Bucharest: VIP Dining, Limo Ride & Clubbing
An ideal plan for private groups, the VIP Party consists in discovering 3 amazing venues in Bucharest: a restaurant, a rooftop and a premium club. Experience the night...
Sarmale are sour-cabbage rolls stuffed with pork, rice and onion, simmered slowly in a pot lined with cabbage and smoked pork ribs. They arrive with mămăligă, smântână and a pickle. The Christmas table centre.
Sarmale are Romania's national dish, an adaptation of Ottoman dolma using cabbage leaves instead of grape leaves. The word itself comes from the Turkish sarma ('wrapped'). Food historian Priscilla Mary Işın dates Ottoman cabbage rolls to the early 1500s, but the cabbage adaptation became the Romanian-Balkan signature. Sour cabbage (varza acră) is the winter format; vine-leaf sarmale appears in summer. The Christmas table and the wedding banquet are the canonical contexts.
5 editor picks for Sarmale in Bucharest, ranked by editorial score. All Bucharest signature dishes · Sarmale across every city.
Also in: Chișinău.
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.
Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide
Sarmale makes more sense with someone from Bucharest explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.
Book food experiences in Bucharest
From Bucharest: Private Wine Tasting in Romania’s Tuscany
Escape Bucharest for a private wine tasting tour in Dealul Mare, Romania’s Tuscany. Visit two premium wineries, enjoy scenic vineyards, and taste local wines with an o...
Bucharest Evening Tour and Traditional Dinner
Admire the main sights and enjoy the city lights of beautiful Bucharest on a 1.5-hour evening city tour. Then feast on a 3-course Romanian meal in a traditional restaurant.