A long-established traditional restaurant in a converted 19th-century house south of the central park. Vatra Neamului ("hearth of the nation") leans into the Moldovan-rustic register hard — vaulted brick cellars, folk-painted dressers, waitresses in embroidered blouses — but the food earns the staging. Order the zeamă (rooster broth with hand-rolled noodles), the brinză placintas, the sarmale, and a carafe of house red.
It is a sit-down evening place rather than a quick lunch; reservations advisable on weekends, when private dining rooms in the cellar fill up with family parties. English menu available. Outdoor terrace in summer.