Eating Vegan & Sightseeing in Targoviste, RO

I missed yesterday’s post because the Hub’s and I went to Targoviste, Romania for a day trip to do some sightseeing and see what kind of vegan food we could rustle up after a day in the sun.

Targoviste was beautiful! Absolutely gorgeous. We saw the Princely Court & Princely Palace, not to mention Chindia Tower which served for hundreds of years as the home for many members of Romanian royalty, including the infamous Vlad Tepes during his second reign. It was a wonderful day of sightseeing and history and learning new things, and the day was only made better by finding a place vegan food options that went beyond French fries, eggplant and tapenade.

We first arrived at Targoviste in the midst of what can only be described as a downpour. The weather alleged that it was meant to be intermittent showers until late afternoon but it was a total downpour for more than an hour so instead of sightseeing right away, we went to Ganbare, a Japanese restaurant, and took full advantage of all the vegan food options.

If you’re curious about homemade Japanese food, check out my vegan Okonomiyaki recipe!

And I do mean ALL of them!

So let’s stop wasting time and talk vegan food.

I have to say that Ganbare did an excellent job with the vegan options they had available and the only downside was that they didn’t label them as vegan so new vegans or unsuspecting/unlearned vegans will probably skip this place and that would be a huge mistake.

We got the meal going with a host of starters that were reasonably priced and more than enough food for two adults. Two hungry adults.

Spring rolls were first on the list because I enjoy them and my only complaint was that I have been craving egg rolls for months and months.

Next we got the most delicious tempura vegetables. They were crunchy and more than a mouthful but best of all they weren’t incredibly greasy which is my least favorite thing about eating tempura. The tempura included sweet potato, broccoli, bell peppers and mushrooms.

I am happy to report that the mushrooms were not incredibly juicy or terribly dry. Like all the other tempura vegetables they were well seasoned and properly cooked and super delicious when combined with the soy-mirin-sesame dipping sauce.

The miso soup was delicious. Unlike typical miso soup the chef at Ganbare used silken tofu which provided a nice textural contrast to the soup and seaweed. It was really good but I just wish it was hotter because I like my soup hot, Hot, HOT!

Finally, we ordered spicy edamame with black and white sesame seeds, red pepper flakes and sea salt. We grubbed them so hard I think there might have been smoke marks in the bamboo bowl. It was incredible and a nice reprieve from the rain.

Targoviste is still a small-ish town so the menu wasn’t loaded up with vegan items but there were enough to satisfy us. Because of the history of the area, so many restaurants specialized in your usual meat options as well as wild, more exotic meats as well and even if I was curious about the ambience or atmosphere they have ZERO OPTIONS for vegans to enjoy.

Ganbare though offered a veggie and noodle dish as well as a veggie fried rice, and wok vegetables. There was a brief moment that I got excited about the mapo tofu but it came with tofu…and pork. Bummer.

So we ordered the large (350 grams) vegetables and noodles with the wok vegetables and two orders of wakame salad.

The noodles were delicious and greasy with all kinds of vegetables including mushrooms, carrots, onions, with loads of soy sauce and sesame oil. On the side was another round of vegetables with onions, cabbage, mushrooms, carrots and black & white sesame seeds.

It was all very good and the perfect way to start an afternoon of walking through castle ruins, parks and other parts of nature.

If you find yourself in Targoviste, RO anytime soon, check out Ganbare and tell them I said buna ziua!

Curious to see more photos from my trip to Targoviste? Check me out on Facebook or Instagram.