Happy September!! Or, should I say that I wish you a happy September since the month just started. Tell me, what are you looking forward to this month?
Oh, and happy Labor Day to my U.S. based vegan friends & readers!
The past few weeks have been incredibly busy so I haven’t really maintained any sort of order when it comes to publishing here, as such I haven’t gotten a chance to share my latest adventure with you!
Peştera Valea Cetății in Râșnov is an old cave that wasn’t discovered until 1949 and you couldn’t enter upright until 2011! This cave is approximately 900 meters long and it has slowly been landscaped so that the public can go inside.
Not much is known about this cave except that it is old and we now know it was responsible for many of the storms that plagued the Râșnov Valley Fortress, due to clogging from the rains.
My Experience
I’ve been in a couple of caves since moving to Romania, the largest being Pestera Ialomitei and Slănic, but this one was the most rustic. Water dripped all over and even the steps that had been added in for tourists were super wet. There were LED lights to guide the way but the cave is massive on the inside so lighting wasn’t great.
Still, it was incredible. Just thinking about how this cave sat around totally undiscovered because no one knew it was there all this time is just…wonderful. Now that it’s been uncovered, a lot of work has been put in to draw in tourists and educate the world on this site that is now a protected site.
The best part was when they shut off all the lights to give us a taste of what it felt like to be inside an actual cave without light, with only sounds to guide you. Honestly? It was kind of freaky with the water dripping into my afro, but you could hear how much water the cave took in without the lights shielding the sound and sight of it.
The tour was only 30 minutes but it was work the 2 kilometer hike (plus steps) to get there.
The Food
After the cave and the hike back to our car, it was time (past time) to go in search of vegan food! Now, we live in the area and so we were well aware of the limitations set up on us on this particular quest. BUT we were near Brașov, which meant we did have a couple of options, including a fully vegan restaurant.
The food there was good enough, but the cost compared to the quality didn’t really even out so we walked around and decided to see if there was anything new to offer. While we looked, we stopped at the newest (and best?) vegan dessert place in Brasov, Delicious Raw.
Last time I was here I was blown away by the in house vegan ice cream treats (and all the ones I took home!) so I was eager to try it again. It was a warm day so, of course, ice cream first. Alas, they didn’t have the ginger-mint-lime flavor from before but it was fairly late in the day so I opted for chocolate. It was surprisingly chocolatey, not super sweet and really refreshing. It was like someone had just melted chocolate and frozen it, but kept it creamy…if that makes sense.
Then, because the whole world seems to be obsessed with Dubai chocolate, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Honestly, I’m still waiting to see about the fuss. The flavors were good because who doesn’t love pistachio, but I’m not a fan of the crunchy bits since they kind of ended up taking over all the flavor. The chocolate though? On point, creamy and delicious.
Dessert first b/c we’re adults and we can do what we want!
Now…food.
We found this really nice, upscale Transylvanian restaurant with a small menu that included 2 fully vegan dishes that were not fries, salad or zacuscă!
There was a lentil and veggie loaf and barley mushroom risotto!!!
Both were really good. They were seasoned well, not even a need to add salt & pepper, and the dishes were really creative and plated beautifully. I’d never considered using barley for risotto but the dish was naturally creamy and there was a mixture of mushrooms that gave the dish a hearty, earthy flavor.
And I found a new local beer. Mustață! They didn’t have the dark beer that I wanted but the IPA I had did taste a lot like a New England IPA (NEIPA), which is to say it was dark and rich and creamy. I’m a fan and it’s from a local brewery in Brașov, which means I will definitely test it out again.
It was an exciting day filled with a lot of new experiences, great weather and of course, time with my favorite person in the world!
The Spicy Spatula 
Whatcha think?