Music

Papiota is one of those places designed by creative minds, with a great concept behind, a low budget, small but surprising elements and lots of enthusiasm.

The concept behind Papiota is the clothing industry for women in Romania in the communist era and all the design items inside come to support it creatively: the tables, the chairs, the colorful spools, the sewing machines, the magazine cuts, the overall design of the bar etc.

Papiota is a great place for cocktails and long drinks, as well as for clubbing on weekends, since they organize events with Romanian and international DJs on a regular basis.

So if you are in the Old City of Bucharest again and you feel you have had enough of the usual pubs, go to Papiota for a slice of history, innovation, good vibes and interesting company. It’s vintage with a twist!

Every night of the week, this cool venue offers a great entertainment experience for all its friends.

Control has a chill-out space, where you can have a beer, a long drink or a cocktail anytime and a separate concert hall for live music, DJs and dancing.This is the perfect meeting spot for people who share the same interests, as far as arts, fashion and music is concerned.

I usually go to Control on concert nights, since it has been hosting very good international and Romanian bands concerts for years now.

It can get really crowded on weekends, but as long as you are in the fun and great loud music mode I guess nothing else matters.

Check out the official website for regular event updates and get acquainted with the Romanian alternative music scene by attending the regular concerts. 

So if this sounds like your type of place, please feel free to regain (or lose) control next weekend in the alternative Control club!

UPDATE: Control Club sometimes organizes days out. Control Day Out 2 will take place on the 1st of June at Arenele Romane: WILD BEASTS, WOODKID, THE SHOES, O.CHILDREN.

Ota’s Place is quite unique in Bucharest, at least to my knowledge, and quite difficult to narrow down in one category or another. In a nutshell, it’s the home of Ota. Just Ota. But it’s so much more, that I’ll just leave it you to classify it (if you really need to once you get there).

The attic of Ota’s house is a multi-purpose space mainly used as an art gallery, but also for some other activities, such as yogilates classes, among others (by the way, if you’re all wound up from all the travelling across Bucharest and want to stretch a bit, it’s the thing to do). The ground floor is Ota’s actual home, so obviously you’re not allowed there.

But the basement is the ‘it’ place. It’s open only on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, on which Ota serves his famous gourmet soups that are to die for, and on weekends, when he hosts cool, underground, non-mainstream music parties with some really good DJs. It is not properly advertised and there are no official opening hours (NOTE: the opening hours below are an estimate), with people starting to come sometime after 20:30. You can stay up to date with the soup and party menu via Facebook – or just write me, if you like. I’d be happy to scout for you!

Mojo is one of the most appreciated places in town for going out on a Friday or Saturday night. I suppose this happens because the karaoke evenings are so popular across the city. They have good karaoke equipment and an entire floor for this activity upstairs. Here you can sing until the dawn, but it is always crowded. That’s a minus because sometimes you have to wait even two hours before getting to sing.

Downstairs it can be found a club – called The Brit Room – where a band (whose lead singer is also the place owner) plays live music – covers of popular British songs (but not only). The band takes several breaks so, in between, everyone dances on a great music.

Here I go very often – and I always have a good time, the way it is decorated (even if downstairs the room is too fragmented with lots of walls and pillars), the (live) music and even their guitar-shaped menus. I don’t like the fact that the rest room is placed in the middle level, where you can find also the wardrobe and a non-smoker room. This means that you have to go up or descend using some narrow spiral stairs to get to the toilets. Also, it is one of the few places in Bucharest that keeps the habit to ask for an entrance fee, maybe to support the band (10 lei).

Soon after it was opened, The Embassy attracted lots of people, most of them who were working or studying nearby and who wanted to spend some time downtown before going home. Its placement is great, the area is well-known and circulated, so the only thing missing was a big good looking place with tasteful food.

The place has great potential – even if the customers are coming here for a business lunch or discussion or for a little chat in the nice lounge area which is very comfortable with its sofas and pillows. Also, being a big place, organized on two floors, it has a lot of options where to sit.

The food is good and not expensive; they have an international menu with Italian accents (pizza, pasta, fresh salads), the beverages are also decent and the music is great creating a nice atmosphere.

A long story made short: The Embassy club is a stylish and not very expensive place to go out or to spend some hours after work, especially now, when it is quite hot outside and their terrace seems like Heaven.