As we have long pointed out in the pages of Bucharest In Your Pocket, nobody visits Romania for the food.
But there are some wonderful nibbles in Romania, and the ubiquitous covrigi are not the least of them.
Some covrigi, yesterday
A kind of pretzel, the charm of covrigi is not immediately evident. The vast majority sold on the streets of Romania’s towns and cities are cold, listless, lifeless and generally tasteless. As one foreigner asked us yesterday: ‘What is the point of covrigi?’
The point is that one day, you will get your hands on the perfect covrig. It will be piping hot (not merely warm), crispy, covered in seeds and rock salt, and will taste wonderful.
Then, hooked, you will spend the best part of the next ten years looking for a similarly perfect covrig. Yet you will search in vain. Even waiting outside a covrigarie until a fresh batch is ready will not always yield results: by the time you get to the front of the queue they will no longer be piping hot.
No, to search for the perfect covrig is pointless. You will simply have to buy as many covrigi as you can and hope you get lucky. One day you will. And then you will see the point of covrigi.
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Try the covrigi in Buzau. The syntagm ‘covrigi de Buzau” exists for a reason.
Tudor, you’re full of you know what! Covrigi from Buzau are tasteless with no character!
I love covrigi :X
There used to be one covrigarie at Piata Sudului, where you could always get the real thing. But it was put down by some mayor a few years ago.
And indeed the real thing has to be hot :X
Oh, there’s also another covrigarie at Piata Sudului where you can get them hot but they don’t make the covrigi with the traditional form, they make them smaller and round, not really the best option as they bake too well.
You should dedicate a post to “Merdenele”, they also need to be served hot (with yogurt :X) and they also come from the area of Brasov
And you know where you can get the best merdenele in town?? At Piata Victoriei metro station!
And you also get to eat them as they should be eaten (like mici): packed in low cost packaging paper from which you tear a corner and use it to eat the merdenele so that your fingers don’t get dirty :X
They also have some very fine yogurt and simple tables and chairs where you can sit and enjoy your merdenele.
You have to do this if you’re in Bucharest!
Merdenele are simply delicious. There used to be a a great place on Piata Domenii for merdenele. De branza most days for lunch (not my healthiest of days).
Romanian food at it’s best: 1. at home (for anything), 2. from a stall in a market or by the roadside (covrigi, merdenele, mici), 3. in a dingy restaurant (but this is only for ciorba)
This seems like a perfect subject for a Seinfeld episode… Even the tagline! “One day you will finde the perfect covrig”.
Ohhh da, si imi plac colinde de covrigi! foarte bun
I am one of the few fortunates – I have a ‘covrigărie’ at the street corner near my office. It’s always busy so I only get really hot ‘covrigi’, fresh from the oven (well… electric covrigi machine, but that’s not the point)
I shall not disclose the location (except that it’s in Bucharest)
We have no problem with electric covrigi ovens. Traditionalists may scream but if they increase the availability of ‘perfect’ covrigi we are all for them.
The best covrigi you can find in Tel Aviv.
By the time you find the perfect covrig, you may spend enough time and money to equal a plane trip to the HOME of perfect covrigi: any small pretzel pushcart in Times Square.
As a former frequent patron of the above, I however admit that covrigi measure well enough, except for the salt. So many shops in this town, and not one heretic enough to try a light sprinkle over the WHOLE darn thing instead of one lethally concentrated bite at the bottom. That’s where the “tastelessness” comes from; this delicacy needs a hint of salt in every bite, not 95% “meh,” 5% “I need a straw and the Danube!”
Ah, covrigii din Piata Romana, m-m-m-m
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