Musafir by Amarjit

Gabi again.
At the beginning of the year, our next stop gives us a taste of India.

The Musafir by Amarjit restaurant is a very informal eatery, where the owner is also the cook, sometimes the server and for sure the companion to your table talk. The name of the place says everything: you're a guest in someone's kitchen and he's trying to make your stay as pleasant as possible.

Getting there could be regarded as an adventure, although on the daylight that sector 5 area of Bucharest is not totally unfriendly, some would say “picturesque”.

Finding the place: unless you have specific instructions it will be hard, almost impossible. First of all, there is no signage on the street to announce the restaurant’s existence; second, you have to enter into another restaurant (The Ark), pass a bodyguard, go through another entrance, and then you’re there. Sounds like a shooter game, doesn’t it?

The exact address is: Calea Rahovei 196A but it is always better to have some directions :)


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The place looks like a huge transparent tent, built from wood and foils, with colored wooden benches.

The owner, Amarjit, comes from the northern part of India but he lived for some years in US, worked as a photographer and somewhere along the way he learned to master the art of cooking.

Don’t expect a food menu, as Amarjit will cook something else everyday, two or three appetizers and two or three main dishes and improvise the rest. Everything gets done on the spot, so I wonder what happens on the busier days, when there are more than two or four customers at once…

The food is quite good, I have had better, but in the US, where it is made with ingredients available there; in Romania, using and improvising with the resources from here – I think Amarjit got a pretty good result.

The ambiance is set by some background music (and news) from NPR, a radio station I used to listen to not so long ago in the States. If you feel like talking, the owner will be more then happy to continue a conversation on any subject.

The prices: decent, considering the type of ingredients, some unseasonal, some maybe hard to find here – I guess 25 USD for a two-person lunch is OK.

I think Musafir deserves an 8.5 on my scale (and soon, when I’ll gather more places, I’ll put together some graphics).