Under Communism the only people not driven to the black market for food were package tourists, fed huge meals to obscure the realities of life in Romania, and the Party elite, who had their own supply network. Visitors can still opt for the security of a package tour and confine themselves to eating in tourist hotels, or come prepared to forage for themselves. Winter is tough everywhere, but the availability and variety of food improves as the months pass, so that you can eat relatively well during the summer and autumn, especially if you can cook for yourself. Restaurant menus are, sadly, very predictable. Imported foods such as oranges, bananas and German yoghurts are also available, at a price
Breakfast and snacks
Staying in a hotel, you'll normally be guaranteed
breakfast
on the premises or in a nearby café, the cost of which will be included in the charge for accommodation. Typically it's a light meal of rolls and butter (sometimes known as
...
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Restaurant meals
Outside the cities, you'll find most
restaurants
are in hotels or attached to them, although small private cafés are springing up in many towns. It's best to go upmarket if you can, since the choice of dishes in cheaper restaurants is limited...
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Cafés
Establishments called
cofetrie
serve
coffee
, soft drinks, cakes, ice cream, and even beer. Romanians usually take their coffee black and sweet in the Turkish fashion; ask for
cafea cu lapte
if you prefer...
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Vegetarians
Vegetarians
will have a tough time in a country where voluntarily doing without meat is simply beyond comprehension. It's hard even to get a pizza that's meat-free. You could try asking for
ghiveci
(mixed stewed veg);
ardei umpluti...
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Drinking
The national drink is
tuica
, a tasty, powerful brandy usually made of plums, taken neat. In rural areas, home-made spirits can be fearsome stuff, often twice distilled (to over 50 percent strength, even when diluted) to yield
palinca
...
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Buying your own food
Most
shops
now have a fair choice of foodstuffs, both locally produced and imported; a few new supermarkets have a wider range of imported foods but these are relatively expensive. There are also kiosks almost everywhere, selling biscuits and...
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