Bucharest Expat » cafe

World Cup at Van Gogh!

Bucharest Expat — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:47:20 +0000

Grand Cafe Van Gogh will host a live broadcast of the World Cup Games from June 11… Every expatriate, traveler, and local must be familiar with Grand Cafe Van Gogh in “Old Town” Lispcani by now. If not, then become familiar. This is probably one of the greatest cafes in Bucharest due to its restored architectural splendor to its “flexible-use” spaces inside which include a great outdoor terrace, a massive interior ground level bar, a quaint wine bar downstairs, to the meeting spaces upstairs. Did we mention the cuisine and drinks are excellent? View this cafe on our Top 5 and on our visitor review article. Here’s the details on the Games:

Grand Café Van Gogh, located on strada Smardan opposite to the National Bank, offers:

Live World Cup broadcast with English Commentary (very unique)

A huge screen (2.5 x 2.5 mtr)
All the games with English commentary
80 seats with direct sight on the screen
Air conditioning
Great lunch menu and cold draft beer
A huge terrace for the after-match discussions

See You There!

Restaurant Dada

Bucharest Expat — Wed, 12 May 2010 19:33:43 +0000

As a regular reader of BuchExp you may notice that we as expats LOVE to find places that have great food, reliable internet connections, a pleasing atmosphere, and a great staff. Well, we’ve found another place (coincidentally right near where some of us live) that is well worth a visit. It’s called Dada, and is located over in sector 2 somewhat between Calea Mosilor and Mihai Bravu at the intersection str. Matei Voievod & str Agricultori. When you drive by, you’ll notice the large glass front (one level) that has some clothing displayed in it on 2 statues as well as the really cool design for a front “gate”. The gate is a hand twisted metal in a free-form pattern, that opens to the entry and a small side terrace. Inside there is a bar area with room for four as well as a nice “white tablecloth” dining area. The front area towards the street has four large couches and some stools which is where we always tend to sit and sip coffee and Demmer’s tea while working on the internet.

With swing, big band, and ambient music playing quietly in the background, and the candle-lit, virtually smoke-free atmosphere, Restaurant Dada makes for a very pleasant space. Now here’s the not-so-great news. The food comes with a hefty price. Appetizers or starters range from 15 to 49 ron, pasta dishes are in the mid to high 20 ron segment, and meat and fish dishes are around 40 ron each. The coffee and tea drinks are between the 9 and 12 ron range which fits with most “nicer” cafes around town. Think Dorobanti prices here. All in all we will return quite often to Restaurant Dada. EVERY single one of the dishes has been out of this world, and we have uploaded many of them to the Foodspotting social network group under BucharestExpat. We don’t see that reservations are necessary, but being the perfect place for a romantic dinner date, you will wish to call ahead just in case. Business here seems to pick up between 7 and 10pm. They are open until midnight weekdays.

Don’t Miss Restaurant Dada in 2 of our Top 5 listings. Click Here To View.

Restaurant Dada:

Str. Matei Voievod 94 bis

(colt cu Str. Agricultori)

0729 997 405

www.Dada.ro

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Ofir Cafe

Bucharest Expat — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:15:53 +0000

Ofir Cafe (featuring Doncafe coffees) is now open with a new great terrace in the city center. Ofir, opened a couple of moths ago in place of Dalidana Cafe off of Unirii Boulevard @ Regina Maria. New management, new coffee, new menu, new furnishings and fixtures, and best of all… new high speed wireless internet! This place was great for business meetings before, but now, with its quiet atmosphere and proximity to both taxi stands and metro stations, this is a sure bet if you need a quiet place to “meet and greet” or “get things done” while in the city center. Choices are limited for pure coffee shops here, most are the “quick turn” bistro style cafes that line the street on the other side of the river. A cup of coffee is 8 ron, a large latte, is 10. Demmers Teas, “Betty Ice” Ice cream, and some home-made sandwiches make this a great pit-stop while you’re walking in Unirea, transferring metros, or shopping across the street. The only downside here is that it is virtually impossible to get any coffee shop (or any other venue for that matter) to play any music other than the loud, obnoxious, dance hits you’ve all heard over, and over, and over, and over, and….

Ofir Cafe

Blvd. Unirii nr 20

@ Unirii & Regina Maria Next to Sanpaolo Banc

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Cafenea Ramayana. Great Tea…

Bucharest Expat — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:43:55 +0000

Another night driving alon aimlessly searching for someplace opened at 2am provided the perfect opportunity to stumble across this cafe over near gara de nord.

According to the sign on the door, Ramayana is open all hours. Great for us.. but what’s inside?

As it’s name may indicate, Ramayana is an specifically themed coffee shop where upon entering, one is greeted by a small foyer area that lets you walk either left or right into the cozy seating areas. Once seated on either the built-in style wrap-around seats, or stuffed circular ottomans, you’ll be able to comfortable look around, and up, at the multicolored fabric gathered and draped around the ceiling and walls. The stained glass windows add a touch of color to the candle-lit interior. We have returned for two reasons: the late night hours, as well as the best tea we’ve had so far in Bucharest. The tea we prefer as well as recommend is the “White Blueberry” which after it’s free “refill” or “rebrew” provides a grand total of around 18 cups ! There were three of us in our group and we were able to refill our teacups just about 6 times each through both brews. Wow. Not to mention it was only 15 Ron for the pot and that INCLUDED the re-brew. Of course, the secondary theme going on in this Arabesque cafe is the Nargila, or sheesha pipes.

Everyone at every table was participating in this growing pastime. While the sheesha was still some of the best in Bucharest, every flavor hinted of the prior flavor, as they seem to not clean the actual pipe part of the Narghelea. Happened to us four times in a row, so who knows. The finger-food is actually pretty decent by coffee-shop standards. It is frozen, so it stays reasonably fresh, then reheated in a convection oven. The baguette that I had stayed golden-crispy on the outside, while warm and chewy in the inside… bravo to that.

Str. Baldovin Parcalabul nr. 11

Reservations (recommended)

021-317-16-81

0788-595-595

A new update on the hookah trend: When a few of our expat group traveled to Romania for the first time, it was very “entertaining” for us to see a hookah pipe in “real life” for the first time. This had always been something we’d only seen in movies or reserved for the Caterpillar in Alice In Wonderland. When our first pipe was set down in front of us we really had zero clue as to what to do next. It looked fragile and scary. We starred uncomfortably as our minds were filled with unknown worry. What would happen when we took our first “draw”? Would we break the pipe? Would we break our lungs?? Would we be laughed at by everyone we felt was starring us down??? The stupid Americans that have no culture and really no clue are about to embarrass themselves! Not so fast – we tried it, we loved it, we tried it some more… And just like that the Americans were converted. This is culture and “class” all rolled up in a hubbly-bubbly vase. It has been years since this first hookah experience of ours. Since then we have traveled around a bit more, and noticed – over time – that a once shunned “fairytale only” pastime was now becoming more and more “acceptable”. No it is not pot. No it is not a harsh drug. No it is not something that should be looked upon with slanted eyes from the powers that be. On one of our visits back to the States we decided that we needed to place online orders for some hookah pipes and the sheesha tobacco. We ordered both flavoured tobacco and the “dried fruit” herbal sheesha as well. This combined with a variety of different pipes and vases made for a very nice “atmosphere” in our real estate office Stateside. At the point of bringing our sheesha experience home to the States, we lured some skeptical friends and associates in with the scent of fruity smoke. Some smoked, most didn’t. Fast forward the clock and hookah is catching on. Coffee shops around the world are incorporating this element at record pace. It is becoming the “hot” trend in many forward-thinking (or backward thinking depending on how you look at it) cities particularly in the US. Who would have thought? We would have!

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High Heels Cafe At AFI Mall Has Live Sax!

Bucharest Expat — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:46:39 +0000

We went to AFI last night to walk around and grab a cup of coffee while discussing Christmas ideas, and chose an “interesting” cafe this time. It is called High Heels and is located on the top floor on the parking garage side of the mall. I think this is an interesting coffee shop because I can “See” where they were going with the concept. Most of the coffee shops around Bucharest have the same feeling. They are trying to be reminiscent of a 1990′s Executive lounge in an airport or something…the IKEA elite furnishing team… who knows. Anyway… High Heels is great to bring a date for that quick cup of esspresso in the mall if your out that was. Chairs are comfy, the atmosphere is nice and different, somewhat of a retro feel, and……best of all….. when we went last night they had a LIVE Saxophonist playing popular old hits. Sorry I don’t know his schedule. If anyone knows.. please post comment. Here’s some pics:

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Wifi & Parking & Coffee

Bucharest Expat — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:26:27 +0000

Gloria Jeans Coffee Shop on the ground floor of the Golden Tulip Hotel, just off Blvd. Unirii around the corner from Bucuresti (Vitan) Mall has gained me as a repeat customer. Here’s why:

There is a great Valet out front that will assist you in finding a spot to squeeze your car in on the designated car park outside. There is no need to try to accomplish strange parking maneuvers on busy streets.

So far I have had zero issues with the reliability, compatibility and speed of the wifi network here (network name “wireless”). In fact, this post is being sent from that wireless network. Normally I would have to wait to send my posts via the wifi I’ve got at home or in the office. (Because I have three wireless devices online at this time I may be irritating the other customers a bit, but it doesn’t seem to be tying up too much of the bandwidth).

The atmosphere does have a lot of smoke, and as a non-smoker, it tends to bother me if I am on edge already (save the “I picked the wrong city to be a non-smoker in” jokes… I know…lol). To conquer this, sit at the tables toward the serving area, as the smoke hovers around the front window area, which by the way if you don’t mind smoke, is a great view out if you like to sit and watch people and cars.

Coffee prices are almost dead-on with Starbucks, maybe 5% more on average as Gloria Jeans’ positioning in the market is a bit more “upscale” at least in the States. So this puts your common drinks like lattes and cappuccinos in the 10-13 Ron range, depending on size. A slight bit less than a fite’ Turabo but slightly more than some smaller non-branded espresso cafes.

The pastries look pseudo-fresh (that’s a compliment) and are not overpriced. 7-12 Ron

Self-serve. Self-explanatory.

Here’s a brief background on Gloria Jean’s Coffees:

It was founded in Chicago in 1979 by (you guessed it) Gloria Jean Kvetko, and started life as most coffee shops do; a small single store with coffee and gifts.

In 1995 the “interesting” part began. Nabi Saleh, an Australian by residence, and an international commodities trader partnered up with Peter Irvine, the former Managing Director of Advertising Agency DDB Needham, and purchased the International Licensing rights for the coffee shops and brand. A year later, the two formed a company to take control of the International Franchising rights, more specifically to expand the Australian Market. The Australian Market today spans over 400 locations, compared to just over a hundred on the US side.

Just announced in 2009 was the intention of their company to now acquire the US operations from GJ’s parent co. Diedrich Coffee.

So there you have it… now you have another reason in support of why BuchExp group is going full force with American Marketing & Branding (shameless plug). “Calling all investors…..”

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