Tastes of Bucharest
Cafés, inns and dining rooms within walking distance of the Faculty of Law and the Athenaeum, chosen for the history of the house as much as for what is served in it, and kept clear of the places that live on passing visitors alone.
Walking times are estimates. Where a famous address is better for its rooms than its kitchen, we say so.
Filter by kind of place; choose one from the list or the map for its story, the walk from the congress and a Google Maps link.
Photo: Caru' cu Bere
Beer hall · since 1879 · €€
Str. Stavropoleos 5 · 20 min from the Faculty of Law · 15 min from the Athenaeum
Bucharest's best-known nineteenth-century beer hall. The present neo-Gothic hall of 1899, with its painted vaults, stained glass and carved panelling, is a listed monument a few steps from Stavropoleos Monastery.
Come for the hall. Very popular: book ahead and avoid peak evening hours.
Photo: Hanu' lui Manuc
Historic inn · since 1808 · €€
Str. Franceză 62–64 · 25 min from the Faculty of Law · 20 min from the Athenaeum
The caravanserai built by the Armenian merchant Manuc Bei, and the last of the city's old inns still receiving guests. Tradition places the talks of the 1812 Treaty of Bucharest here.
Best at lunch in the galleried courtyard; evenings bring folk music and crowds.
Photo: Hanu' Berarilor, Casa Oprea Soare
Beer hall in a historic house · house 1914 · €
Str. Col. Poenaru Bordea 2 · 20 min from the Faculty of Law · 25 min from the Athenaeum
A neo-Romanian mansion by Petre Antonescu, one of the leading architects of the national style, built for the timber merchant Dumitru Oprea Soare. Now a large brewpub with a local crowd and fair prices.
Photo: Hanu' Berarilor, Casa Elena Lupescu
Beer hall in a historic villa · villa c. 1900 · €€
Bd. Pache Protopopescu 51 · 55 min from the Faculty of Law · 35 min from the Athenaeum
An eclectic villa, at once neo-Gothic, neo-Romanian and Art Nouveau, associated with Elena Lupescu, companion and later wife of King Carol II.
At the far edge of walking range.
Photo: Cercul Militar Național restaurant
Restaurant in a palace · palace 1911–23 · €€
Str. Constantin Mille 1–3 · 20 min from the Faculty of Law · 10 min from the Athenaeum
The dining hall of the Army Officers' Circle, Dimitrie Maimarolu's Beaux-Arts palace on Calea Victoriei: gilded arches, balconies and chandeliers, open to the public.
The room is the reason to go; the cooking is plain and there is often live music.
Photo: Casa Capșa
Historic pastry shop & café · since 1852 · €€€
Calea Victoriei 36 · 20 min from the Faculty of Law · 10 min from the Athenaeum
For a century the salon of Romanian writers, politicians and journalists, founded as a confectioner's by the Capșa brothers. The pastry room reopened at its original address in 2022.
Best for a coffee and the house Joffre cake rather than a full meal.
Photo: Cafeneaua Veche 9
Café-bistro · site 18th c. · €€
Str. Covaci 16 · 30 min from the Faculty of Law · 20 min from the Athenaeum
Held to be the oldest café site in Bucharest, next to the Old Princely Court; the recent restoration kept the eighteenth-century brickwork.
Photo: Carusel Café at Cărturești Carusel
Bookshop café · building 1903 · €€
Str. Lipscani 55 · 25 min from the Faculty of Law · 20 min from the Athenaeum
Top floor of the former Chrissoveloni bank, a Greek-Romanian banking house: nationalised in the 1950s, returned to the family after a long lawsuit, and restored as a bookshop.
The bookshop draws visitors; the café upstairs stays quiet.
Photo: Cărturești Verona & Grădina Verona
Bookshop tea room & garden · house 1883 · €
Str. Pictor Arthur Verona 13–15 · 25 min from the Faculty of Law · 5 min from the Athenaeum
The house of Dimitrie A. Sturdza, historian, member of the Romanian Academy and Liberal prime minister. Today it is a bookshop with a tea room and a summer garden that hosts book launches and talks.
Photo: Beans & Dots Cișmigiu
Specialty coffee · building 1926–30 · €
Str. Ion Brezoianu 23–25 · 15 min from the Faculty of Law · 10 min from the Athenaeum
Specialty coffee in the courtyard of Palatul Universul, headquarters of Universul, one of the most influential newspapers of interwar Romania.
Photo: Slice Pie Bar
Pie bar · since 2024 · €
Calea Plevnei 5–7 · 10 min from the Faculty of Law · 15 min from the Athenaeum
Sweet and savoury pies, tarts and quiches by the slice, a short walk from the Faculty of Law. If you liked the quiche on the congress menu, there is more of it here.
Small, with a few tables on the street: good for a quick lunch between sessions.
Photo: Grand Café de Bucarest at Casa Monteoru
Café-restaurant in a palace · house 1874 · €€
Calea Victoriei 115 · 20 min from the Faculty of Law · 10 min from the Athenaeum
The Monteoru house, remodelled by Ion Mincu, with its Hall of Mirrors and monumental staircase. It was the seat of the Writers' Union from 1949 to 2013.
Opened in 2026; the setting is superb, the kitchen still finding its feet.
Photo: Ceainăria Infinitea
Tea room · interwar villa · €€
Str. Dr. Grigore Romniceanu 7 · 20 min from the Faculty of Law · 40 min from the Athenaeum
A salon-style tea room in a villa of the Cotroceni quarter, among the best-preserved interwar streets of the city.
At the far edge of walking range, past the Faculty of Law.
Photo: Casa Doina
Restaurant in a historic pavilion · since 1892 · €€€
Șos. Kiseleff 4 · 45 min from the Faculty of Law · 35 min from the Athenaeum
Ion Mincu's “Buffet on the Chaussée”, a founding work of the neo-Romanian style, serving as a restaurant almost without interruption since the 1890s. A large garden under old trees.
Photo: Le Bistrot Français
Restaurant in a period villa · €€€
Str. Nicolae Golescu 18 · 25 min from the Faculty of Law · 5 min from the Athenaeum
A period villa directly behind the Athenaeum, its original decoration largely intact; French and Romanian cooking, member of Relais & Châteaux.
Photo: Energiea
Bistro in a former printing works · building 1913–15 · €€
Str. Ion Brezoianu 4 · 15 min from the Faculty of Law · 15 min from the Athenaeum
The Energiea printing works: hit by a bomb in May 1944, later a restaurant and a Ministry of the Interior canteen, damaged again in the miners' riot of June 1990.
A good-value weekday lunch menu, close to the Faculty of Law.
Photo: Lacrimi și Sfinți
Romanian restaurant · c. 2010 · €€
Str. Șepcari 16 · 30 min from the Faculty of Law · 20 min from the Athenaeum
The poet Mircea Dinescu's restaurant, cooking Romanian recipes of a century ago in rooms built from salvaged old wood, windows and doors.
In the Old Town; live music on some evenings.
Photo: Mahala
Contemporary Romanian · Bragadiru complex · €€
Calea Rahovei 147–153 · 25 min from the Faculty of Law · 40 min from the Athenaeum
Modern Romanian cooking in a small dining room within the Bragadiru complex, the old brewery-palace south of the river.
Photo: The English Bar at the Athénée Palace
Hotel bar · hotel 1914 · €€€
Str. Episcopiei 1–3 · 20 min from the Faculty of Law · 5 min from the Athenaeum
Next to the Athenaeum. In the Second World War the Athénée Palace was where diplomats, spies and foreign correspondents watched one another. It is the setting of R. G. Waldeck's Athénée Palace and of Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy.
Opens at 18:00.
Photo: QP Pub
Pub · since 2017 · €
Str. General David Praporgescu 13 · 30 min from the Faculty of Law · 10 min from the Athenaeum
A small, friendly pub with a long whisky list, good cocktails, pub food and a beer garden. No history to speak of, simply a place the congress team likes.
From 16:00 until late.
Photographs courtesy of the venues. Last checked 16 September 2026; opening hours and owners change, so confirm before you go.
