Papanași are Romanian cottage-cheese doughnuts: a fluffy fried dough ring topped with a smaller dough ball, served under a pool of smântână (sour cream) and a generous spoon of blueberry or rose-petal preserve.
Papanași are a Romanian rural dessert, the name likely deriving from the Latin papa ('food, mush'). The fried doughnut format appears in early 20th-century cookbooks, made with brânza de vaci (cottage cheese), eggs, flour and baking soda, served with sour cream and forest-fruit preserves. A boiled version (papanași fierți) exists in the mountain regions; the fried version became the restaurant standard. The dish is Romania's signature dessert export, found on every Bucharest restaurant menu.
5 editor picks for Papanași in Bucharest, ranked by editorial score. All Bucharest signature dishes · Papanași across every city.
Caru' cu bere ★ 4.6
lipscani · Strada Stavropoleos 5, 030107 București
The 1879 Caru' cu bere on Stavropoleos serves the soul of Bucharest dining, where mici were recorded in a 1920 chef's letter to the Academy.
Lacrimi și Sfinți ★ 4.5
lipscani · Strada Șepcari 16, Old Town, București 030116
Poet Mircea Dinescu's Lacrimi și Sfinți on Șepcari pours wines from his Cetate estate alongside modern Romanian classics in Bucharest Old Town today.
Hanu' lui Manuc ★ 4.4
lipscani · Strada Franceză 62-64, 030106 București
The 1808 caravanserai-turned-restaurant Hanu' lui Manuc on Franceză serves classic Romanian plates around one of Europe's last remaining inn courtyards.
Vatra ★ 4.3
cismigiu · Strada Ion Brezoianu 19, 010131 București
Vatra on Brezoianu cooks traditional Romanian on bakestones and in tin kettles, in a 1920s Transylvanian interior next to Cișmigiu Park in Bucharest.
Crama Domnească ★ 4.1
lipscani · Strada Șelari 13-15, Old Town, București
Crama Domnească sits in the cellar of the Princely Court on Șelari, the Princely Wine Cellar in Bucharest, with live folk and house wines by carafe.