Bucharest Trip – Day 2 : Zaganu

I hadn’t realised until Google told me, but I’ve visited this venue before in February 2020. It took me a couple of minutes to remember that visit, but I recalled that last time it was much quieter and the upstairs was closed off. The venue has a good reputation judging from the on-line reviews and it’s owned by the brewer Zaganu. It’s also open plan and feels modern and on-trend, as is visible from this photo that I took from upstairs.

I mentioned last time that I was just a little surprised to receive table service, and that’s still a little unusual for Bucharest (although by no means unique). Whatever works for them, but I just wanted to get a drink at the bar and pay, but we were offered a choice of seating upstairs and downstairs with table service. We went upstairs and weren’t entirely sure of the ordering process as there didn’t seem to be staff about, so we headed back down to order at the bar. The service was polite, but this bar visiting process of ours did seem to interrupt their ordering flow and I’m not sure they were entirely surprised and delighted by our group. However, the staff were friendly and were trying their best to assist, and we did prevent other members of our group making the same mistake when they entered. Also, I liked their lights which were constructed from beer bottles.

I only had one beer here, the Hefeweizen which is brewed by Zaganu and this was a decent wheat beer, slightly chewy and with a pleasant aftertaste. I don’t see much of this brewery’s beers in other locations and the last time I had a beer by them was in February 2020 when I had previously visited here. The brewer seems to have a solid reputation and I noticed after the visit that they’re listed on Untappd.

I was intrigued about the food options for later in the week, but when I went to look at the menu they took it away (I’m sure by mistake), but here are some of the special offers they have.

I’m an advocate of high seating, but some of the tables here felt mismatched in terms of the chairs that were located by them. For Bev, she was struggling to see over the table. The atmosphere in the venue was convivial and inviting, with only limited empty tables available.

However, it made it easier to take photos down the table.

Anyway, I enjoyed my repeat visit here, with the service being friendly and the venue being clean. It’s fair to say that I did get a bit muddled up with the ordering process on this occasion, but they worked around our accidental breach of protocol. There was a decent choice of beer on draft and in bottles, with a range of different styles being offered. The prices were reasonable for the location and I’d happily recommend a visit here to others.