Romania 1908- THE GOURMET'S GUIDE TO EUROPE

O mica descoperire. Un turist profesionist, (Tony Bourdain credeai ca esti primul?) englez (ofiter rezervist din marina roiala- ) ne viziteaza tara. Chiar daca scurt si la obiect, este totusi interesant. Capsa, Sinaia, ospatari care vorbeau frantuzeste, vinuri vechi si noi, boema bucuresteana, Bucurestiul si Sinaia asa cum erau acum 100 de ani.

Daca doriti mai mult:

http://www.archive.org/details/gourmetsguidetoe00newnrich

THE GOURMET'S GUIDE TO EUROPE
BY
LIEUT.-COL.
NEWNHAM-DAVIS, 1908

"ROUMANIA- THE DISHES OF THE COUNTRY

IN Roumania you must never be astonished at the items set down in the bill of fare ; and if " bear" happens to be one, try it, for bruin does not make at all bad eating. The list of game is generally surprisingly large, and one learns in Roumania the difference there is in the venison which comes from the different breeds of deer. Caviar, being the produce of the country, is a splendid dish, and you are generally asked which of the three varieties, easily distinguishable by their variety of colour, you will take. A caviar salade is a dish very frequently served. The following are some of the dishes of the country : Ciulama, chicken with a sauce in which flour and butter are used ; Scordolea^ in which crawfish, garlic, minced nuts, and oil all play a part ; Baclavay a cake of almonds served with strop of roses. These three dishes, though now Roumanian, were originally introduced from Turkey. Ardei Ungelute is a dish of green pepper, meat, and rice ; Sarmalute are vine leaves, or leaves of the white cabbage, filled with meat and served with a thick preparation of milk ; Militel is minced beef fried on a grill in the shape of a sausage. Cheslas and Mamaliguzza, the food of the peasant, much resemble the Italian Polenta, and are eaten with cold milk. Chived, a ragout with all kinds of vegetables mixed in it, is a favourite dish of the country.

THE RESTAURANT OF BUCHAREST
Capsa's Restaurant takes a high place amongst the good restaurants of the world. Capsa is a Frenchman who has learned his duties as cook and confectioner in some of the best houses of Paris, and coming to Bucarest, he has brought French taste to bear upon the cookery of the country, and at his restaurant there is always a choice of dishes of Bulgaria, and of French plats.
...Capsa's list of the Roumanian wines may safely be taken as a guide to what is best of the country vintages. Dragasani, Odobesti, Cotnar, Tamaiosa are the white wines, some of which are of vintages as distant in date as 1879; and the red wines are Nicoresti, Odobesti, and Dealu mare. A bottle of champagne of G. H. Mumm's " Cordon Rouge"of no guaranteed year costs 22 francs, and a bottle of Allsopp's Pale Ale costs 5 francs 50 centimes. At Capsa's all the waiters have a knowledge of French, and that language is generally talked by the habitues of the restaurant, for a Roumanian of the upper classes is always proud of speaking French with Parisian fluency and accent.
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SlNAIA
Sinaia is the hill station in the Carpathians where the King and Queen of Roumania have built their summer palace. The village is intentionally kept small, and there are only three hotels. Two good express trains run both ways during the day, and the journey from Bucarest is not a long one, and is interesting.
At Ploesci, a junction on the line where all trains stop, there is a refreshment room where a cheap and plentiful table d'hote meal is served. Sinaia is very fashionable in the summer, for most of the ministers and many of the foreign diplomatists follow the King and Queen up to the picturesque village in the woods below the great grey crags. Capsa has a gay little restaurant on the Boulevard Ghica, a little pavilion of iron and glass, painted and gilt, which is open during the summer months; and George Riegler has a dainty little coffee-house and terrace and a tiny garden where a cascade falls over miniature boulders next door to one of the bandstands.
The Hotel Caraiman, on a hill just above the station, is open summer and winter. In summer it is crowded to its holding capacity. In winter a score of guests have the big hotel to themselves. I can answer for the meals at the hotel being simple and well cooked, and a stranger arriving during the " offseason"is flattered with much attention."