grill menu even when reviewers flag the noise on concert nights.
Lipscani, Old Town (Centrul Vechi)Romanian, traditional beer hall€€
Bucharest's most famous historic restaurant, an 1879 beer house turned 1899 Gothic-Revival hall in the Old Town, known for carved wood, stained glass, folk-dance shows between the tables and big plates of sarmale and roast pork knuckle.
Opening hours: daily 10:00-00:00 (please confirm)
Bucharest's best-known historic restaurant: an 1899 Gothic-Revival beer hall that has topped visitor lists for decades and still holds strong ratings on TripAdvisor and Google despite the tour-group crowds.
Photo: L Liu / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0 ( source) Illustration
Kaiamo
Dorobanți, near Herăstrău ParkModern Romanian, tasting menu€€€
A tasting-menu restaurant near Herăstrău Park where chef Radu Ionescu, back from seven years in London kitchens, reworks Romanian ingredients into nine-to-twenty-course dinners with wine or cocktail pairings.
A tasting-menu address built on native Romanian ingredients, listed on World's 50 Best Discovery and drawing comparisons to Michelin-level kitchens from diners who've eaten around Europe.
Lipscani, Old Town (Centrul Vechi)Coffee, specialty roastery€
A specialty coffee shop on Lipscani in the Old Town, serious about sourcing and hand-filter brewing, with a short pastry case and a spot on most Bucharest coffee-lovers' shortlists.
One of the Old Town's most-recommended specialty coffee shops, favoured by coffee writers and TripAdvisor reviewers over the souvenir-strip cafes nearby.
Photo: Firilacroco / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 ( source)
Bistro de l'Arte
Old Town, Piața George EnescuEuropean, Romanian-international bistro€€
An arty, informal bistro in a 1500s building on Piața George Enescu, mixing Romanian and international dishes with breakfast, long coffees and evenings that sometimes turn into small concerts or art shows.
Opening hours: Mon-Fri & Sun 09:00-01:00, Sat 12:00-01:00 (please confirm)
The Old Town's arty alternative to the heavy traditional kitchens: a World's 50 Best Discovery listing in a centuries-old building that doubles as a small gallery and music venue.
Old Town, off Council SquareTransylvanian, traditional Romanian€€
A cellar restaurant just off Council Square doing hearty Transylvanian cooking, menu printed in Saxon, Hungarian and Romanian, staff in folk dress, and meat and dairy from the restaurant's own farms.
Brasov's benchmark traditional-food address, a cellar just off Council Square that pulls consistently strong ratings on TripAdvisor and Restaurant Guru for its Transylvanian menu and own-farm ingredients.