September 18, 2018 Paris to Bucharest. Lunch/Dinner – Casa Doina

September 18, 2018 Paris to Bucharest. Lunch/Dinner – Casa Doina

Today was really unusual in several ways. First, was the extreme traveling conditions of a 5:15 walk to Porte Maillol to catch the 1:20 minute bus ride 70 km. To the Beauvais Airport to board the Wizz jet to Bucharest in which the seats did not adjust and one was forced to sit like a sardines or 2 ½ hours.  It reminded me of an initiation ceremony into some weird cult of low cost fellow travelers.

Then everything changed from spartan frugality to wretched excess after our arrival in Bucharest, like God had ordained a sumptuous meal for us as a reward for making it through our initiation ordeal.

Aaron met us at the airport and got us an Uber to our BNB apartment in the center of Bucharest where we changed and freshened up and took another Uber to Casa Doina Restaurant.  Casa Doina is an old mansion converted into a restaurant.  We were shown to a table in the garden which was filled with tables and guests eating al fresco behind the restaurant building where our host Bogdan and his assistant were waiting for us.  Bogdan owns a vineyard we are interested in buying wine from.  It produces amazing organic wine.  We were served a glass of Chardonnay that I could not stop drinking.  It had a brightness and crispness that only one or two other Chardonnays I have ever tasted had.  Then we were poured Bogdan’s 2017 Rose, which I initially found to be just a well balanced wine, but as it opened up and aired out I found it to have a compelling character.  It won the gold medal in a Provence wine competition, so the picky French must have liked it also.

We made an appetizer selection and an entrée from the menu.

I chose smoked butter fish, which I have never seen before for my appetizer and cabbage rolls for my entrée.

Soon the four appetizers were served family style on a large platter and Suzette’s selection of fish soup was served in an individual bowl to her.  Suzette chose the fish soup because it was a sour soup that included lovage as one of its ingredients.

The appetizers included a cured duck breast, slices of  the smoked butter fish, puffs of pastry extruded caviar creamed in olive oil and lemon juice similar to taramasalata, rectangular wedges of foie gras terrine topped with a sweet red currant gelatin and served on a base of Wasa bread white hard bread, and two wedges of Romanian sheep cheese that tasted like a mild feta. I had mentioned having trouble deciding between a chicken and duck liver cream and the butter fish.  Apparently Bogdan had ordered both appetizers.

We talked and ate and discussed Bogdan’s commitment to making great wine.

After a bit the entrees were served, most of us had ordered cabbage rolls which were served on a bed of polenta.  Also served to the table were grilled sausages with sweet pickles, lightly pickled pimientos, and chopped pickled cabbage.  But Suzette ordered a Moldovan minced meat dish that was delicious also served on polenta.  Bogdan’s assistant, who was a trim younger lady, ordered a small plate of meat and vegetable filled fried egg rolls wrapped in rice paper.  The smoked and cured duck was particularly tasty as was the butter fish smoked on premises.  Casa Doina is not only a beautiful restaurant, it also has a fabulous kitchen capable of greatness in food preparation.

The entrees were served with Bogdan’s 2017 feteasca neagra.

Here is a description of the grape and wine.


Feteasca Neagra (Black Maiden or Black Fairy)
Feteasca Neagra or Black Maiden and Black Fairy is the jewel of Romanian indigenous grape varieties who has a millennial history related with dacians history. Seeds of Feteasca Neagra were discovered in ancient vestiges discovered in Romania, more than 2000 years old.

Feteasca Neagra is similar, for the Romanians, to a sophisticated fairy, hard to tame, seductive and mysterious, imposing through presence, complexity and acidity, all very well balanced like an irresistible woman.

The grape is very versatile, they can gets from 200 to 240 grams of sugar per liter, if is late harvested can gets 270 grams. The acidity can be more than 7 g/ l in tartaric acid for crops up to 7-8 tonnes/ ha.

It is possible to obtain special rose and red wines.

The maximum potential after the maturation in oak barrels followed by the aging in the bottle, resulting high quality wines with a strong typicality.

Depending of the wine-making techniques the the wines get various flavors and fine tannins, good acidity, medium to full body and often more than 13,5% alcohol.

It is typical to have aromas of dried plums, blackberries, and black blueberries along with nice black pepper, vanilla and coffee flavors, and for the old wines toast and skin senses.

The assistant would not eat the foil gras because she found the gelatin too sweet, which gave me an insight into Romanian taste, which often gravitates toward sour flavors.  Lots of things were pickled, like the leaves of the cabbage rolls, or served with pickles, like the sausages.

At around 5:30 or 6:00 Bogdan and his assistant excused themselves because he had another meeting and was scheduled to fly to Lisbon in the morning to visitors children.

We sat and finished the wine and returned to the apartment.  I lay down and slept three hours.

At 10:00 when I awakened Suzette went to sleep for the night and I read and blogged a bit longer.

Our introduction to Romanian food and wine was fabulous.

This will be a fun vacation if things go moderately well from here on.

The deprivations of the early part of the day were by now forgotten under the weight of great food and wine.

Soon after we returned from Casa Doina Aaron left to meet a lady friend, but we were unable to move from lack of sleep and excessive amounts of food and wine.

Bon Appetit