Delicious food is often associated with small portions in fancy restaurants. Where for many restaurants this may be true, this is by no means always the case. Over the past years, I have travelled to Cluj-Napoca where many of the less fancy restaurants are serving good quality food.
In the old town center, a few minutes from the main square with the big church you’ll find the Museum Square. On this square, a few restaurants are located including Camino. This is an Italian restaurant with on the menu some of the ‘usual suspects’ as well as some of the less traditional (but equally nice) dishes.
Enter the restaurant and you will meet one of the waiters. Although there isn’t really reception staff, there will always be someone to say hello and find you a table (all in English). Service is very friendly regardless of the size of the party. Even solo diners are more than welcome, unlike some other of the many restaurants in Cluj. Interior may look a bit dated with small tables, but don’t let this stop you from sitting down here.
On my past visit, the starter was a ‘golden oldie’ in the form of bruscetta with tomato and rocket. Some of them also had some cream cheese on it. A dish so simple, yet so delicious. Nice freshly toasted bread with slightly sweet tomatoes and a bit of pepper from the rocket. Just add salt to your liking and you cannot go wrong.
Main course was a dish that attracted my attention already on an earlier visit. Now it was time to try it: Chicken breast coated in a truffle powder with potato gratin. Still don’t really know what to say about this dish. Probably some of the best chicken that I have eaten in a long time. The nice earthy flavours of the truffle (in moderation) somehow go really well with the succulent chicken. The potato gratin was nice with a beautiful crust. Where the cream can make this a (too) rich part of the dish, this wasn’t the case here. The only thing about this course was the lack of some vegetables.
To be honest, dessert was a bit disappointing. Normally, I ordered the delicious chocolate pie but this time I went for the apple pie. Unfortunately it was lacking flavour a little. The apple was a bit watery and it had quite a lot of sugar on it. The top layer was puff pastry that because of the apple became completely soft instead of nice and crunchy. Next time I will go back to my ‘usual’ chocolate pie.
The restaurant offers good (but not great) food for a very reasonable price. Main courses are executed best when compared to starter and dessert. Even though this last visit wasn’t the best, I would definitely go back there when visiting Cluj again. Are you visiting Cluj? I would recommend this place because of its value-for-money. All together you’ll spend approx. 70 Lei (EUR 15-20). Go in summer to enjoy your meal on the terrace, but do hurry as the restaurant will be closing down soon.
Restaurant location: View on Google Maps
Restaurant website: http://caminocluj.ro