So recently we were feeling a hint of cabin fever and decided to get out, only all the fun places in the mountains and the countryside were packed with others who had the same idea, so we ventured into the city.
Which city, you ask?
Bucharest. It’s only about 75 kilometers from Ploiesti so within an hour–give or take for traffic–we can be there with the frustration of city driving behind us. The day was nice and sunny, we got there just late enough to bypass rush hour traffic and parked quickly, so it was mostly an easy journey.
I’ll tell you later all about my new tattoo, complete with vegan, cruelty-free vegan ink. For now, let’s talk food.
Funkink Burgers, formerly known as Sarah’s Burgers, is a fully vegan establishment. The cool thing about this place besides their artisan burgers? It’s a collaborative effort with an NGO, Romanian Vegan Association, to “promote a vegan lifestyle and reduce the consumption of animal products for ethical, economic reasons, to protect health and the environment.”
Pretty cool mission statement, if I do say so myself.
After sitting on a stool for hours until my butt was numb, all I could think about was burgers. Vegan burgers and fries, and homemade vegan dipping sauces. Sign me up. Now.
The walking path to get to Funkink was a lot like wandering the side streets of Paris, basically a labyrinth of cobblestone streets that feature bars and eateries from around the world. I spotted an American style sports bar, an English pub, several German pubs because Germany is a HUGE influence in this country, and even a Scottish pub that promised “authentic Scottish fare”.
It was nice to see such diversity represented, too bad most of the places had not one vegan item on the menu, well if you exclude fries, rice, boiled potatoes and salad.
The thing I’d been drooling over all day, was unavailable when we got there. Okay, the truth is that the guy ahead of us ordered the last batch of mushrooms for the Undercover Oyster Bucket, which totally bummed me out. Next time, though!
So we each got, what else, burgers.
I ordered the Mr. Cheeseburger because I’ve only recently learned to appreciate spinach and the green bun was too intriguing to pass up. Okay well, I definitely could have passed up the spinach bun, but the burger itself was made of chickpeas, oats, mushrooms, walnuts, kidney beans and sunflower seeds. Sounds like a super healthy way to enjoy a vegan cheeseburger.
My hubs ordered a UnbelievaBull Burger, made with seitan and soy, and loaded up with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, barbecue sauce and garlic sauce. This burger was very delicious, not too greasy and very well seasoned. I preferred this bun over the Mr. Cheeseburger bun, because of course we went halfsies on both burgers.
For fries, we also went halfies on Iconic wedges and sweet potato fries, each came with a free dipping sauce. We chose garlic and tomato & basil.
Overall everything was delicious. The green spinach bun could have been a bit more moist as it was a tad dry, but the burger and toppings were so delicious it didn’t matter. And I had a nice dark beer to wash it all down with, so it was fine.
It was a long day and it was time make the long drive out of the city, so we got dessert to go. Chocoland. Who doesn’t love the sound of that? It is a nutty, chocolatey desert with two layers of chocolate cake and a delicious middle with a distinctly orange flavor to it.
One word; yummy. He ate most of it while I pined for the oyster mushrooms.
I haven’t spent much time in Bucharest since coming to Romania but they have quite a few vegan food options, so stay posted for more vegan eats!
the-spicy-spatula.com 