Romanian Food — What to Eat and What It Costs

Hearty, garlicky, and cheap — what to actually order and what it costs.

Romanian food is rich, garlicky comfort food built for cold winters: sarmale (cabbage rolls with meat and rice), mici (grilled minced-meat rolls, the national street snack), and palinca (a fruit brandy strong enough to strip paint, offered as a welcome shot almost everywhere). A full restaurant meal runs $8–15 per person; a cold beer is $2–3. Mamaliga (polenta) shows up as a side almost everywhere, often with sour cream and cheese.

Romanian food doesn't get talked about much outside the region, which is a genuine shame — it's hearty, cheap, and built around the idea that a meal should leave you slightly too full. Here's what to actually order, what it costs, and the one drink you should sip rather than shoot (learned the hard way by more than one traveler).

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Romanian Food: What to Eat and What It Costs

Hearty, garlicky comfort food — and one very strong plum brandy.

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Questions people actually ask

What is the national dish of Romania?

There's no single official answer, but sarmale (cabbage rolls stuffed with minced meat and rice, simmered for hours) is the closest thing — it's the centerpiece of most family meals and holiday tables.

Is Romanian food good for vegetarians?

Doable but not effortless — Romanian cuisine leans heavily meat-and-dairy. Look for zacusca (a roasted vegetable and eggplant spread, genuinely excellent), ciorba de legume (vegetable soup), and mamaliga with cheese. Cities like Bucharest and Cluj have a growing number of dedicated vegetarian and vegan restaurants.

What is palinca and how strong is it?

A traditional fruit brandy (usually plum), typically 40–60% alcohol by volume in stores but sometimes far stronger when homemade in rural areas. It's often offered as a welcome shot at guesthouses — sip carefully the first time; homemade batches can be considerably stronger than they taste.

What's the best Romanian dessert to try?

Papanasi — fried dough rounds topped with sour cream and jam — is the classic, found on nearly every traditional menu. Cozonac, a sweet bread with walnut or cocoa swirl, is the other must-try, especially around Christmas and Easter.