ADDRESS: Strada Smardan 9 (vis-à-vis BNR, Lipscani)
PHONE: +40 0311 076 371
WEB: www.vangogh.ro

As you’ll know, Vincent Van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter who’s works have influenced, and inspired, many. He died in 1890, of self-inflicted wounds, and could not have every imagined that one day his works would sell for millions, and, perhaps more importantly, that 119 years after his death he would have a bar named after him in Bucharest. Opened, by a fellow countryman in October last year, it’s a bar to make the great man proud. The building itself is an old converted bank with domed high ceilings in the main bar area supported by large pillars. Yet the defining feature remains the bar itself – solid oak, and very, very long – inspired, perhaps, by a man who comes from a culture where they do their drinking sitting on a bar stool.

The food is good, both hot and cold. I washed down an excellent Coq au Vin with a large draught Heineken, as ice-cold as advertised. Perhaps at odds with the melancholic artist and his cavalier approach to his hearing, the bar is centred around the patrons listening and talking to each other, with TVs absent. Usually absent: the World Cup is an exception – so a fantastically large screen shows the games, with English commentary and side orders of related food and drink specials. A full-function room upstairs can be hired for private events tailor-made to your requirements. Small groups for dinner, corporate events and drinks parties for up to 100 people, with pre-booking required. A basement bar area, open in the winter time only, is designed inside the converted safe of the old bank, the original safe door still there. The terrace in summer is a large space with seats for around 60. So if you’re drifting through the old town and need to make an impression(ist) with friends, the service and atmosphere of Van Gogh would make a fine choice.