Category: Bucharest

I think it would be fair to say that this proved to be a memorable bar visit and all for the right reasons. It became apparent very soon why the venue has the name that it does and it relates to the reality that it has nearly no space inside to sit. However, the welcome was immediate, engaging and warm, so the atmosphere was inviting. Fortunately, we also had the social butterfly Susanna who was merrily chatting to the local couple who were sitting on the only two stools in the venue. There’s also a window ledge to sit on and there’s a small amount of outdoor seating as well.

The beer selection, which was well presented and ridiculously large given how small the venue was. It was all quirky and I liked that.

This is the Dystopian Future pastry stout, a beautiful beer which had vanilla, chocolate, cinnamon and was rich and decadent. I was enthusing about this beer to the owner and he mentioned that the brewer had just come in.

I then bored the brewer by telling him how good his beer was. To be fair, he was probably rather pleased with that situation. The owner of the bar runs Maktoob Brewing, so I made sure I had a couple of his beers. Both were very credible, the Postcard from Iguaza IPA and the Azulejos NEIPA, he certainly knows what he’s doing.

We were then told that it was something of a spooky expedition to visit the venue’s toilet. And it was certainly one of the most intriguing visits that I’ve had, with another customer leading the way to show us where to go as it was far from obvious and involved walking down the street and down into a cellar. It’s not how these things normally work, but there we go.

Steve was merrily videoing the whole arrangement.

And it reminded me of the trek to the toilets at JD Wetherspoon….

But with a bit more jeopardy.

This was a marvellous end to a rather exciting first evening, the start of the exploration of craft beer in Bucharest as that’s really what the whole group is here for. There were some lovely customers, the service was impeccable and the selection of beers was outstanding for the size of the venue. This one is definitely worth popping in to visit for anyone in Bucharest who wants to try some locally made craft beer.

Second on Bev’s list of places to go in the evening was Ironic Taproom, a craft beer and burger bar.

The venue’s beer list and I must admit that I didn’t understand the departures and arrivals board. I’m not sure whether that was part of some theme or they were indicating which beers weren’t on yet. Interestingly, they’re card only which is seems to be part of a shift in Bucharest away from cash. The pricing is per 100ml which is a different way of doing it which I had to think about briefly, but I can see why they’d do it like that. The service was friendly and immediate, with an inviting and on-trend atmosphere internally.

The open kitchen area. Customers need to visit the separate till here if they want to order food, with the customer name written down and shouted out when the meal is ready. I was pleased to note that my name was spelled correctly, although I looked up the Romanian version and it’s Iulian which isn’t much different.

The burger menu. In terms of prices, just divide by five and take a little bit off to get the English equivalent. However, before I go onto the beer and food situation, I had better apologise to the people of Romania about Bev. I was quite content with the seating that we had at the bar, but we got ourselves a table which transpired to be already taken. I would have happily have just gone back to the seating at the bar, but Bev was most certain that the two people should have made it clearer that they had reserved the table. To be fair, they should have done, as the venue was at near capacity and they hadn’t made it clear. Anyway, Bev had a little moan, the guy took Steve’s drink (by mistake I’d add) and they wandered off. Everyone in our group was content with that situation, other than Steve who had lost a drink and I’m not sure that he’d even put it on Untappd. Anyway, back to the main event.

Firstly, the beer, that’s Crazy Peach which is brewed by Ironic themselves. It wasn’t overly sour and it didn’t have a huge depth of taste, but there were plenty of peaches and the flavours were pleasant. Secondly, the Korean Burger, that was excellent with a meaty and rich flavour, a soft roll which complemented it well and Parmesan fries. I was suitably impressed by this, all told a reasonably priced evening meal for our first night.

Bev golloped her burger down and I noticed that when Susanna was waving her burger about in the air that Bev nearly went for it, as I’m sure she wanted another one. She then went to order cheesecake, which I think she thought was acceptable. Returning to the burgers though, I think all five of us were suitably impressed with them. All told, this was another very positive visit and although we went at a busy time, the service was always prompt and pro-active.

All that Steve and I have heard this week are the demands from Bev to go to craft beer bars. So, being the helpful souls that we are, we’ve obliged and we will continue to be obliging in this regard. The first craft beer bar of the week was Ground Zero Beer, an on-trend arrangement which looked bright and inviting from the exterior and is operated by Ground Zero Brewery. As is usual, Steve and I arrived first and then Bev arrived having had yet another drama with the CityMapper app where she had walked around in circles. Steve and I didn’t say anything.

The nicely presented beer board with the main beers on the left and their experimental range on the right. The prices were reasonable and there were a variety of options regarding the size of the beers. I went for five beers in the smallest measure, which he quite rather charmingly called the child sized glass. They’re not doing food at the moment, but customers can bring their own food in. Fortunately, Thim and Susanna appeared soon after and they happened to have food they’d got for their breakfast, so we all ate that so that was a win-win for everyone.

The interior with the Italian style art on the ceiling and the black walls to offer some sort of contrast. There were some larger and smaller tables, with some thought having out into the design and comfort.

As for the beers, some were better than others in my view, but all were credible and interesting. The most memorable one was the Xperimentale 018 | Honey Hazelnut Imperial Stout, weighing in at 13.2%. It was a powerful little number, rich with a slightly artificial hazelnut flavour, but not unpleasant. It was smooth, boozy and really rather delicious to finish the pub visit off with.

I hadn’t realised at the time, but this is a new premises for the brewery and they’ve moved from their previous former communist factory site where they also offered food. Some people, judging from the on-line reviews, preferred the old arrangement, but things change and I like what they’ve done here. It’s modern and gives a positive impression of the brewery and their offerings.