The ARTIST, Bucharest, Romania
July 15, 2019 • Bucharest, Europe, Romania, Travel
I recently had the good fortune of spending over two weeks touring Eastern Europe, starting in Budapest, traveling by land across Romania all the way to Bucharest, then by air to Sofia, Bulgaria and Belgrade Serbia. It was incredibly educational, much more beautiful than I could have imagined, and the food was surprising. More on all of that in a few later posts. For now, I want to share the top dining experience from my trip, the tasting menu at the ARTIST, in Bucharest.
The friend with whom I was traveling cares about an interesting meal as much as I do, so before each city on our stop, we searched for everything from Michelin starred restaurants to top online reviews before making some choices. When we read about the ARTIST, where the describe their food as “Imaginative & Emotional, Artistic & Playful, Inspired & Innovative,” we knew we wanted to go. It took us less than a minute after arrival to know we wanted to do the full tasting menus, so that we would have a chance to sample as much food as possible. We were not disappointed!!!
The chef presented us with two amuse bouche treats before our tasting menus, first some delicious bread with paprika butter and smoked sea salt, then this surprise. The platter contained a type of creamy cheese, topped with a homemade chip of sorts, and they poured dry ice and water over lavender in the center to bathe the food in the aroma of lavender. It was not only delicious, but a fun show, and heads were turning at tables around us!
The Appetizer Flight: Romanian Inspired Potato Salad / Black Truffle Brioche Fritter / Salmon Tartare in a Cone / Duck Pate with Rhubarb and Cured Foie Gras / Beef Tataki / Octopus Carpaccio with Green Apple. We loved the way the serve lay the spoons one at a time on the glass tasting menu platter and arranged how they were stacked so that we’d eat them in the proper order based on heaviness of the food.
A Palate Cleanser
The Entree Flight: Braised Lamb Leg with Goat Cheese / Free Range Chicken / Smoked Mangalitsa Pork / Seared Scallops with Barley “Paella” / Brown Butter Poached Sea Bass / Dover Sole with Spinach and Lemon Quinoa
The Dessert Flight (I wasn’t eating these so don’t recall what they were but my friend loved every bite!)
My dessert was a beautiful Romanian dessert wine with a single dark chocolate truffle – heaven!
If you find yourself in Bucharest, Romania, or anywhere close, this is a not to be missed dining experience, and if it’s nice weather, sitting in the patio is lovely!
the ARTIST
Calea Victoriei 147, Sector 1, Bucharest
+40728318871 (on opening hours)
reservations@theartist.ro
Website
Tuesday – Sunday:
Lunch 12:00 – 16:00; Latest reservation is at 15:00
Dinner 17:00 – 24:00 kitchen closing at 22:30 . Latest reservation is at 21:30
Monday Closed