12 February 2026

London to Istanbul – Epic Rail Journey : Day 5

By admin

We arrived pretty much on time in to a hot, very hot Bucharest after an uneventful journey. Sleep was sporadic as the beds weren’t the most comfortable but thankfully Romania’s entry in to Schengen at the start of the journey had removed the need for middle of the night border formalities. We jumped in to a taxi to the hotel where, as we expected, we were too early to check-in but we were able to leave our bags. I had already ascertained that taproom for Ground Zero Beer was around ten minutes walk away and, more importantly, was open. After a gentle stroll in the heat, and our first views of Romanian architecture, we arrived only to be told that they were in the process of cleaning all of the lines! They did however have a good selection of packaged beers, and air conditioning, so we grabbed a couple of their bottles while we waited for check-in time.

Ground Zero Beer Taproom, Piata Universitatii, Strada Toma Caragiu 3, 030042 București, Romania

We checked in to the hotel and took time to freshen up before heading out again in to the heat to explore and, obviously, find beer. Progress was slow due to both the conditions and also Mrs MA’s ongoing knee problem, but all of the target bars were in a relatively small area, and there was plenty to see en route on our first visit to the city. We eventually made it to the far end of Calea Victoriei which is the smart shopping street in the city where our target was Zăganu the main tap room for the brewery of the same name. There is seating inside but we opted to take a table outside where we could watch the world go by as we sampled their beers. Flights were available which meant we could enjoy all 10 of the beers that were on offer. Most were solid although none were outstanding but a tick is a tick!

Zăganu, Calea Victoriei 91, 93, 010091 București, Romania

It was a 15 minute amble to our next stop, Pardon Pub & Taproom, taproom for the Pardon nano brewery. It is a spacious corner bar that also offers outdoor seating. Although they have 16 beers on tap only one was from Pardon itself, and they also only served beer in 40cl measures so we limited ourselves to just a couple here.

Pardon Pub & Taproom, Strada C. A. Rosetti 10, 030167 București, Romania

After a similar length walk a couple of streets away we arrived at one of my most anticipated visits of the trip, Hop Hooligans Taproom. This was the Romanian brewery that I had first encountered, mostly thanks to regular BrewDog visits, and I have always been impressed by the beers that I have tried, now I was going to sample them at source. The taproom is housed in a large, old building that still retains a faded grandeur of its former life but inside has been turned in to a modern space. Most people seem to have opted to sit in the courtyard but it was still very hot so we opted for the cooler interior. They have 24 taps offering their own beers plus guests from all over the world, although on this occasion ‘only’ 19 were available. Smaller measures here meant we sampled 6 of them and we also enjoyed an excellent burger from the street food stall in the courtyard.

Hop Hooligans Taproom, Str. Jean Louis Calderon 49, 030167 București, Romania

In the parallel street was QP Pub which turned out to be very much a locals pub and popular for dining. Eight beers on tap, half of which were from macro breweries. I did, however, manage to pick up a beer from a new, to me, brewery and it wasn’t as if we had travelled miles out of our way to visit. Once we finished here we headed back to the hotel, and once Mrs MA was safely inside I made the short walk back to Ground Zero, where draft beers were now being served, to finish the night with a flight.