TOP 100 PUBS – SZIMPLA, SFANTU GHEORGHE, ROMANIA

October 2025. Sfântu Gheorghe. Romania.

“Not ANOTHER Top 100 pub, Retired Martin !“.

Yes, I know I promised that I’d maintain a one in, one out system, so let’s boot out Derby’s Ye Olde Dolphin, which I read has lost its Bass pump. It may be back.

I like having the odd non-UK pub on my list, it makes me seem well-travelled and cultured.

And Szimpla* is certainly an oddity, completely out of place an a traditional Romanian (but Hungarian leaning) town, a bit like seeing Motherwell get a Brunning & Price.

Inevitably, top Untappd ticker Tony from Farnborough had just been here, drinking 11.3% Imperial Stouts.

It looks like a ramshackle garage, rather than a registered Untappd venue (craft beer version of a GBG listing, I guess).

It also looked closed, despite an alleged 10am opening, but I’d merely failed to push on one of three (3) possible doors.

Reviews talk of “ruin bars“, new to me but big in Budapest, which is a place I must get back to.

A touch of the Yew Tree in Cauldon, perhaps, or the Peyton Arms in Stoke Lyne ?

Perhaps not.

The young barman seems surprised to see us at the door, more so when we ask for beer at 10:40, but comes up with a couple of good suggestions from the fridge.

“Is there anything to eat ?” calls Mrs RM.

I pick a chocolate muffin and one of the “kenyer”, and join Mrs RM in the tech room.

And then it hits me.

Random sockets, craft cans, chaotic decor, the sort of place you could sit in all day;

it’s so reminiscent of Chillton, Belgrade’s famous hidden bar.

And rather magical, with an adventurous Hungarian soundtrack with 764 Shazams,

and a house Red IPA from Mad Scientist of Budapest.

The less said about that lard on bread the better.

Astonishing place, and perhaps the best mission statement for a pub so far.

*Yes, I originally thought it was Szimple, like the Hearsay song, because the a looks like an e in the lard, which is a line you don’t write every day.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

4 thoughts on “TOP 100 PUBS – SZIMPLA, SFANTU GHEORGHE, ROMANIA”

  2. “Derby’s Ye Olde Dolphin, which I read has lost its Bass pump” reminds me that yesterday I didn’t have Bass in a pub where that was one of the four cask beers. I expect Will will give you all the details.

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    1. Well, as you know, I never gossip about what other people are drinking, or not drinking in your case. But now that you mention it…

      This was in the Admiral Nelson in Market Harborough, where the Red Diamond was flanked by two beers from the new Charles Wells brewery, Brewpoint. One was a 4.5% traditional bitter, Half the World Away, which was in pretty good condition, and not a bad beer at all.

      Come to think of it, Half the World Away should have made us think of Martin and Christine, but of course they are long since returned from Bucharest.

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  3. “I like having the odd non-UK pub on my list, it makes me seem well-travelled and cultured.”

    That word ‘seem’ is doing a lot of work there. 😉

    “completely out of place an a traditional”

    Pretty sure from context that ‘an’ should be ‘in’.

    “Inevitably, top Untappd ticker Tony from Farnborough had just been here, drinking 11.3% Imperial Stouts.”

    Ooooh. He’s scaling it back from the 12% Imperials then.

    “It also looked closed, despite an alleged 10am opening,”

    Sheesh. Not only closed, but abandoned!

    “new to me but big in Budapest, which is a place I must get back to.”

    I hear Trump and Putin will be there soon! 😇

    “but comes up with a couple of good suggestions from the fridge.”

    Sigh. I wish my fridge looked like that.

    ““Is there anything to eat ?” calls Mrs RM.”

    😎

    “Random sockets, craft cans, chaotic decor, the sort of place you could sit in all day;”

    And, if you go alone, you have the option of talking to that plant that seems to be potted in either a large coffee urn or a crockpot.

    “and a house Red IPA from Mad Scientist of Budapest.”

    (slow golf clap)

    Pubs/bars should really think about having house reds/whites that are beers as well as wines.

    “Astonishing place, and perhaps the best mission statement for a pub so far.”

    Pretty much captures the whole zeitgeist.

    “because the a looks like an e in the lard, which is a line you don’t write every day.”

    Just as long as you don’t follow ‘lard’ with a short word beginning with ‘a’!

    Cheers

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