The Romanian Menu Decoded: 30 Dishes, the Bill, and Flags

Ciorbă țărănească de porc · Peasant pork soup

M3: smoked pork + vegetables + herbs. The M1 version (with smoked meat) also lists eggs and sour cream — same name, different recipes, see the ciorbă card. The sourness comes from borș (fermented bran, dexonline), not vinegar.

eggdairypork

M3+M1

Borș de cocoș · Rooster sour soup

M3: rooster + vegetables + herbs. 'Borș' is both the soup and the fermented souring liquid (two senses, dexonline).

menu is silent, ask

M3

Ciorbă de burtă · Tripe soup

M3: beef tripe + vegetables + eggs + sour cream. The restaurants' signature piece: always on the menu, small variations.

eggdairy

M3

Supă gulaș · Goulash soup

M3: beef + potatoes + vegetables. 'Goulash' is the stew's name lent to a soup: thick, hot, filling.

menu is silent, ask

M3

Supă de găină cu tăiței · Hen soup with noodles

The M1 row: hen, carrot, onion, pepper, noodles, herbs — the homeliest of the broths.

gluten

M1

Salată de vinete · Eggplant spread

M3: baked eggplant + mayonnaise + onion. The M1 version with baked pepper. Called a 'salad', eaten as a bread spread — one of the naming traps.

egg

M3+M1

Fasole bătută · Whipped bean spread

M3: white beans + onion + garlic + carrot. 'Bătută' = whipped, with garlic oil. A fasting-season candidate, but the menu doesn't mark it — don't conclude alone.

garlic

M3

Zacuscă de vinete · Eggplant vegetable spread

M3: eggplant + pepper + onion + tomato. Autumn jar food, sold as a starter all year.

menu is silent, ask

M3

Icre de crap · Carp roe spread

M3: carp roe + onion + lemon. The M2 row: roe 'salad'. Eaten on bread, salty, made for drinks.

fish

M3+M2

Bulz · Baked polenta with cheese

M3: polenta + sheep cheese (brânză de burduf) + sour cream + eggs, baked. Short name, heavy portion: half a main course.

eggdairy

M3

Răcituri / piftie · Meat jelly

The M2 buffet row: pork jelly. 'Răcituri' and 'piftie' are one thing with two names; the menu picks by mood.

porkgarlic

M2

Salată de boeuf · Boeuf salad

The M2 buffet row. French name, eastern content: beef, potatoes, mayonnaise, cubes. Mandatory at feasts, rare otherwise.

egg

M2

Sarmale cu carne tocată · Cabbage rolls

M3: minced pork in pickled cabbage + smoked meat + sour cream. dexonline: minced meat (with rice) wrapped in cabbage/vine leaf, from Turkish sarma. The sour cream is the menu's writing, not law.

dairypork

M3

Mititei (DOC) · Grilled mincemeat rolls

The M3 version: minced beef + mutton + pork + garlic + spices, grilled. dexonline: small minced-meat rolls with spices, grilled; also 'mic'. 'DOC' is the house's name, not certification — not validated here.

garlic

M3

Cârnați (trei feluri) · Sausages (three kinds)

Three on one M3 row: sibieni (mutton), beer sausages (pork + beer), pleșcoi (mutton, spicy). The parentheses differ: read them when ordering.

alcoholspicygarlic

M3

Ciulama de pasăre · Poultry ciulama

M3: chicken + mushrooms + sour cream + flour. 'Ciulama' names the method (sour-cream-and-flour stew), not the meat: 'de pasăre' means poultry.

dairygluten

M3

Saramură de crap · Carp in brine

M3: carp + vegetables + garlic + hot pepper. 'Saramură' is the brine: a Danube recipe on a Bucharest menu.

fishgarlicspicy

M3

Păstrăv prăjit · Fried trout

M3: trout + lemon. 'Prăjit' here means pan-fried, not breaded: squeeze the lemon over.

fish

M3

Carne la garniță · Potted pork

M3: pork + garlic. The garniță is the lard pot: yesterday's fridge, today's signature. With pickles (a separate menu row).

porkgarlic

M3

Friptura berarului · Brewer's mixed grill

M3: pork neck + chicken legs + sausages + fries + pickles — the house signature, a sharing portion (the menu gives no headcount: nothing invented, judge by the description).

porkgarlic

M3

Pastramă de oaie · Mutton pastrami

M3: mutton + garlic, grilled. 'Pastrami' is pastramă's American relative — dictionary gossip, doesn't change the order.

garlic

M3

Cotlet de berbecuț · Ram chops

M3: chops + rosemary potatoes. 'Berbecuț' is the young ram: the menu with the most words for sheep — read de oaie / de berbecuț / miel.

menu is silent, ask

M3

Coaste de porc · Pork ribs

M3: ribs + barbecue sauce + fries. 'Coaste' means ribs: the menu writes plainly, you eat plainly.

pork

M3

Pârjoale moldovenești · Moldavian patties

The M1 row: minced pork, eggs, onion, garlic, herbs, bread — the transparent patty, everything on the table.

eggporkgarlicgluten

M1

Mămăligă · Polenta

An M3 side, mămăliguță (small) at M1. dexonline: corn flour boiled in water. Romania's rice: with rolls, with grill, with cheese, or alone.

menu is silent, ask

M3+M1

Cartofi (trei feluri) · Potatoes (three ways)

M3: baked / fried / rosemary. M1 at lunch: baked with garlic sauce. The potato is the menu's most honest item: it writes what you eat.

garlic

M3+M1

Varză călită cu cârnați · Stewed cabbage with sausages

M3: pickled cabbage + sausages + tomato. 'Călită' = smothered: the cabbage's sour tamed by fat, the sausages supporting actors and leads.

pork

M3

Papanași · Cheese doughnuts

M3: cow cheese + sour cream + blueberry jam. dexonline: cheese + eggs + flour/semolina, boiled or fried. The dessert headliner: on the menu, order it, no disappointment (the reverse case: everyone knows it's sweet).

eggdairygluten

M3

Orez cu lapte și dulceață de vișine · Rice pudding with sour-cherry jam

The M1 sweet row: rice + milk + sour-cherry jam. Vișine are sour cherries, not sweet: sour jam, sweet pudding, they settle it themselves.

dairy

M1

Pandișpan cu fructe · Sponge cake with fruit

The M1 sweet row: eggs + flour + sugar + fruit. Pandișpan is sponge cake: hard name, honest content.

eggglutendairy

M1

The bill box: the receipt is law, the tip is yours

The receipt (ANAF's 08.2025 consumer campaign, primary): cash means request and receive the fiscal receipt; by card you have the right to ask for one; if refused (except register breakdown with handwritten receipt), you're entitled to the good/service unpaid. Payment note alone without fiscal receipt is illegal. Reports: sesizari.anaf@anaf.ro, with a photo. The tip (January 2023 law, expat blog's 2024 version): the check must carry a tip section, 0–15% is yours to choose, cards accepted; the blog says not every POS supports it, especially local joints. The same blog gives the 10% custom and 'unhappy, skip it' — the blog's words, not the law's, rendered with a label. Cover/service: no primary grounds, no figures: questions on the bill, ask the waiter face to face.

Source: ANAF receipts + tip law (blog version)

The allergy box: the menu only, not the kitchen's promise

Flags come only from ingredient rows: egg, dairy, gluten, fish, garlic, pork, alcohol, spice. Same name with different recipes (the ciorbă) takes the union of flags, with a note. Whatever the menu omits gets 'ask', never a guess. Most important: flags aid reading, they promise nothing medical — with allergies, ask the waiter when ordering; menus and cooks change, flags expire.

M1 · București · Caru' cu Bere (Stavropoleos 5)

Lunch menu PDF (14.09.2026), with ingredients, weights, kcal, prices.

M2 · București · Caru' cu Bere (events)

Menu data embedded in the events page (2026), traditional cold rows.

M3 · București · Hanu' Berarilor

Food menu PDF (06.2026), bilingual RO/EN, with descriptions.