Transylvania Means Good Romanian Food & Wine

Summary

The author shares their culinary experiences in Brasov, Transylvania, detailing the quality of food, service, and ambiance at local restaurants, with a particular focus on the traditional Romanian dessert, papanasi.

Abstract

The article recounts the author's gastronomic journey in Brasov, beginning with a satisfying meal at the Transilvania Restaurant after a challenging bus trip. The author enjoys a delicious pork tenderloin with vegetables and savors the local dessert specialty, papanasi. Despite initial disappointment over the lack of house wine, the meal is deemed excellent value. The following day, the author experiences a unique coffee service and enjoys a brunch of poached eggs shakshuki. A subsequent dinner at Beraria POFTA sau FOAME, while visually appealing, falls short in food quality and service, leading to disappointment. The author returns to Transilvania Restaurant, where the food quality remains high, but the service is less personable, and an unwanted beer is served. The article concludes with a reflection on the variability of dining experiences based on service and company.

Opinions

The author has a positive opinion of the Transilvania Restaurant's food quality, particularly praising the pork tenderloin and papanasi dessert.
There is a negative sentiment towards the lack of house wine at Transilvania Restaurant during the first visit.
The author is pleasantly surprised by the unique presentation of coffee in a wine glass with a straw.
The shakshuki poached eggs brunch is satisfying, though slightly overpriced.
The second dining experience at Beraria POFTA sau FOAME is criticized for its subpar papanasi and service, despite the appealing decor.
The author expresses disappointment over the impersonal service during the second visit to Transilvania Restaurant, but the quality of the chicken breast dish is highly commended.
There is a hint of humor and frustration regarding the waitress's mistake of serving beer instead of sparkling water and wine.
The author suggests that the overall dining experience is influenced by both the food and the service, with the first visit to Transilvania Restaurant being the most memorable and enjoyable.

Transylvania Means Good Romanian Food & Wine

That doesn’t break the bank

Transilvania Restaurant All photos by author

My first meal in Brasov after a harrowing eight-and-a-half hour bus journey and being dropped at the out-of-town bus station where my phone decided to give me no internet. Thanks, Optus again for leaving me stranded. I’ve lost count of the number of my international roaming failures. At least six when I’ve really needed connection. Strangely, 4 years ago I had not a single failure with roaming and I wasn’t even paying for it. Optus cancelled this great plan just before I left Australia. I pleaded, begged, cursed, and cried to no avail. The “best” they could give me was half-price $5 a day. Seems like every Aussie I’ve met has the same special “half-price” offer!

“Muschiulet de porc brezat cu sos de mustar Dijon” with a Bouquet Garni of vegetables

Dinner

Sorry for the rant, but you’ll understand why I headed for dinner at 17:00 (5 pm) wanting real food. I remembered the Transilvania Restaurant from my last trip to Brasov 12 years ago. Who knew if it was even still operating? Covid has closed a lot of places that lost so much money they simply could not sustain the losses and wait for the tourists to return.

By a stroke of good luck, they had opened again two weeks ago so I was the only diner. The first disappointment was they didn’t have house wine which was either free or so cheap for six of us that we drank several litres in 2011.

But the wine they served me passed muster and I waited for my main meal: pork tenderloin and a Bouquet Garni of vegetables pictured above. I savoured each mouthful. The best vegetables I can remember. Even though I’m travelling slowly, one town seems to meld into another so I only have my photos to remind me what I ate and where. I haven’t photographed every meal. Sometimes I’m so hungry I don’t remember to take a photo until the plate is empty. And sometimes I’ll just have an orange and banana at my hostel when I’m too tired/sick/lazy to go foraging for dinner.

Although I was pleasantly full after consuming the meal, the lovely waitress who had chatted to me the whole time with local recommendations and even the best things about Bucharest where she’s from, enticed me to try the local specialty, papanasi.

What can I say? A taste sensation. Soft delectable doughnut-like circles filled with cream and sour cherries. My photo doesn’t give you the taste!

All this including the wine and sparkling water was 90 lei (about $30 Aus). If you can find a meal anything like this in Australia, let me know!

Brunch

As you can imagine, the following morning I didn’t wake hungry, so headed up the street for a coffee. I was the only customer. They had poached eggs shakshuki on the menu so thought I’d try their version. I do like Shakshuki.

Central Cafe…not really central at all but cute

When my latte was served in a wine glass with a straw. I thought it quite strange but nevertheless drank it. It was a new experience drinking coffee through a straw and surprisingly I enjoyed it. Since then, I’ve found cafe lattes are served like this all over town.

Poached eggs with shakshuki sauce and latte in a wine glass!

This brunch cost 45 lei… a little more than I thought it should, but it satisfied me until dinner. Energised, I set off up the mountain. I only walked 3 and a half kilometres but all uphill and downhill which was tough on muscles that aren’t usually used for walking. All my walking for the past three months has been mostly on perfectly flat ground.

Dinner

On my hostel host’s recommendation, I ventured to Beraria POFTA sau FOAME for a glass of red wine and dinner. I was still really hot from my walk, so asked to be seated away from the gas heaters. Unlike the dulcet tones of Ed Sheeran and Adele at the Transilvania, American pop cowboy music played loudly. I don’t know what else to call it. I like Blake Shelton and Alan Jackson and Toby Keith and Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw but I didn’t recognise any of their songs.

Different coke bottles through the years decorated the walls.

I ordered pork again but they didn’t have any vegetables only potatoes cooked with garlic and rosemary and coleslaw. I couldn’t eat all of either of them but managed to eat the pork ribs. The red house wine was pretty good.

Pork ribs and garlic potatoes and coleslaw

I ordered the papanasi again to compare both restaurants’ versions. I have to tell you that even though it looks superior to the Transilvanian version, it was not. The dough was as hard as a rock — even with a sharp knife it was difficult to cut through, not to mention only one ring was served. They did try to drown it in sour cherries and cream, maybe to soften it, but it didn’t work. A total disappointment.

And to top it off, it cost 97 lei. You can’t always believe recommendations. And the waitress barely spoke to me and gave me incorrect directions to the toilet which found me outside the building. She did apologise- she has difficulty with left and right.

Dinner, again

So where do you think I went for dinner on my third night in Brasov? If you guessed Transilvania, you’d be right. But you can never repeat experiences, can you? The food was still great — even better than my first night if that’s possible — but the waitress spoke very little English so there was no friendly chatting while waiting for my meal. In fact, when I asked for sparkling water and a glass of red wine, she poured me a beer! I tried to figure out which part of a bottle of sparkling water and a glass of wine sounded like beer. She did bring the water and wine as well! Do people drink beer and wine together?

I ordered the chicken breast this time and the bouquet garni of vegetables again. I’ve never seen chicken like this! And let me tell you, it was melt-in-the-mouth delicious! And I was given some raw red cabbage on the side too!

Would you like some papanasi? Of course you would! So soft it fell apart with a fork!

And the big surprise … it was 84 lei! Maybe the first waitress charged for the conversation? Or this waitress deducted 6 lei for pouring me an unwanted beer? I didn’t ask!