Donut-shaped fried cheese dough topped with sour cream and a crown of sour-cherry preserve: Moldova's restaurant dessert of choice, also served boiled in some homes.

Papanași arose in the rural Romanian and Moldovan countryside in the 19th century from peasant kitchens with abundant fresh cottage cheese. The name traces to the Latin pappa, an onomatopoeic word for soft food fed to children, which fits the soft cheese centre. The crown of cherry jam is a Bessarabian signature; sour cherries grow across the country and the country's cherry-liqueur tradition is the same fruit pressed differently. The dish is the standard close to a Moldovan restaurant meal.

3 editor picks for Papanași in Chișinău, ranked by editorial score. All Chișinău signature dishes · Papanași across every city.

Also in: Bucharest.

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