A LITTLE GASTRO-ROMANIA, THEN?
Let the fire be just right…
If you have come all the way to Maramureș, you had better eat well. And the mămăligă — firm, or on the softer side?
The taste of Maramureș
Doina has been cooking all her life, from recipes learned at home — from her mother, and from her grandmother before that. Everything that reaches the table she cooks with her own hands; she does not hand the kitchen to anyone. Not everyone still has the craft of cooking the old way: slowly, on the stove or in the hearth oven.
And alongside the food: the vegetables, the zacuscă and the preserves, the horincă and the cordials — all made here in the house.
Where the food comes from
The vegetables come from the garden beside the house; the preserves and the zacuscă from the pantry; the horincă — the local plum spirit — and the cordials are made here in the household. What doesn’t grow here comes from producers nearby and from the market in Sighet.
On the stove, in the cauldron, on the hearth
The menu follows the season and whatever the garden is giving — we settle it together, before you arrive. Here is what there is to choose from.
Breakfast, the traditional spread
Bacon, ham, jumări (pork crackling), sausage. Cheeses: fresh curd, urdă (whey cheese), telemea (brined), and hand-worked brânză. Butter, several kinds of preserve, and zacuscă — all made in the house. Honey from producers nearby, tea from herbs picked on these hills, and cow’s milk.
Ciorbe (sour soups)
porcini · cabbage with smoked meat · potato with smoked meat · Doina’s own peasant ciorbă, with dumplings · bean with dried plums · meatball · rădăuțeană (chicken, soured with cream) · cauliflower · pumpkin
Soups
chicken with dumplings · green lettuce · onion · cream of pumpkin
The soups change with the season — we cook whatever is fresh at the time.
Mains
Roasts · stews · fried dishes — each with the right things alongside.
Home baking
Cozonac (sweet plaited loaf) · cornulețe (filled crescents) · pancove (Maramureș doughnuts) · apple cake · cheese cake · urdă cake · honey layer cake · tarts with the season’s fruit · lapte de pasăre (floating islands) · burnt-sugar custard
Let’s begin with the mămăligă pe pături
A stop along the road to “Romanian Food, Wine and Customs”
“The whole thing goes into the oven — or over the embers — for an hour or so, on a low heat, so the cheeses melt slowly and get properly acquainted with the mămăligă.”— Doina
At the long table
The table is how we bring a group together — in the dining hall with its 28 seats, under the marquee in the garden, or out on the terrace in the evening light. Nobody gets up in a hurry.
Cozonac, pancove and cornulețe — the part nobody manages to skip.
How meals work
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner, all cooked in the house.
- The menu is settled together with Doina, according to the season and the group.
- Preferences and allergies — tell us in good time and we’ll work around them.
- Breakfast 45 lei · lunch or dinner 85 lei per person. Children 0–6 free, 6–12 half price.
Tell us how many of you there are, and what you like
The rest is the kitchen’s business. Tell us how many, for which dates, and what you fancy — Doina will see to the whole of it.