October 2025. Bucharest.
Friday was the Big Tourist Tick Day in Bucharest, and Mrs RM had targeted Caru’ cu Bere as the must visit Romania restaurant.
And not just because it was close to Ground Zero and it was raining.
Chat GPT had told me to go to Caru’ cu Bere (Ale Wagon) as well, when I asked it for recommendations for “traditional bars” (not craft bars).
It may be traditional, but it’s not exactly what I had in mind. Bucharest has restaurants, not boozers, and Caru’ cu Bere is more Mr Thomas’s Chop House than Hare & Hounds.
But it’s still gorgeous, and seems to have more local than tourist trade, but then Bucharest feels yet to be discovered, except by visiting football plans.
Service is efficient but casual, Mrs RM gets the last seat on the top floor,
then heads off to take the Instagram shots.
Any menu that starts with foie gras isn’t competing with Wetherspoons, and this wasn’t a cheap menu,
but there was no way we were resisting the famous pork knuckle with polenta and cabbage,
with a jug of the (excellent, I thought) house lager.
That knuckle was £36 for two, and you’ll be impressed to learn I made sure we finished it, as doggy bags aren’t really a thing here.
The meat was high quality, but it could have done with a (Sweet and Sour) sauce.
On the next table, a couple with toddler who’d arrived just before us were still deciding on their choices as we got the bill.
Americans should note the simplicity of our bills compared to yours. Just 2 figures and a total, tips at your discretion. No cover charge, no fee for paying by card, no service charge, no taxes added at the end, no waiters chasing you out if you tip less than 25%. Simple.
NB You may be interested in Boak & Bailey’s perceptive blog (here) from their Spring Balkans trip.
retiredmartin 
If Mrs RM intends to be an influencer, you better get used to those prices. You forgot the healthcare surcharge on the US bills. That’s coming your way after you sell out to UHG.
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Caru’ cu Bere (Ale Wagon)
but much can change over 1700 miles from Leicester.
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Looks great for £50.
But imagine the table full of tapas in Wethers for that.
(Although being in those nowadays seems to necessitate earplugs for others’ crappy tinny videos).
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Spoons should do an “All You Can Eat” menu for £20.
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Is the carpet worth that much?
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Looks like a fancier version of the beer halls in Prague. Strange how pork knuckle is fairly ubiquitous in central Europe, yet you’re never going to see it as an option in the UK.
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“Never going to see it as an option in the UK” Scott because it wouldn’t sell ?
A Pole not long ago leased a pub a few miles from me and I thought the central Europianish food, though not listed as such, was good but he’s now given up on the pub maybe partly because cabbage as a vegetable might be not what is expected in central Britain nowadays by those with long memories of school dinners.
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There was the backstreet pub in Manchester, not far from Marble, that did cracking Polish food a couple of decades ago. Didn’t last long, demolished now.
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Pint Pot, just off Rochdale Road before Marble Arch, and yes, GBG 20 years back.
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A lot of schnitzel as well. No German brewery owned pubs yet, though.
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