Romanians, especially here in the South, love their sweets. At someone's house, home made jam (the confiture type, with whole pieces of fruit) is served with Turkish coffee or fresh lemonade. Or, if you are really lucky, the lady of the house will be a good cook and come with a plate of steamy, freshly baked apple, cheese or pumpkin pie (no, not the one made with readily made Bela dough from the supermarket, I am talking about home made dough and about tasty things here).

But if you do not get invited over by anyone or if the lady of the house is not a cook (scrambled eggs, potato soup, instant whatever and pasta are not included in "cooking"), then head off in the city and look for one of the "cofetărie" signs. This stands for confectionery shops that sell (usually locally cooked) cakes, birthday cakes, cookies and chocolate products. Sometimes they are also into pastry. Not all these places are at the same level (for some of them use whipped cream from the tube, while others make their own and some of these places belong to small chains and bring their products from only the Holy Cow knows where). Decent local restaurants should have the papanași on their menu, apart from the usual pancakes (Ro. clătite), baked apples (Ro. mere coapte) or whatever else. The papanași stand for sweet cheese-filled, letter O shaped donuts, covered in sour cream and sour cherry or blueberry jam; they always come two at a portion. Ignore idiots serving fancy ones with pineapple, whipped cream or ice cream.

There are a few places you should be looking for. For chocolates, forget whatever else, head for the Capșa (at the hotel with the same name down the Calea Victoriei), right around the corner along the Edgar Quinet at their Cofetărie; they have long been the best in chocolate in Bucharest and are still there. Also, their pricomigdale fours are still Romania's best. Unfortunately (or not) their place is mostly a take away, there are only a couple of small tables with chairs in the small venue. Of the cofetărie chains in the city, the Ana and the Tic Tac are the best, even though I sense some 3 in 1 ingredients there. The Ana has great mini cakes, while the Tic Tac does great cheese and jam cakes. Of the individual cofetăries (which abound, even though some of them have been bought over by the two above), the one next to Piața Romană metro station (between the KFC and the Columbia outlet), or the one near the crossing of Regina Elisabeta with Calea Victoriei are great. Especially the fruit cakes or the coffee and chocolate cakes are recommended. Usually these places do not serve alcohol (sometimes they sell sparkling wine to go with birthday cakes, but that is all, and it comes by the bottle). Green Tea also has great home made cakes (try their Krantz), and they go well with tea. Cakes cost from RON 3 up to RON 10. But that is irrelevant for once. For Oriental cakes, try the Capitan’s knafeh and qadaif (162 Splaiul Unirii, between Timpuri Noi and Mihai Bravu metro stops), or Divan’s kadaif (spelling according to the local menu and cuisine type). For the city’s (and country’s for that matter) papanași, go to Capșa’s restaurant or, if you are of the convincing kind, as they do not serve food there, to the Capșa’s bar (hmm, I managed that) and ask for some, some Jidvei brandy aside.

GPS - the Capsa - N44 26.115 E26 05.931

GPS - Cofetarie Piata Romana - N44 26.737 E26 05.879

GPS - Cofetarie Elisabeta - N44 26.101 E26 05.936

GPS - Green Tea - N44 26.045 E26 07.127

GPS - Capitan Restaurant - N44 24.605 E26 07.245

GPS - Divan Restaurant - N44 25.806 E26 06.000