Restaurant review: It's the real thing

Levantin at Hanul Lui Manuc, Lipscani
Michael Barclay
You really cannot argue against my premise that Romanian restaurateurs and their respective investors are the most shortsighted and unimaginative entrepreneurs in the entire restaurant world!

To prove my point, 20 years ago some unknown local restaurateur looked at all the produce available in Romania, and created a bullshit, phony Italian menu based on local, Romanian grown products.
Since that time, thousands of so-called ‘Italian’ restaurants have opened up across the nation, each one having the same rubbish menu. It was a case of ‘follow the leader’ – and this trattoria bullshit still exists in 99 percent of all ‘Italian’ chophouses in the land. Oh, shame on you all.

But saturation point has been reached with this ‘Italian’ rubbish, and the lazy, unimaginative eyes of a new generation of restaurateurs scanned the business horizon for somebody to show them the light, and thereafter to plagiarize that model. So step forward Lebanese restaurants, and, just like the Italian job, in the last two years the total of them has grown to 20 in Bucharest alone. And that number will grow further. Another case of ‘follow the leader’.

So how do you identify the real article from the fraud? Simple, just read on!
I am sitting on the balcony overlooking the courtyard of the fabulous 17th-century coach inn of Hanul. It had been languishing in relative obscurity for the last few years until new life was breathed into it last year with the inclusion of a new restaurant with a genuine Middle Eastern chef.

Although most vegetables in Lebanese cuisine grow in Romania, for most of the year they are ‘out of season’. That means they are dead and unobtainable. But this House goes the extra mile by importing all-year-round flavors for you, including: fresh coriander, fresh mint, fresh thyme fresh pomegranate and any number of vegetables you would otherwise find unobtainable in out-of-season Bucharest markets.

So the menu arrived and from its vast choice of goodies, Blondie and I dined like kings, at a fraction of the cost of eating lesser food elsewhere. So off to a ‘tabouleh’ which as you all know is a simple cold starter of durum wheat, parsley, onion and tomato. But they added pomegranate seeds and it arrived H-U-G-E, dammit, the size of a main course, and all for the price of… RON 13.

So still on starters we dived into a ‘hummus beyrouty’, a perfect hummus which had been inspired by the addition of fresh herbs (including coriander) and all dressed up with additions of red-hot chilies together with fine olive oil and all for the bargain price of RON 11! Die and go to heaven, BUT heaven awaited us further as we gorged on their menu.

Well, what are you waiting for by reading this article? Why are you not jumping into a taxi right now to go there? Do you need more encouragement? OK, here it comes.

Perfect starters such as ‘chips, rice and vegetables’ kicked in at a ludicrously low RON 7. Add to that the fact you could have them flavored with Saffron (the world’s most expensive spice) again at RON 7, and you have the bargain of the century.
There were hot and cold starters (each almost a meal in itself) of stuffed pastries of cheese, parsley and mozzarella, or beef fillet and onion, both at a mere RON 12, or better still chicken, pine nut, coriander and yoghurt at a mere RON 17.
Blondie and I closed our starter selection with the last of their 23 offerings (beef and lamb sausages), all House-made and nothing like the local Romanian variety. We then settled down to the vast array of main courses.

Being a woman of simple Romanian gastronomic training, she did not have the sense of adventure and curiosity of a European. So she settled for a simple ‘roast chicken with sesame seeds’. It was anything but simple. A sliced chicken breast was fried in a schnitzel of sesame seeds and served in its own roasting bowl in a wonderful sauce of lemon and garlic, all for a mere RON 17, and washed down with lashings of hot pitta bread.

Having realized her mistake of not being gastronomically adventurous, she then spoiled my meal by mooching off my plates which I had carefully chosen, such as a perfect ‘kofta’ kebab (mixed lamb and beef) of enormous proportion and served with a mountain of hot chili peppers and crisp, fresh, nutty flavored ‘cos’ salad leaves. All at a bargain price of RON 21.

You will not believe the temptations we passed on, all because we were stuffed with bargain basement priced food, such as: Lebanese Halloumi cheese and pitta bread with chicken, yellow cheese and gherkin salad at RON 18. The table next to me ordered it and I asked the shaven headed, tattooed slob who was stuffing it into his face if he approved.

Too gluttonous to answer me he smiled as an unwelcome squirt of food emanated from each corner of his pig mouth. I took this as a silent sign of the affirmative! Yuk. So there it is, dear friends. Go there now before it catches on, because when it does, you will have a problem getting a table because it is the best in town and word is going to spread like wildfire.

First entry players count in all levels of business, so get yourself known there now, or be left waiting outside.

michaelbarclay32@gmail.com

DMCA

PROTECTED