Romanian cuisine is a synthesis of Turkish, Slavic, Hungarian, Saxon and authentic Romanian influences. Based on meat (pork, lamb, beef), polenta, cheese, cabbage, plums. Each region has its specialties, but several dishes are national.
🥗 Starters and salads
- Zacuscă — paste of aubergines, peppers, onions, tomatoes, cooked for hours in oil. Eaten on bread.
- Salată de boeuf — salad of beef, potatoes, carrots, peas, mayonnaise. Festive.
- Aubergine salad — roasted aubergines, onion, oil. With bread.
- Telemea with tomatoes — salty cheese with tomatoes.
- Sheep pastrami — smoked salted sheep meat.
🍲 Ciorbe (sour soups)
- Tripe soup (ciorbă de burtă) — beef tripe with garlic, sour cream, vinegar. Hangover cure.
- Rădăuțeană soup — chicken with vegetables, garlic, sour cream. Bucovinian origin.
- Meatball soup (ciorbă de perișoare) — small meatballs, vegetables.
- Bean soup with smoked pork shank — beans with smoked ham hock.
- Fish borscht (Danube Delta) — fisherman's soup with three fish.
🥟 Sarmale — the national dish
Pickled cabbage or vine leaves, stuffed with minced meat (pork + beef), rice, onion, dill. Cooked for hours. Eaten with polenta and sour cream. Festive specialty (Christmas, weddings, christenings).
🍖 Main dishes
- Mici (mititei) — grilled sausages of minced meat (beef + sheep + pork), bicarbonate, garlic. Origin: a Bucharest trattoria, 19th c. Eaten with mustard and bread.
- Polenta (mămăligă) — cornmeal porridge, replaces bread. With cheese, sour cream (polenta with cheese and sour cream), stew or eggs.
- Tochitură — pork with polenta, eggs, cheese, Moldavian variety.
- Lamb drob — traditional Easter pâté from lamb offal.
- Pork tenderloin — oven roasted, with polenta.
- Tocăniță — stew with meat and vegetables.
- Pomana porcului — traditional meal after pig slaughter (December–January). All organs and fresh meat, fried.
🥖 Bread and pastry
- Cheese pie (plăcintă cu brânză) — phyllo dough, telemea filling.
- Cozonac — Easter / Christmas sweet bread with walnuts, poppy seeds, Turkish delight.
- Gogoși — fried bread, eaten at breakfast.
- Country bread — large white loaf, baked on the hearth.
🍰 Desserts
- Papanași — traditional dessert: cheese doughnuts with sour cream and jam (actually relatively new, but very widespread as tourist attraction). 25–35 lei.
- Pancakes — with jam, cheese, chocolate.
- Kadayıf (cataif) — Oriental (Turkish) dessert with syrup.
- Pască — Easter dessert from sweet cheese.
🍷 Drinks
- Țuică / Pălincă / Horincă — plum or pear spirit, 30–50%. Maramureș pălincă the strongest.
- Romanian wine — Cotnari (sweet white wine, 15th c.), Murfatlar (dry white, Dobrogea), Recaș (Banat), Cramele Cotnari. Indigenous varieties: Fetească Neagră, Fetească Albă, Tămâioasă Românească.
- Beer — Ursus, Timișoreana, Ciucaș, Silva. 5–10 lei.
- Visinata — homemade sour cherry liqueur.
🍴 Recommended restaurants
- Bucharest: Caru' cu Bere (since 1879), Hanu' Berarilor, Lacrimi și Sfinți.
- Cluj-Napoca: Roata, Casa Mihaela.
- Sibiu: Crama Sibiu Vechi, Hermania.
- Brașov: Bistro de l'Arte, Casa Tipografilor.