What to Eat in Brașov: Transylvanian Dishes and Where to Order Them

The short version

Brașov eats like Transylvania: hearty, pork-rich, sour in its soups, generous with cheese and polenta, with a layer of Saxon baking and Hungarian paprika on top and the mountain pastures of Bran just down the road. It is not a city of fine-dining trophies (Romania is not covered by the Michelin restaurant guide, so ignore any "starred" claims), but it is a very good place to eat well, and increasingly a good place to drink well too.

• Must-try: a sour soup (ciorbă), sarmale with polenta, mici from the grill, and papanași for dessert.
• Local to the region: shepherd's cheese from the Bran hills, balmoș, and Saxon cakes.
• Where: the lanes between Piața Sfatului, Michael Weiss and Republicii, plus a few addresses in Șchei and the modern districts.
• Budget (Numbeo crowd data, checked September 2026): about 55 lei for a simple meal, about 250 lei for a three-course dinner for two in a mid-range place, around 15 lei for a local draught beer.

Our restaurant directory maps everything below; cafés and patisseries and pubs and wine bars have their own lists.

Soups: the Romanian first course

Lunch in Romania usually starts with a ciorbă, a soup soured with fermented bran (borș), lemon or vinegar, served with a dollop of sour cream and a hot green pepper on the side. The classics:

• Ciorbă de burtă — tripe soup, rich with garlic and cream. More delicious than it sounds, and the traditional cure for a late night.
• Ciorbă de perișoare — meatball soup with vegetables and lovage.
• Ciorbă de fasole — bean soup, often with smoked meat, sometimes served in a hollowed-out loaf, a presentation that Brașov's old-town restaurants have made famous.
• Ciorbă de legume or de văcuță — vegetable or beef, for a lighter start.

Mains: pork, polenta and cabbage

• Sarmale — cabbage leaves (often pickled) rolled around minced pork and rice, slow-cooked with smoked meat and served with polenta, sour cream and a hot pepper. The national dish, and Transylvanian versions are among the best.
• Mămăligă — polenta, the constant companion. In the mountains it comes as balmoș, a rich shepherd's dish cooked with butter, cream and sheep's cheese, a speciality of the Bran and Moeciu area.
• Tochitură — pan-fried pork, sausage and sometimes liver in a spicy sauce, topped with a fried egg and cheese, with polenta.
• Mici — small skinless grilled sausages of mixed meats, garlic and spices, eaten with mustard and bread. Ideal with beer on a terrace.
• Game and trout — mountain restaurants in Poiana Brașov and the valleys serve venison stews and trout from local farms.

Cheese from the hills

The pastures around Bran, Moeciu and Fundata are sheep country. Look for brânză de burduf, a salty, pungent sheep's cheese traditionally packed in pig bladder or in a cylinder of fir bark, the latter a speciality of the Bran area. Cașcaval (a mild yellow cheese) and fresh telemea appear on every table. If you visit Bran, the stalls near the castle sell smoked cheese; buy from producers you can talk to.

Sweets and the Saxon legacy

• Papanași — fried or boiled doughnuts of fresh cheese, topped with sour cream and berry jam. The dessert everyone orders, and rightly so. Share one; they are large.
• Kürtőskalács — the "chimney cake", a spiral of sweet dough baked on a spit and rolled in sugar, cinnamon or walnuts, sold at street stalls and at the Christmas market.
• Saxon cakes — the German-speaking heritage survives in yeast cakes, fruit tarts and the hencleș, a Saxon cake of the Bârsa country, found in bakeries and at festivals.
• Cozonac — the sweet walnut or cocoa bread of Christmas and Easter.
• Gingerbread — La Casa de Turtă Dulce in Bartolomeu keeps the old craft of decorated honey cakes alive.

For classic cakes in a proper cofetărie, Saray on Republicii is a local institution.

Where to eat it

Traditional, done well:

• Sergiana — the Brașov benchmark for Transylvanian food, with meat and dairy from its own farm.
• La Ceaun — hearty stews and soups in iron pots, right on Piața Sfatului.
• Casa Românească and Mămăliguța — Romanian classics without fuss.

Contemporary and special:

• Bistro de l'Arte — long the city's reference for modern cooking, rated highly in past editions of the Gault&Millau guide to Romania.
• Casa Hirscher — refined Romanian and European cooking in a 16th-century merchant house off the square.
• Dei Frati and Prato — for Italian, which Brașov does unusually well.
• Panoramic — at the top of the Tâmpa cable car, for the view.

Coffee, wine and beer

Specialty coffee has taken root: CH9 in the Black Church courtyard, Prăjitoria de Cafea CROP, which roasts its own, and Breakaway. A cappuccino costs around 17 lei on Numbeo's September 2026 figures.

Romanian wine has improved enormously in twenty years. Transylvanian whites from the Târnave valleys, Fetească Neagră reds from the south: try them by the glass at Pilvax on Strada După Ziduri or at Terroirs. For beer, Brauhaus Czell keeps the Saxon brewing name of Czell alive. Finish with a small glass of pălincă or țuică, the fruit brandies of the mountains, strong and taken slowly.

Practical notes

• Tipping: since 2023, tips can be added to the bill and printed on the fiscal receipt; 10% is normal, 15% for excellent service, and it is always voluntary.
• Portions are large. Sharing a soup and a main, or a dessert, is perfectly normal.
• Lunch is the main meal for many Romanians, and some traditional places offer a fixed "meniul zilei" on weekdays at good value.
• Book for Friday and Saturday dinners in the centre, especially in summer and during the Christmas market.

For a whole day around these tables, see our one-day itinerary; for budgets, is Brașov expensive?.