A heritage, historic location featured on city tours, in guidebooks and mentioned in classical books - let us take only Olivia Manning’s ‘Fortunes of War’ series. The inn was built by Armenian merchant Emanuel Mârzaian - a.k.a. Manuc Bey - in 1808. There were 107 rooms upstairs and the typical inner yard hosted a cafeteria and a small terrace, apart from the grounds where the horse-pulled carts could be brought in. As time passed, shops were hosted in the Southern wing. While the building was restored a few times and hence the occurrence of various changes, the last works tried to bring it as close as possible to the initial structure. Nowadays there are a few cafeterias in the Southern wing, with access from the Piața Unirii, of which the Manuc Levantin (Lebanese restaurant), the Bistro Manuc and the Manuc Cafe belong to the Hanul lui Manuc management. The centerpiece hosts an extensive traditional restaurant terrace which also provides access to two event halls. The inn can be accessed through the main entrance on Franceză Street or through the three restaurants, from Unirea Square. The accommodation rooms upstairs are still closed, as they are doing a lengthy renovation process over there.
While it might not have the best service in town, the Hanul lui Manuc is a recommended experience, with its archways, Turkish style carved wood columns and stucco decoration, as well as the wood shingle roof. And then, it provides a welcome, relaxed break from the bustling Unirea Square and its traffic. One can opt for one of the two restaurants (Romanian and Lebanese), the bistro or for the cafeteria that also serves sweets. Menu-wise, apart from the typical bunch of espressos and a few cocktails, the cafe offers a good Turkish coffee and a delicious biscuit cake plus a not very comprehensive wine list, but where one can find a recommended Crâmpoșie (white) and Novac (red) of Prince Știrbey Vineyards. The traditional restaurant has the typical platters of cold cuts, cheeses and grills; apart from that, the stuffed peppers and the vegetable moussaka are recommended, and so is the carrot, ginger and walnut cake. The best place to be, disregarding of the venue you choose (or have to choose according to availability), is the first floor balcony, the so-called ‘cerdac’. The cafe has the Western part of it, the traditional restaurant occupies the wide, central balcony and the Levantine restaurant terrace is sandwiched in between.
Especially for dinner, bookings are strongly recommended, even though I would recommend the place for early lunch or a lazy afternoon hangout, which would allow for a lengthy, relaxed exploration of the whole place. It can be expectedly noisy in the evening.
GPS - N44 25.803 E26 06.136
62-64 Franceză, tel.: 0769075844, http://www.hanulluimanuc.ro/, cafemanuc@hanulluimanuc.ro
