Timisoara's food reflects its position on the Banat plain — a flat, fertile region that until 1920 belonged to the Habsburg empire and that absorbed culinary influences from Hungarian, Serbian, Romanian, and Banat-Swabian cooking. Paprika dishes, fresh-water river fish, sour soups (ciorba), polenta (mamaliga) with cheese and bacon, and a remarkable variety of pickles are the regional staples.
The restaurant scene is the strongest in western Romania. Cetate has the highest concentration of restaurants and is the easiest district for a visiting eater; Fabric and Iosefin have smaller, more local kitchens. The city's biggest single food hall, the daily Iosefin Market, is a substantial visit in itself. The cafe culture, inherited from the Habsburg years, is alive and well — Cafe Lloyd, Cafeneaua Verde and Cafeneaua Scartz are the established names.