City Compass Blog » Bucharest

Hint

Bucharest Angel — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:50:02 +0000

Some have been knowing it for a long time, some discover it now upon their arrival- but almost everybody falls in love with this delicious Italian food offered at GRANO-ITALIAN FINE FOOD.
The friendly (and always busy) owner Giulio can help you find your favorite cheese, salami, burrata or homemade pasta! More info HERE!

Fox’s Bar Review – Gradina Verona

Richard Fox — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 07:47:22 +0000

(behind Carturesti Bookshop)
Address: Str. Pictor Arthur nr. 13-15
Phone: 021 317 34 59
E-mail: ionescu.stelian@gmail.com

Gradina Verona is a garden cafe bar situated at the back the Carturesti Book Store, 2 minutes walk from Piata Romana in the direction of Piata Universitatii. The entrance is on Pictor Arthur Verona.
The garden bar is a total escape from the busy surrounding streets of down town Bucharest . The large outdoor area has mature trees with overhanging branches, giving shade from the sun. It is decked out with a mixture of different wooden furnishings.

This a great place to have lunch or a drink on a warm afternoon and read a few chapters of the book bought from next door. There is also a small play area for children to enjoy.
The food offering is a simple selection of salads, sandwiches, pasta, casserole with deserts of very high quality. The presentation is attractive. There are two beers, Becks and Leffe Blonde, available on tap, served well chilled, in addition to a large selection of bottled beer.
There is a good selection of Romanian and imported wines, and an interesting range of cocktails both alcoholic and non alcoholic.
This garden bar can be the perfect place to spend an afternoon or evening on a hot day. It is open from April until the end of October from 10am until midnight daily.

Hint

Bucharest Angel — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 08:25:11 +0000

With great help of our friend Claudia we restructured and updated our restaurant list in the Online Survival Guide! We list some restaurants which are our favorites in town – divided by cuisines.
POFTA BUNA!

Hint

Bucharest Angel — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:46:20 +0000

Bucharest is hot, but not as hot as the last summers those days. If you feel like sports, check out the different options we have listed for you. And don´t worry- we updated and included an overview of the most important swimming pools in Bucharest . Enjoy the August and scroll down HERE!

Fox’s Bar Review- The Gang Cafe and Lounge

Richard Fox — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:40:00 +0000

ADDRESS: Calea Floreasca 111-113
PHONE: 0 733975277
E-Mail: mirela.thegang@yahoo.com

Always on the look out for something new and different on the local bar scene, I found The Gang Cafe and Lounge. Situated directly behind Floreasca fruit market on Calea Floreasca, it is perhaps not the best location for passing foot traffic, but if you are in the area, it is certainly worth looking for.As you enter the premises there is a very neatly presented terrace, the edges of which are surrounded by pots of freshly growing flowers. It is set back a good 30 meters from the busy road to create the impression that you are not sharing your glass of wine with the people in their cars. Look for the Peroni beer logo as all chairs and umbrellas were obviously supplied by the aforementioned beer brand.

Going into the interior space you enter a totally glass fronted bar area. This works well in summer when you may want to sit in an air conditioned environment but still enjoy the summer sunshine. It could also work well as a feature in winter time.

In the facing glass fronted area there is a showcase of green apples! Different!

The inside floor space is laid with solid wood parquet, and in the rear area of the bar this continues right through, up the walls and along the ceiling, to great effect. The furnishings are made up of very funky white padded sofas and stainless tables all with a small bouquet of fresh flowers in keeping with the flowers on the terrace which shows good attention to detail.

The food menu has a simple range of hot and cold food, and based on personal experience, it is of very good quality. An uncomplicated drinks list of beers, cocktails and wines, offers top local wine at very reasonable prices. The walls are decorated with random pictures of old American cars which, interestingly fills the blank wall space.

This is a place to go for a quiet lunch or a drink with friends during the day, but maybe it is as its best as a destination for a group of friends, meeting for a night out.
Overall, I like the Gang Cafe very much, with its comfortable and friendly environment, and uncomplicated good quality offering.

Car Towing

Bucharest Angel — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:54:20 +0000

IMPORTANT: The information given in this chapter is from December 2009; regularly check the Online Survival Guide for updates!

Parking is one of the biggest infrastructure issues in the city. Because there are insufficient parking meters, cars are parked everywhere including on sidewalks, in cross walks, at bus stops and where ‘No Parking’ signs are clearly posted! To make things worse, there is a lot of confusion about towing. Since new regulations were recently announced, a lot more cars are being towed. To help you (and us) make some sense of the whole issue, we called the police directly; below you will find what we learned.

There are several fees you will have to pay for a violation: the lifting, towing and storage fees (listed below by sector) are different in each sector! But in addition to these fees, the police will fine you personally for the violation and will give you penalty points on your licence: Personal violation fee: RON 216 (or RON 108 if paid within 24 hours) + 3 Penalty Points.

You will need several documents to retrieve your vehicle: the vehicle registration, personal identification (passport, visa card, or national ID), and the driver’s license of the person responsible for the violation.

Sector 1
Storage Facility
Address: Aleea Matelotilor Nr. 31-43
Phone: +40 021 95 40 or +40 021 66 76 772; +40 021 66 76 772
Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00-22:00; Sunday 8:00-1400
For violations in Sector 1, here are the fines:
Lifting fee: RON 200 + VAT;
Transport fee: RON 200 + VAT;
Storage fee for vehicles less than 3.5 metric tons: RON 300 + VAT;
Storage fee for vehicles more than 3.5 metric tons: RON 400 + VAT.
The lifting, transport and storage of vehicles happens 24/7. After a period of 30 days, unclaimed vehicles will be declared abandoned and therefore property of the sector, and are likely to be sold for revenue.

Sector 2
Storage Facility
Address: Fabricii St. Nr. 2
Phone: +40 021 310 45 90; +40 021 310 45 90
Schedule: None Given
At the gate you will have to present your identification (residency permit, passport, national ID) and they will take down your data. Then you can enter the storage house, and retrieve your vehicle. The fines are as follow:
Lifting fee: RON 130 + VAT
Transport fee: RON 130 + VAT
Storage fee: RON 180 + VAT

Sector 3
Storage Facility
Address: Sos. Dudesti, Pantelimon Nr. 2– 6
Phone: +40 021 95 43; +40 021 96 40; or +40 0761 118 976; +40 0761 118 976
Schedule: None Given
The fines are as follow:
Lifting fee: RON 200 + VAT
Transport fee: RON 150 + VAT
Storage fee: RON 150 + VAT

Sectors 4 and 5
At the time of publication, these sectors did not have a parking violation system implemented, but you can check the Online Survival Guide for updates! Just search for ‘Towing’.

Sector 6
Storage Facility
Address: Drumul Mânăstirea Văratec, Nr. 14-16
Phone: +40 021 95 46
Schedule: None Given
The fines are as follow:
Lifting fee: RON 150 + VAT
Transport fee: RON 150 + VAT
Storage fee: RON 200 + VAT per day

If you’ve paid for a parking space and someone parked there, call the institution, company, or person that gave you the parking space first. There is a parking office in the jurisdiction of every sector. Or, you can use the Romanian method: stop your car next to the vehicle in your spot and simply honk your horn until they come and move their car. It is surprisingly effective. If they don’t come, or it happens more than once, lift up their windshield wipers: this will let them know they are in the wrong spot!
You can also call the police in your sector to report the violation: they probably won’t tow the car (because they tow cars based on a pre-determined plan), but they may fine them.

And remember, always call the police in your sector if your car is missing; if it wasn’t towed, it is probably stolen!

HINT: You can find the numbers for Police Stations in each sector in the Emergency Telephone Numbers Section!

All About Money Magazine Article from City Compass

City Compass Mateo — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 08:02:53 +0000

Originally published in All About Money Magazine March 1, 2010

Tom Sawyer in Romania

By Mateo Urquijo

In a recent conversation, I asked a Romanian colleague of mine what he thought about hierarchy in business. He told me that business hierarchy in Romania was culturally traditional, although in his companies, he has adopted a much more progressive view. When I asked him exactly what he meant, he explained that oftentimes, an employer is seen not only as a superior within the company, but also as a kind of social superior: a life-mentor who guides an employee’s personal career development. Slightly confused, I asked him exactly what do you mean? He said, “I’ll give you an example. If a boss told an employee ‘today you are not going to do your normal job; you are going to my house to paint my fence,’ they would do it.” Astonished, I said, “Ok, but your employees are all accountants and consultants.” He explained again that he was more progressive, that he expected his people to take on a great deal of personal responsibility for their work and he personally wouldn’t ask them to do something like this. But, theoretically, they would. He was quick to add that not every employer asks their employees to do things like this, but still, it was possible.

I really thought about this. In my work experience, I’ve had only one employer whose fence I would’ve painted had he told me to: the owner of a construction company I worked for during college. Had any other employer told me to paint their fence, I would’ve thought that they were crazy. I would have thought, that’s not in my job description. I still might have done it, but I would have asked, “How much extra you are going to pay me?” If they had said it was part of my career development, and that I wasn’t getting paid extra, I would have instantly thought they were trying to scam me. And anyhow, did I really trust any of my employers to develop my career?

What is of particular interest to me is the idea (I am genuinely intrigued) that there is something like an even remotely universal understanding of this topic in Romania. I can say that with the possible exception of certain parts of the government, American businesses and organisations are pretty much autonomous in their approaches to internal structures. Go into a bookstore and you will find an endless supply of books on the topic: from Management for Dummies, to Models, Methods, Concepts & Applications of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, everyone seems to have the new ‘best’ idea for how to organise a company’s internal hierarchical structures. In fact, companies themselves sometimes use their internal structures to lure employees. Google cleverly refers to their internal hierarchical structure as ‘culture’ rather than a systematised organisation process. But then, maybe I am wrong; I never worked for Google. Better, here are a couple examples of what I mean from personal experience:

I worked for a time (also in college) for Starbucks. Their general philosophy was that they had no hierarchy; every employee was a ‘partner’ in the company. This meant that instead of an employee ID number, you got a Partner Number. Instead of employee meeting, it was a Partner’s Meeting, and so on. I was sceptical of all of this because we still had a manger after all, as well as a regional manager etc., all the way up. But the more I learned, the more convinced I became. For example, in addition to truly terrific benefits like full health coverage options even for part-time employees (this is truly incredible in America), I learned that all employees can buy stock in the company at reduced rates. So someone at a lower-level could become vested in the company and while a shareholder is something different from a ‘partner,’ it is a better deal than a mere stakeholder.

And it worked. People I worked with, after becoming owners of shares, suddenly worked harder, were quicker to point out their colleagues’ mistakes, and generally provided better customer service. The epiphany of direct profit returns encouraged the behaviour of the company’s lowest-level employees to change, oftentimes, radically. That is not to say they were bad workers beforehand, but when their interest was direct, so was their motivation.

Still, being a lowest-level employee myself, I can say that even with stock, it wasn’t all direct profits and corporate adulation. There were daily reminders of your place in the actual hierarchy. Like the time an angry customer demanded that I “do something” about an expired coupon he wanted Starbucks to honour. What could I say? “Sir, I make $7 per hour. They pay me to follow policy, not to make it.”

Another example is hierarchy in the airline industry. When I worked for a mid-sized airline for several years, I learned exactly what the word ‘hierarchy’ means. Of course the flight crews have a hierarchical system that is completely and militaristically rigid. The captain is in total command of the aircraft while it is underway (also legally responsible). The first officer (and subsequent officers on larger planes) is under the captain’s command, as well as the rest of the flight crew (flight attendants etc.). They wear stripes to indicate rank, and the whole thing resembles military hierarchy, because, well that’s where it comes from. Ok, but the airline’s internal corporate structures are also quite interesting.

I worked as a flight coordinator, managing ground crews. Every so often we would get new ‘internal crew members’ from the corporate office. At first, I was confused. Why would someone in the corporate office come out to work on a ground crew, tossing bags, fuelling, and dumping the plane’s toilets? I learned that in the corporate office there is a glass ceiling; you can only climb so high on the corporate ladder if you don’t have grunt-work experience. So you would see a mid-level financial analyst with an MBA come down after work, take his $400 shoes off, and learn how to drive a bag train or clean toilets from a sweaty 20 year-old. It was a terrific system because everyone had to do grunt-level work for at least six months in order to advance in the company. In this way, when people at the top made decisions about people at the bottom, they could think in very real experiential terms, what this meant (as well as having a more well-rounded idea of company operations).

Hierarchy also manifested itself in the airline through its benefits. There was health insurance option, but far more glamorous were the flight benefits. You could fly for free anywhere with our airline, depending on how many empty seats there were. We could also fly for free, or very cheaply (normally just paying taxes), with nearly every other airline in the world (e.g. Chinese airlines were notably excepted). But there were rules about how this worked. Pilots and flight crews oftentimes live in different cities and commute, so their priority was among the highest. They could also jump-seat, which means they could sit in flight crew-only seats: in the cockpit, there are seats for an additional pilot, for example. Next, it was corporate officers, and then down the line. But what if you have two people with the same job who want to get on the same flight and there is only one seat available? Seniority by time with the company rules here. So if I have worked longer for the company than my colleague, I get to fly.

Of course this system is terrific for maintaining employee loyalty as well. My airline didn’t have a very high turnover rate at the lowest levels compared to other industries, which was great for the airline since the training process was extremely expensive. Instead, even people that were discontent with their jobs would continue to work because of the benefits their increasing seniority offered. On the other hand, to watch that financial officer you just trained waltz onto the plane ahead of you, while you waited six hours for the next flight, wasn’t very inspiring.

In the end, many different internal hierarchical structures seem to work well. Still, I can’t seem to shake this idea of the Romanian boss and the fence. But then, today I thought I might have understood. Having thought about this question a lot, I woke up this morning having dreamt about Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer. In one story, Tom must paint a fence instead of going out to play. But when his friends come by and laugh at him, he slyly pretends that painting the fence is a special honour. His friends are naturally intrigued and ask him if they too can try. After he pretends to consider the issue, he lets them, but only in return for something: some marbles, an apple, etc. In the end, the friends end up painting the whole fence for him, and Tom gets rich from the deal.

Or maybe I missed the point entirely: Am I just too American to understand this particular Romanian traditional virtue?

5 O’CLOCK TEA

Roxana A. — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 17:22:34 +0000

Whether you are British or not, you must surely enjoy a cup of aromatic tea –with the smell of cinnamon and apple, honey or pepper tickling your nostrils. The sensation is enhanced once the tea is accompanied by a good book and chill music ‘whispering’ in the background.

If so, I could recommend the perfect place for such an experiment, namely the Act Teahouse. Placed in an old-style house on Victoriei Street, it is an oasis of silence, contrasting with the noisily combustion in the street. (http://www.teatrulact.ro/index.php?pag=contact). An old-style elevator takes you to the 2^nd floor, where you can easily recognize the entrance by the many posters promoting cultural events.

Seated on one of the red couches, your wondering eyes lay upon many shelves of books, beautifully crafted decorative items, flowers and paintings. There is even an oriental room, where you can sit on pillows, in a diffuse light.

The prices are acceptable (10 lei/ tea) and there are more than 20 types of tea to order, together with delicious cookies, brown sugar and honey. Also, the teahouse organizes many cultural events, such as piano concerts, art exhibitions or theatre plays. You just have to follow their blog. (http://www.teatrulact.ro/index.php?pag=sala&cat=program)

I hope I have raised your interest. If so, I wish you a lovely time at the Act Teahouse!

A COLORFUL STROLL

Roxana A. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:48:17 +0000

For those of you who have seen What Dreams May Come (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120889/), you surely remember the scene when Robbie Williams plunges into a heaven made of different hues of colorful paint. A turquoise bird, orange clouds or a purple tree – all brushed in vivid colors with exquisite paintbrushes.

Coming back to reality, a lovely place where you can stop by and recreate that colorful atmosphere is the Hanul cu Tei bazaar. You should look for an antique street in the old centre of Bucharest, crowded with art stores and antiquity galleries. Once you step into these stores, you are surely taken aback by the multitude of pencils, the ‘explosion’ of colors, the diversity of paintbrushes or the quality of drawing paper. (http://www.bucharest-driver.com/images/hanul_cu_tei.jpg)

Also, do not overlook the antique galleries. Your inquisitive spirit will surely get lost among tables teeming with different antiquities – from old watches and decorative items, to vessels and coins. In other words, it is the perfect way to stroll among different periods in history.

So, if you have an artistic inclination, if you want to wander in the old centre of Bucharest or if you simply liked the movie scene, Hanul cu Tei bazaar is a must destination. For the exact direction, here you have a link with the detailed map. (http://www.sapteseri.ro/ro/detalii-loc/galeria-hanul-cu-tei-ceramica-7/bucuresti/)

A lovely day!

Top Five

CityCompass Friend Maria — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 02:12:33 +0000

Flower shop

Here are the Top Five shops in Bucharest regarding popularity or rather level of extension (in my opinion – please leave a comment with your own personal Top Five list or continue mine until the Top Ten):

Mini Market

5. Mom-and-Pop grocery stores
4. Pharmacies
3. Flower shops
2. Amanet (pawnshop)

And the winner is:

1. Fornetti
- our all beloved puff pastry producer.

I argue that what is the bocadillo for Spain, the sandwich for GB, the Wurstsemmel for Austria and the onigiri for Japan, that’s puff pastry and strudel for Romania! The little, cheap, very tasty and highly caloric snack for in between the meals.

Big Three: Fornetti, Amanet, Pharmacy

You can find all these different kinds of shops in amazing quantities all over the city.

The last picture is supposed to underline the above said.