Caru' cu Bere: Is Fine Dining At The Beer Cart in Bucharest Possible?

Popular in the search engine!

Once I tell you more about Caru’ cu Bere, you will certainly be able to understand why it’s so popular on the internet! The restaurant is the oldest restaurant/pub in Romania and was established in 1879 by the Mircea family, who were Transylvanian merchants. It became famous before World War One and Romania’s Great Union because it was a place where Transylvanian activists would often meet. However, in 1949 the restaurant/pub was seized by the communist regime in Romania and it was only 50 years later, in 1999 that it was returned to the great grandchildren of the Mircea family. The restaurant/pub even has its own souvenir shop inside it; that’s how famous it! This is the first restaurant/pub that I have ever seen with a dedicated souvenir shop (and within the establishment) – so seeing such a shop is also an experience!

The restaurant/pub is a real sight to see and is a wonderful historical site to visit and truly enjoy. The interior of the restaurant/pub is beautiful as it has vaulted ceilings and complex decorations surrounding the walls including gold leaf coverings and truly ornate woodwork. It also has classical paintings, which give a real gothic feel to the establishment. To add to the beautiful interior is the fantastic entertainment that is available to all guests during the lunch and dinner service. The type of entertainment available varies and includes folklore dancing, Flamenco dancers and violinists.

Rustic and delicious Romanian cuisine

Like me, I am sure that you make it a habit to try the local cuisine of anywhere you travel to and I have to recommend that you visit Caru’ cu Bere as they deliver such tasty Romanian dishes. The restaurant/pub has its menu on a large A3 paper and it is presented in a newspaper style which is pretty cool (I even kept mine as a memory!).

The menu has an extensive array of options to choose from and the waiters are more than happy to walk you through the items and recommend which ones go best together. From the items available, I sampled the Romanian cheese platter (48.50 RON/approximately 12.00 USD), the homemade bread (7.00 RON/approximately 2.00 USD), and the polenta (6.00 RON/approximately 2.00 USD) and braised cabbage (9.90 RON/approximately 3.00 USD) as well as a few other items, which were scrumptious. I loved the variety of cheeses offered in the cheese platter, such as mature cheese, goat cheese, sheep cheese and buffalo cheese, which was accompanied by fresh cucumbers, spring onion and tomato. The homemade bread was of a wonderful texture and went well with the salty cheeses that came with the cheese platter. The polenta had to be my favourite dish from the main meal as it was plated as firm and dense balls that were seasoned well and were filling.

All the items that I had selected from the menu were actually starters and sides which is surprising, as you can see from my photograph, as they were absolutely enormous! The Romanians are generous with their portions and the staff were most certainly generous in giving me the time to enjoy the ambience, eat at my own pace and not feel rushed out of the door. This was important as the establishment was absolutely packed with both locals and tourist and this was the only restaurant in the Old Town that was so busy!

After munching some food and enjoying the ambience so much, you will definitely find it difficult to resist the desserts on offer; especially as the waiter brings an enormous platter of dessert cakes to each table to choose from. With my fellow diner, I chose to sample the Dutchess cake (16.80 RON/approximately 4.00 USD) as well as some of the homemade ice cream (18.00 RON/approximately 5.00 USD), which was yummy. Caru’ cu Bere makes the most unusual and delicious ice cream that I have ever tried; I loved both the melon and nutty ice cream and would urge you to try it too.

Some tips to make sure you have the best experience

Due to its popularity, the restaurant/bar can often be quite crowded and if you want to guarantee a table at a certain time, I would recommend that you make a reservation in advance. There are different places where you can sit in at Caru’ cu Bere as there is seating outside and inside the restaurant as well on the ground floor or on the second floor. I would recommend that you sit inside on the ground floor as you will have a better view of the entertainment as well as appreciate the furnishings of the beautiful building that is home to Caru’ cu Bere.

If you have a physical disability, such as you are in a wheelchair, I would suggest that you contact the restaurant/pub in advance and enquire whether they would be able to accommodate seating for you inside. This is because the entrance to the inside ground floor dining is through a rather small revolving door and therefore, it may be difficult for you to enter the building and see the interior. If you’re not too concerned about sitting inside, then I would suggest that you contact the restaurant/pub and highlight that you would like to make a reservation and request that some more space be made available for you to feel comfortable (due to the cramped seating). From my experience, Caru’ cu Bere is very responsive via email so I would definitely get in touch with them through this form of communication.

With an extensive menu available, do not worry about whether your dietary requirements will be satisfied as there definitely will be something available for you at this restaurant/pub. If you find a dish that you like and that you would like it made differently, such as without a specific ingredient, then let the waiters know as they’re more than happy to speak to the chef and confirm whether they can please you.

If you have a preference in respect to the type of live entertainment that you would like to see, then make sure you check out the regularly updated website for the restaurant/pub as it lists what will be occurring during the lunch and dinner service on each day of the week. As I played the violin for five years, I had to pick the lunch service when the violinist was stringing their fiddle! The violinist blended in themes and melodies from several different works of music and created a wonderful feel to the historical venue.

With all the munching and music, make sure that you save some time to check out the souvenir shop and also the mini telephone booth, which includes a funky vintage phone – a must see!