Booking a table at Reader’s Cafe

Situated in the Victoriei area near several office buildings, Reader’s Café is still one of Bucharest’s posh places where you can enjoy a wide-ranging gourmet menu that runs from Lebanese tapas and sushi to warm pasta or meat dishes.

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The bistro is probably one of the most active online, where its webpage is weekly updated with information on its events and Dish of the Day menu. For RON 22, I had the second best tomato soup in Bucharest (first place still occupied by Lente’s tomato soup) and white fish fillet with pomegranate sauce and caramelized vegetables. Although the fish wasn’t as tasty as I was expecting, the pomegranate sauce saved the dish. Be warned that this lunch menu isn’t available until 4 o’clock, while the food is rapidly ordered by the businesspeople who work nearby. Currently, the lunch offer consists of the “Let’s do lunch together” concept, where the new menu covers the customer’s favorite products, from appetizers to hot and side dishes.

Last month, I had the Reader’s Breakfast; for RON 29 the menu included a country style omelet, green salad, butter, honey, mini viennoiseries, toast, tea or coffee and fresh orange juice. The W Somerset Maugham quote, “To eat well in England, you should have breakfast three times a day,” is written on the breakfast page of the menu, and the subtle irony put a smile on my face as the bistro doesn’t offer anything similar to an English breakfast.

Pour les connoisseurs, there are smooth jazz concerts almost every evening, which can be “consumed” with one of the most comprehensive ranges of top local wines – Aurelia Visinescu, La Certa, Crama Basilescu, to name a few – and light pasta, salads, sushi or warm dishes. For dinner here, a good tip could be the parking facility, as you can park your car in the MetropolisCenter underground parking lot after 7 pm.

A big plus is the well separated smoking and non-smoking sections, as well as the minimalist interior design and the book area you have to pass through to enter the bistro. The space is used for temporary, contemporary art exhibitions, mostly photography and paintings.

The only drawbacks of this place are the lack of advertising of the live concerts that are held there and the “closed on Sunday” announcement.