Bucharest was my home for many, many years. Even if I grew up in Transylvania, I spent all my summers and school holidays in Bucharest, with my grandma. That was at least 4 months a year. As soon as I finished high school I moved with her to Bucharest, for university, and lived in the city for almost 10 years. I’ve always loved it and always considered it home. After all, I was born there. So when I tell you I’m an expert in street food in Bucharest, you’ll have to believe me.
Going to university, and later on getting a part-time job as well at the same time, street food was my way to get through the day until getting home for dinner. None of my friends really liked the food from our university’s canteen, so we would often hit the kebab place or the bakery around the corner for lunch. The street food in Bucharest offers a handy snack when you are hungry, as well as some pretty delicious dishes that you won’t find anywhere else in the world. In this article, I want to tell you all about them – especially since I stumbled upon some articles online that confuse traditional Romanian food with street food in Bucharest. No, you won’t find sarmale or fried cheese as street food! Those are standalone restaurant dishes!
Where To Find The Best Street Food in Bucharest
Bus and Tram Stations
Yes, the best places to find street food in Bucharest are bus and tram stations. And even metro stations – most of the central ones have bakeries on the way to the access barriers. Back when I was going to the office, I would always grab a few pastries and pies whilst switching buses, to eat for breakfast.
The Old Town
You will find plenty of street food options in the centre of Bucharest, some more traditional and some more modern. These days in the old town you have pancake stands, ice cream, and even food trucks – though these will sell Western food such as burgers or loaded fries. The old town is dotted with bakeries and the famous Luca pastry shops – but I’ll tell you more about them below.
Piata Obor
Piata Obor is one of the most famous farmers’ markets in Romania – and the place to go if you want to taste an authentic plate of mici. In Bucharest, every area has its own farmers market, where small producers come and sell their fruits, vegetables, and sometimes cheese. Obor is one of the largest of them all, and it is surrounded by small terraces where all that is on the menu are the famous mici. You can’t miss them as you will see the smoke from the barbecues, and the smell will lure you in their direction anyway.
Dristor Kebab
There’s nothing special about the Dristor neighbourhood – outside of the most delicious shaorma in the city. Dristor Kebab is an institution that opened as a small family business in 1999, and even if now they have several shops around the city, the quality never dropped. Their original location is still in Dristor but it is much bigger than the corner shop from 1999. They have expanded and now they sell other meat products such as steaks, but their forte is still the shaorma.
Kaufland
This might be a controversial one, but, if you don’t want to travel all the way to Piaza Obor for mici, you can find them at any Kaufland store. These big supermarkets usually have a barbecue stand in front, where they grill mici and sausages. I used to eat mici from Kaufland every time I fancied them – living in an apartment, it was impossible to make a barbecue at home. I had a Kaufland five-minute walk from my home, so once a month you would find me on their terrace, eating mici with mustard.
The Best Street Food in Bucharest You Must Try
Covrigi
Covrigi is a classic street food in Bucharest. Back in the day, when I was a child, covrigi used to be small, dry, hard pretzels, without any taste. These days, however, the covrigi are big, fluffy, and have a slightly sweet taste. They come covered wither with salt, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds. You will find them at every bakery kiosk and I highly recommend trying them as they are the most essential snack that Bucharest has.
The texture of the covrig varies from where you bite it. The fatter part, which you find on the exterior of the pretzel, is more doughy and a little bit chewy – in the most delightful way. The interior, smaller part, is usually crunchier and reminds me of the good of covrig of my childhood. Covrigi are very inexpensive, going at around 1-2 lei for one.
Covrigi from Luca
Luca is an institution in Bucharest. They have shops everywhere and everything they bake is delicious. They had a very humble start but they quickly became a city’s favourite when they invented the “CovriLuca”, which is a combination between a pretzel and a hot dog, practically a sausage inside a pretzel. And then they expanded that as well, becoming the most popular bakery chain in Bucharest.
Every time I go to Bucharest I stop at Luca and buy a handful of products, starting with the classic CovriLuca. I also go for the Hunter’s Covrig, which is filled with ham, cream cheese and red onion, the Luca Traditional which is filled with ham and mozzarella cheese, the Happy Luca which is filled with sausage, cascaval cheese, mustard and ketchup, but also the sweet sour cheery Covrig which is filled with sour cherry jam.
Luca also sells pizza slices and sandwiches, if you want something more filling, but trust me, you come here for the pretzels!
Merdenele
When I think about merdenele I can’t help but remember their delicious taste, the crunchy pastry and the most perfect salty cheese filling. Merdenele are specific to the south of Romania and you will rarely find them anywhere else. They are practically flaky pastry pies filled with a mixture of salty telemea and cottage cheese bound together with eggs and seasoned with dill. They just taste perfection. When you buy merdenele and they are still hot, you know you are at a good bakery that sells them one after another – and they don’t have time to get cold.
Placinta
Placinta is a generic term that refers to quite a large selection of bakery items, both sweet and savoury. Translated in English as “pie”, placinta is not your average pie but a delightful treat. It consists of two layers of pastry filled with either cheese or fruit and even a vegetable filling. The most popular placinta, which is one of my favourites, is sweet cheese and raisins. I often make it at home, and you can click here for the recipe. I also love the salty cheese version, which is called “Dobrogeana” from the Dobrogea area of Romania where it comes from. The most popular fruit fillings are apple and sour cherry. In autumn, some bakeries will also sell pumpkin and cabbage-filled pies.
Placinta is made in a large tray and when you buy it, you can either pay by piece or by weight, depending on what type of pie you get.
Gogosi
Gogosi are Romanian donuts. They are not as fancy as the American ones, and surely not as good-looking. But they taste wonderful. They can be hollow, only dusted with powdered sugar, or filled with different jams or chocolate.
Kurtoskalacs
You may be familiar with the Kurtoskalacs if you have visited The Czech Republic or Hungary. But did you know that the Kurtoskalacs is actually Romanian, and was born in Transylvania? I don’t want to be biased, but the Romanian kurtos is much better. Firstly, it’s much bigger and it has a more authentic taste. We don’t fill them with cream or ice cream. The traditional flavours are either sugar, walnuts, or cinnamon.
You can usually find Kurtoskalacs at fairs and food exhibitions around the capital.
Mici
Mici are the traditional Romanian barbecue dish. No matter the occasion, if we do a barbecue, obligatory we will cook mici. 1st of May is the opening of the barbecue season, and on this day, the entire country eats mici. I have converted all my foreign friends to mici and now, every time we organise a barbecue, they ask for them.
You can think of mici as skinless sausages, even though they are so much more than this. They are made from minced meat, herbs and spices, and beef bone broth. They are so soft and juicy on the inside, even if they don’t look like it.
Mici are not just a barbecue item but also a street food in Bucharest. The best place to find them is at the outdoor restaurants around Piata Obor or at the barbecue joints from Kaufland supermarkets.
Shaorma
Shaorma may be a Middle Eastern delicacy, but it found its way to Romania and became a staple of the street food in Bucharest. There is nothing better than finishing a night out clubbing with a shaorma with everything, at 2 am in the morning. In my hometown in Transylvania, shaorma is not a thing – there are barely one or two places that make them, and they are just not the same as in Bucharest.
Shaorma is a large wrap filled with rotisserie chicken or beef meat, fries, cabbage salad, pickles, garlic sauce and hot sauce. It’s simply delightful! There are many shaormerii (places that specialise in shaorma) all over Bucharest. But no two shaorma taste the same. And you will find the best at Dristor Kebab.
Extra: Must
I can’t finish this article about the best street food in Bucharest without adding one special drink. If you visit Bucharest in autumn, you must try the must. It is practically grape juice that has just started to ferment, and it’s on its way to becoming wine. It has a very low alcohol level and it’s just delicious. You can find must at the autumn fairs at the Romanian Peasant Museum, where local producers come with their best harvest.
For more similar articles, check out my recommendations below:
Like it? Pin it!
