So last week, the Hubs and I spent a few days at the Black Sea because it’s been hot as balls and because I’ve been desperate to get to some water for more than a year now. Last year it was too hot and since this year it was even hotter (why?!?!) there was no reason to keep putting it off.
We booked a room a few hundred meters from the sea and we took off on a 3 hour road trip that took is to Constanța, a port town snuggled right up against the Black Sea. You might also be fascinated to learn that this is the birthplace of pro tennis player Simona Halep as well as most recent Bucky Barnes, Sebastian Stan. There’s some useless trivia for you that you won’t ever need…until you do!
So we hit the road and the first thing we did when we rolled into town was…get food! We got up, got two double espressos and hit the road so between the heat–39 Celsius and rising–and the drive, we were pretty hungry and Artisana is one of the few places we knew we’d find good vegan food.
This is a vegan and vegetarian bistro that serves soups and sandwiches as well as other little bites. Some are inspired by traditional Romanian dishes like the galuste cu prune (plum dumplings) but others are just yummy vegan food.
We split a vegan shawarma, which was delicious and hearty, the perfect thing to satisfy my hunger and prepare me for lounging on the beach. We also enjoyed a chiftele, which is like a Romanian meatball with cooked vegetables in it, tofu cu branza which is basically cheese made with tofu and scallions and wrapped in a flaky pastry, cabbage tart, which was a mixture of cabbage and sauerkraut, and mushroom cigars.
And we got an apple tart to go, eating it the next morning with vitamins and holy moly it was FANTASTIC!! It was sweet but not too sweet and that dough? To die for! Seriously delicious and my only regret was that I didn’t grab another before we left a few days later.
And then it was BEACH TIME!!!
Our hotel reservation came with reserved seats so it was a perfectly relaxing day at Never Sea Beach!
There’s a little QR code on each table and we ordered Mocktails (green apple & mojito) to combat the heat & humidity that while really nice on the beach, was still a WHOLE THING!
We spent about four hours, possibly more at the beach. Cos laid in the sun and I mostly chilled in the shade, jumping into the cold water every 30 minutes or so just because I could.
Thanks to storms on the other side of the sea, the water was very cold on the first day and we didn’t spend much time in the sea. But I think I evened out my ankle sock tan…sort of.
After hours in the sun it was time for a shower and…VEGAN FOOD!!!
The plan had been to head over to Plant Eat because it’s delicious and it’s the only fully vegan restaurant in Constanța, but we decided to walk and when we arrived the kitchen was closed. Bummer, but I did get a truffle for the road.
With that plan doused in cold water, we walked back towards the hotel and beach where there were plenty of restaurants, mostly seafood places but a quick Google search and we found some promising accidentally vegan options that went beyond salad and French fries….yay!
I know, I know…we were at a beach town in Romania and we found vegan food at an Irish Pub, weird. But that’s not even the weirdest part of all of this, it’s the actual vegan food options.
It was limited but it was fully vegan –> hummus, tabbouleh & pita bread, and vegan spring rolls (actually marked as vegan on the menu) made from spinach wraps and served with sweet & sour as well as plum sauce. Oh and the most amazing hand cut fries!!
And since it was vacation we both decided a drink was in order, Ursus Black for him, a shot of Gentleman Jack and a Guinness for me!
We split everything and it was all perfectly satisfying, or maybe we were still high on beach livin’!
The next morning we enjoyed the apple tart before we headed out to start the day right…with coffee. Double espresso at a Brazilian cafe and my super colorful hat!
And that’s it for now, I’ll be back soon for part 2 soon!
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The Spicy Spatula 
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