Last Saturday we were celebrating a birthday in the family, a very important one and we were invited the Bistroteca Baum, which is in Dumbraveni, Romania. I've never been there as it's not exactly 5 minutes from where I live, so was to go and check out a new place.
The plan was to check out the town too as I've never been there, but weather had other plans and by the time we finished our birthday celebration and lunch, it started raining, so we were left with no other choice than to jump in the car and drive home. However, I took a lot of photos of the place and food, so today I'd like to share these with you, pin my post on the map, in case someone else is thinking of visiting the place.
The place is situated on the Tudor Vladimirescu street 49, in Dumbrăveni, Sibiu county, next to a guest house.
It's harvest and pumpkin season, so the whole place was decorated accordingly, with autumn leaves, pumpkins of different sizes and shapes and other beautiful things nature has to give during autumn.
The beauty of the place is that there's a huge terrace, which is suitable for later autumn use as well as it is heated. As you can see, there's an old (I think it's old) water tower next to the venue, that can guide you, in case you feel lost.
Having big screens with sports on took a little away from its value as you should not watch any screen in a restaurant, or bistro, but it's not my decision.
Their offer doesn't stop with the restaurant and guesthouse. There's a spa and fitness center at the back of the guesthouse, which looked inviting, but it wasn't our goal to pamper ourselves that day.
I started with a mojito, as always as that's one of my favorites.
It was a nice surprise to see the paper place mats containing the place's history. I love these as it's educative, at least you learn about the city and/or the venue.
This was a Transylvanian vegetable soup with pork and sour cream.
This was the famous (in Romania) tripe soup, which used to be the soup of the poor once. Now it is considered top category and it is among, if not the most expensive soup. Both were very good.
This was pikeperch fillet with white sauce and mash potato.
This was my dish and it was kangaroo fillet with hunter's sauce and potato.
This was zebra steak with cigar sauce, mash potatoes with truffle.
All the dishes were great, we had no reason to complain and I'd go back anytime, to taste everything they have to offer.
We had a reservation for 3pm, but were told the table is at our disposal till 5pm, when the vine party starts. Then we'd have to find another table, if we'd like to stay. There was this piglet grilling for the event. As far as I know, there was an entrance fee, from 5p, which included a dinner (part of this piglet too, a snack most likely), drinks and music. We didn't stay to benefit as we had lunch and it was not the purpose of our visit, but we got some welcome drinks on the house.
This was a round wine case, with I liked a lot. Most likely not many have the space to have such a wine case, but it definitely looked good there.
There was a special corner for the kids as well, very thoughtful of them honestly.
Towards the end, the band was getting ready to play and the whole place got really noisy all of the sudden, so we were happy to have had 2 quiet hours.
It is definitely a place I would visit again. The service was impeccable, the dishes delicious, the place I can call unique in its own category, so I can recommend it you without hesitation.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
