As spring taunts us for a few hours every day now, and we have the occasional warm evening, I figured it was high time we headed over for a “nice” comfortable evening walk around Lipscani. The street-side tables are beginning to blossom, as the national flower of “old town” seems to be the cafe umbrella… they’re planted everywhere. We parallel parked our car along the curbside on Calea Victoriei, which is a ten meter walk, if that into the “entry” of Valea Regilor, the unique (at least to us “new urban” minded Americans) covered alley-turned-cafe-tunnel that walks you directly in to old town Lipscani. So we meandered our way through the ordered chaos of partial renovations and jumping hot-spots to see “what’s new”. With a peak into some of the shops and a brief walk past the Irish Pubs and Sushi “bars” we wound up right back at Valea Regilor to sit down and relax at Egipt; the casual pseudo-arabic themed lounge/sheesha bar/cafe for a cheap Nargila and beer. It was more crowded than usual, and required reservations, but we were able to wrangle up a table. For the budget minded, this place is IT. I ordered an Ursus Black beer, half a liter, for 7 lei. Can’t beat that. Our nargila, that lasted longer than we could smoke, was 11 lei. With everyones drinks the total came to less than 40 lei, so cheaper than cheap for a group night out. So being that this was a monday night and the place was packed full, it may be becoming enough of a haven that reservations will become almost mandatory. Call ahead and book your table.

16-20 Calea Victoriei 
021-311 29 69

Here is an interesting map of Lipscani, courtesy of media9

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A very smokeless atmosphere with a mixture of excellent music prompted us to stay and have another beer and order a meal. While the restaurant carries no specific theme, it does have some great “antique postcard” wall covering with old-feel laminate plank flooring, and really, really cool looking menus (bring your reading glasses though).

We deliberately ordered, for the benefit of our readers a wide range of food from Carne la borcan cu mamaliga si usturoi (pig cooked, stored in fat then finished off when ordered) very, very nice crispy pig!! Mamaliga, well I have always said it tastes like the foam seat  from the back seat of an old Dacia , but others here said it was excellent..I had Chinese chicken and was suitably impressed, the service was decent, but carried a Romanian twist. We ordered an appetizer of Brushetta, and wera caught a bit off guard when the plate came. We had asked the quantity (as there were four of us) and he told us it was an order of four. Perfect. When the order arrived, we received 3… where was the 4^th one was,? as they were in triangles cut from a square piece of bread!  “aahh that’s for the next portion”… I love this place!!!!

It actually was amusing, seeing the waiter gave the worst excuse in the world.

This aside, we had a very pleasant evening, and as I said, plenty of smokers, but smoke free..

Well worth trying for a bite to eat. Also of note… check out the “way cool” upstairs which is a newly opened bar, full of nice open door rooms and cuddies, ideal for a weekend evening out, we will report more once we know!

In the time being, if you like one of our articles please submit it to your favorite social networking site! Digg it, Facebook share it, Tweet it.. we would love the help! Don’t forget to always leave your comments and responses and don’t forget to set up your profile on Bucharest Expat (in your personal dashboard).

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Well, we wound up down a little back street popping off Calea Victoriei where it appeared as though we had “made a wrong turn”. But indeed we hadn’t. On the front of one of these little back alley buildings was a tiny staircase under a lit sign that led you downstairs to lounge called Limelight: Piano Bar (do not attempt any ascent or descent on these stairs while drunk without the proper use of THE RAILING).

Once downstairs we were greeted by a very non-crowded bar. We meandered our way towards the right rear where we had a great view of the 2 vocalists, one playing acoustic guitar, the other on an electronic piano (placed strategically behind a grand piano that served dual purpose as a bar… hence the name).

Although we were seated on comfortable red plush seating in a private corner reminiscent of all things Mafia and Godfather, the music was actually THAT GREAT that we grabbed our cocktails and sat ourselves up at the “Piano Bar” itself midway through a song by “The Police” where you would have sworn Sting himself was leading the song. Some AC/DC, Crowded House, Aerosmith, and Frank Sinatra songs later, we paid off our moderately priced tab and headed home.

Definitely a place you will see me again. Bravo to this location. It’s a shame the marketing and branding is kept such a secret here, as it truly left me with zero disappointment. Check it out.

Limelight Piano Bar

Calea Victorie nr 100

0213 150 938

0728 726 077

office@piano-bar.ro

www.piano-bar.ro

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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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My wife and I went there last night with a friend of ours from the states. They were having a  grand re-opening party last night (Not sure why they were re-opening, maybe seasonal,  maybe due to renovations? I did not get straight answers when I inquired).

We were at Bellagio regularly last year (last December-ish) and the experience was light years  better than the experience of last night. The have moved the once impressive stage away. the  stage in now a small box centered in the middle of the bar island, as well as some strange and small upper corner stage towards the rear of the building. All areas can be seen in the club as it does have an excellent, open layout.

So with the diminished stages and degradation in the choreography, the “show” just isn’t a “show” like it used to be. Its just dancers. Male and Female dancers. I do have to give them credit last night, as one of the laminated glass sections of the stage shattered while they were dancing, but they continued on over another section of the stage without any issues or interruptions.

The show started around 1:30, however we got to the club about an hour and a half early to ensure 3 seats in a row at the central bar around the base of the stage. Getting your own table is not only pricy, but in my opinion a complete waste at this club especially, as once the club fills up your table becomes “overflowed” with non-paying patrons pushing their way through. Everyone stands up as well, so actually “sitting” on your couch at the table is great only if you intend on getting so drunk you cannot stand anyways. You won’t see any dancers. So get their early and look for me at the bar. It’s the best of both worlds. Expect to pay around 10 Ron for a beer, and double that for a cocktail. Prices here seem to have jumped a bit, which is something I can say is NOT commonplace across the club scene as a whole. All in all, Bellagio is worth the visit, you certainly will not regret the experience.

Clubul este situat in soseaua Stefan cel Mare Nr.31 [ intersectie cu Lizeanu ] Puteti cere informatii sau face rezervari la numarul de telefon: 0722 323 324
E-mail: office@bellagioclub.ro

Check out the sidebar photo album for some Bellagio Pics.

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Foreigners can and do meet beautiful, intelligent, and “perfect” Romanian  women and ultimately have a great relationship or even get married. I did. My wife  of two years this November is Romanian, and I met her in Bucharest. There is no “secret” to it,  but after talking with her and a lot of other people, I know what you should NOT try to do…

Unless you have been living under a rock, or have yet to arrive in Bucharest for the first time,  there are advertisement for “massages” almost everywhere. From hotels, to restaurants, to signs on the street, to business cards in taxis, you can’t really go anywhere without spotting some type of sexual promotion. I know of married people, single people, you name it, that come to Bucharest specifically for the gorgeous women. It is also one of the main reasons certain cultures have created prosperous, unrelated business in Bucharest!

If you have any inclination or thoughts of this type of “venturing”, the only thing you need to do is walk down the street, or go to a club at night. I am not talking about a strip club, just your average dance club, and you’ll get a taste of what is offered in Bucharest as far as the women go.

I won’t go into the art of “picking up” a Romanian girl, for that you can go to www.TipsFromAHotGirl.com this site is currently being assembled … so stop back soon…

What I will do is give you a brief summary of what to expect when going around Bucharest looking for “this”.

Nightclubs can be found beneath neon signage, the bottom floors or set-back corners of certain hotels (i.e. the downstairs of the Phoenicia) or down certain side streets. I can’t really describe what makes a nightclub (stripclub) vs a lounge stand out, but you’ll know it when you see it. Any difficulties you can pretty much ask any taxi driver, or pick up any promotional flyer in almost every hotel. When you’re in a nightclub, of course you’ll be approached by every single women as if you’re solid gold (does this make them gold-diggers)? Expect your wallet to lose about 1 kilo in weight every 30 seconds. You’ll be paying dozens of euros for cocktails and bottles of liquor at price increments that supposedly represent different “levels” of intimacy that can be obtained. Bottom line here, is stay away unless you have deep pockets, and zero expectations of “meeting that special someone”.

Coffee Bars Lounges and Clubs are full of women. Unless you are there with a person who can make introductions, you’re pretty much facing an uphill battle. Romanian woman have become virtually impervious to any innuendos. The whistling, hissing, and cheesy pick-up lines of many locals and foreigners go in one ear and out the other. Check back with us soon as we will be hosting some incredible events that solve quite a bit of the issues you may face here.

Look for Part II of this article shortly

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We did the new years eve party here last year, which was just out of this world. With magic and comedy shows, followed by five to seven course gourmet meals, and a rooftop viewing of the Palace’s firework displays just topped off a great evening. See you all there this New Year’s!

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