Shawarma Romania

[Cándida Jolie]

Weopened our doors in 2006 in Detroit when the economy was rough, the streets were quiet and everybody said we were crazy. We believed in Detroit when most people didn't and we were right. There is no place we would rather be than right here in the city.

Our food ranges from classic Romanian dishes to middle-eastern concepts and American standards, each with its own unique twist. Everything is handmade in a traditional kitchen as it should be with original recipes that you won't find anywhere else. Detroiters crave our shawarma, but those in-the-know dive deep into our menu for flavors you won't fined else where.

Bucharest is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. Bucharest was first mentioned in documents in 1459. It became the capital of Romania in 1862 and is the centre of Romanian media, culture, and art.

A shawarma is a Middle Eastern sandwich made with delicious spiced meat, in our case beef, chicken and even a vegetarian version, served on pita bread, topped with veggies and garlic sauce. Try the Bucharest Shawarma for a side of fries wrapped inside!

After a long walk around town, wrote a tweet saying I bought a shawarma in Bucharest that was too large and I was feeling ill, @Kidha, their social media coordinator invited me to come visit the Bit Defender Headquarters, indeed. Naturally, I took them up on the offer immediately.

Made my way over there and talked about spam, malaware, fishing and some cool new blogging tools that they have been developing over the last few months. It was a good time, upon leaving they asked what I was doing for dinner and I got a private message on twitter stating a table had been reserved at Caru Cu Bere Restaurant for 8PM, indeed.

After dinner had a pint with one of the gents from the party, it was most delicious. Spent the morning doing web work, boring; I will spare you details. Staying here tonight, perhaps tomorrow night then Sophia or Belgrade. Full update with countless photos of Bucharest tomorrow, this place is beautiful.

Chocolate filled pretzels, home of the "best burger I've had", and piles of amazing chocolate? Better pack a pair stretchy pants if you are planning on living in Romania because the food here is yummy.

Shawarma (or gyros) are going to be a favorite meal once you have a taste. Look out for other shawarma places around Iasi (and on vacation), and at Mesopotamia. Some volunteers say this is the best place to get a shawarma. Though this dish is called a few different things, it's basically meat cooked on a rotating grill, shaved off into a pita, and wrapped up with veggies and a creamy sauce. Yum. Look at their website here.

A quick way to grab a sushi roll or two, SushiVo has quite the selection, but they also have noodle bowls if you're wanting something a little different. Get an idea of what they offer on their Instagram.

Mmm if you have a sweet tooth, you'll love the waffles and crepes here. Get them piled high (or filled) with things like bananas and caramel, chocolate and blueberries, cream and cherries, spiced pears, and gobs of cookie butter. They also have some savory options like chicken and pesto filled crepes if you want to swing by for lunch or dinner. Peek their Instagram for more ideas.

Grab an Eggs Benedict breakfast, or come for a lunch of grilled cheese, fried chicken, croissant sandwiches, etc. In the mood for something sweet? Come for really yummy cheesecake, eclairs, layered cakes, yogurt + fruit bowls, other desserts and smoothies. Look at their Instagram for their menu.

Volunteers come to Palas mall just for the gelato ... maybe even twice in one day. Find flavors like milk chocolate, Oreo, lemon cookies, honey + quinoa, and more (though the flavors tend to rotate, so you have to come often, right?). You can see what's waiting for you on their website.

After a few months of eating the local food, you'll probably start craving some of your favorites. While you will find a few American chain restaurants in and around Iasi (like KFC), there are a few places where you can get a really good burger or a slice of cheesy pizza.

If volunteers could pick one restaurant to recommend, it would probably be Vivo Burger. Kat, an ILP Romania volunteer still says "their Vivo Burger is 10/10. To this day, it's the best burger I have ever had!". They also have an amazing falafel burger, good French fries (called potatoes on the menu), salads, slices of cheesecake, and a few other things you're sure to just crave.

We love so many things about Europe ... except that Mexican food is hard to come by when you're living and traveling around here. It just doesn't exist like it does at home. Iasi is pretty lucky because they have a Mexican restaurant that volunteers say help satisfy the craving until you can get home. Some volunteers absolutely love it and others say it's not quite as good as your go-to spot at home, but after not having anything close to Mexican food during your semester, it can help hit the spot. Order up things like guac, nachos, burritos, fajitas, and more. The pork quesadillas are to die for.

You know what to expect at a pizza place, right? Get a personal sized pie or a larger one to share. You can find multiple locations around the city. The restaurant also has fries, fried chicken, ice cream, and a few other options for dinner or dessert.

If you go to Romania, you'll end up falling in love with the pretzels. It's pretty much a guaranteed thing. You will find pretzel stands alllll over the city of Iasi (and other Romanian cities) but we particularly love the ones at Petru. They're a pretzel chain with locations all over the city so keep an eye out for them. Our favorite? The chocolate filled ones, of course ... but they also have ones topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and a pretzel filled with cherries. YUM.

Ready for another pretzel place to be obsessed over? This is our favorite place to get a Romanian classic, the iconic covridog. It's basically a pretzel dog, and is going to be your go-to quick snack or dinner on the go when you're out site seeing. Simigeria Krantz also has killer poppy seed and sesame seed pretzels if you want to try those (you will).

We love Luca. Life in Europe goes hand in hand to eating pastries whenever you see a pastry shop on the corner, which is why we may love Luca so much. There are several locations around Iasi, some more like a corner shop where you can get pastries, pretzels, and covridogs, while others are more like little cafes serving pizza, burgers, and drinks, too. I think you'll go more than once.

Cool off while exploring Iasi with a bubble tea drink. This popular style of drink started in Taiwan but is now found all over the world. If you haven't had boba (or need a refresher on what is is), flavored tapioca pearls are mixed with all sorts of teas and fruit juices, sometimes with extras like grass jelly or a thick foam on the top. You can get these fruity or more tea-based (black tea, brown sugar, and milk is the classic flavor), but in any case, Dr Bubble is a favorite little pick-me-up around town.

Gogosi are kinda like a donut or French beignet, almost always filled with jam or chocolate and covered in powdered sugar. Placintas are similar, filled with cheese and topped with a mountain of cream and sour berry jam.

Volunteers absolutely rave about the traditional meals you can get at La Placinte. Find very yummy things like potato dumplings, cabbage rolls, chicken stew, grilled skewers, kabobs, and sausages, along with tons of delicious desserts on their menu. Come see why this is one of the most popular places to eat in Iasi.

The food is something to talk about (find local favorites like soups, stuffed peppers, and more) but the decor is another layer to this restaurant. Find tables lined with embroidered tablecloths, white-washed walls decorated with old portraits, and an outdoor seating courtyard that's open in the warm weather.

We are ILP, a Utah-based non-profit org that has service abroad opportunities for college-age volunteers. We love travel so we're sharing all our tips for making the most of your time living abroad + seeing the world, and how to do it all on the tiniest budget.

There is arguably no better spot to get a fresh sandwich from than a butcher shop. When they're making their own meats and cuts and serving them up, you know you're going to be biting into something special.

At Goodies in the Pantry in Orange, California, owner Claudiu Giorgioni ensures that every order that comes from his kitchen is an experience unlike anything you've tried before. A butcher from Romania, Giorgioni finds ways to incorporate some unique flavors and tastes into even the most basic of sandwiches.

Foodbeast Marc Kharrat went to try the Goodies lineup, and was most impressed by three sandwiches: the pork belly sandwich, a smoked brisket sandwich (all of the cuts are smoked in house), and a Romanian spin on shawarma unlike anything he's tasted.

Of course, this is a butcher shop with top quality meat, so get one of these with a steak on the side (Giorgioni does smoke tomahawks then grills them to finish them off) and you're in for a true feast.

Traveling, we've eaten a lot of really delicious menu items and had an equal share of truly terrible restaurant fare. Some cities were better than others for offering a selection of great places to eat, Bucharest, Romania was one of those delightful destinations!

In a lot of cities we've visited, restaurants served up local specialties done well but really sucked at preparing dishes not native to their country. Great pizza has been particularly hard to find! But not so in Bucharest, we enjoyed great Romanian food and international dishes we had really been missing, even pizza.

Here are five of our favorite spots to enjoy excellent food in Romania's capital. We loved Bucharest for many reasons including the great food at these places. They were all so good we still crave their delicious offerings at least a few times a week!

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