"La Cherhana" - a seaside story

2008-03-08T10:03:00.000-05:00

I just can't leave for the weekend without telling you about the most pleasant surprise at the seaside this year.
Having seen culinary junk, shitty service and obscene prices, we were a little skeptical about visiting "Cherhanaua Club 23" (we'll call it The Most Wonderful Place on Earth from now on) just because some friends recommended it. We all know about recommendations...
Let me just say that if the Afterlife exists, I'll come back as a fish, do my best to crawl out of the water and find my way to the Cherhana. And I'll die happily there.
To get there is no a small feat, nor is for the faint of heart; the place is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by various lakes and ponds. But I'll share...I'm in a good mood.
If you're driving from Constanta to Mangalia, make a right turn 2 km before exiting Olimp. (If you're exiting from Olimp, go onto the national highway.) If you don't know where you're going, be prepared for various remarks such as: "Are you sure?", "Hey, man, where is it?", "You have no clue, right?," and, eventually, “Are you an idiot?” from your fellow travelers.
Just disregard such wimpy comments, be a real man (or woman) and follow the path given here—it will not steer you wrong.

Your choice: to the Cherhana... or the monastery

You'll meander through some insignificant hills and scare some waterbirds in the process. When you reach the straight road you'll pass a water tower and then—lo and behold!—Something featuring a red roof appears on the horizon. Relax, the Promised L...er, Cherhana is in sight.

Road among ponds

Once you actually get there, any fears aroused in you during the arduous journey are gone! Flowers everywhere...clean...and most importantly: the parking lot is full of cars bearing Bucharest license plates.

View from the parking lot

A young waitress greets you at the entrance smiling...(?!), her hair blowing in the wind (yes, that's right, in the wind, not the Hollywood wind machine) and shows us to one of the tables which can easily seat six. I feel like I'm home! Tony and Zamir would've felt the same, really.

Eat-in kiosk

Whether you choose to sit at a normal table or one of the cute little kiosks, the good vibes persist. There’s greenery everywhere, birdhouses in all trees, some decor which is not "Made in China" but that actually contributes to the "country" atmosphere. Honestly, this is not "Dracula's Country"!

Decor

A lazy dog is yawning in the shade and a purebred horse is grazing beyond the fence. Soaking in the scenery, we busy ourselves trying to take in there surprising surroundings and get accustomed to the faint ambiance music - not in the least obtrusive—when another waitress brings us menus accompanied by a plate with four shot glasses on it. "We hope you would like to taste this palinca, from the house," she asks. Aaahh, Zamir, Zamir, where art thou?

Tzuica on the house

Well, the palinca was not Maramu' grade...it was rather a simple tzuica. Icy cold, it was a perfect beginning. Not paint-stripping grade, not at all, but a good appetizer. Since my companion was reluctant to try it, I had two. Nazdrovia, Zamir!

The menu is not complicated, but it gives you enough choices to pause for some serious thinking. Given the name "Cherhana," fish dishes come first, of course: carp, black sea turbot, catfish, trout and many others. Obviously, there's a variety of non-fish food such as grilled chicken and lamb pastrami; I'm pretty sure there were some pork offerings but I wasn't really interested. Someone goes to a cherhana with the intention to eat fish and that's just the natural order of things.

Speaking of fish, there are at least five different kinds of fisherman's bortsch on the menu, as well as different sorts of caviar and oysters.

Side dishes... well, traditionally we're talking polenta here. Potatoes, both boiled and fried are available, along with the omnipresent rice.

Of course white wine would've been the standard drink of choice, but since I couldn't drink a whole bottle by myself, I had to commit the gravest of sins: drinking Stella Artois. Clearly, I'm getting old.

About prices: more than decent. There is nothing to go beyond 250.000 with side dish included. And I'm talking about things such as grilled shark and other fancy-shmancy stuff I personally don't care about. Normal, ordinary, or as Tony would say, "primitive," food is in the range of 180.000 - 200.000. Some would say that's not cheap at all, but if you compare prices with those from various tourist establishments, Cherhana comes ahead. Not to mention that taste, quality and service all rank way higher than most average tourist traps.

One million lei enabled the four of us to eat and drink almost to the point of not being able to get up from the table.

Speaking of how great the prices are at Cherhana: I had trout at Lacul Rosu, priced at more than 100.000 per 100 grams. That is, a trout supposedly 300 grams (which actually wasn’t even close to that!) set me back a little bit over 400.000 lei.

Enough said... let me get back to the subject. We ordered grilled carp, home-made style saramura de peste and grilled catfish. Ahem... and we ordered mujdei also. Lots of it.

After a suitable but short, (by suitable I mean: we-weren’t-dying-of-hunger-in-the-interim-of-ordering-and-receiving-the-food-suitable) interval, we were served the most hot and flavorful dishes we’ve eaten in a while.

Grilled Catfish

But...but... where's the mujdei? Panic! Had everything been too good to be true? Was it time for a major let-down? We were angrily thinking to ourselves that we should’ve trusted our instincts about this place when… three minutes later the real thing arrives. No, not a small little cute bowl, but a full size BIG soup-like tureen, complete with an wood spoon for serving.

Oh, man...Tony, you're missing big here!

Mujdei Tureen

My catfish was steaming under the crunchy skin; sprinkled generously with lemon juice, and every chunk of meat got to visit the mujdei bowl. I even tried some hot pepper. Ah, heaven...!

Grilled Carp

All in all, we spent a wonderful afternoon talking, eating, laughing, and drinking—four of the most basic and rewarding of human activities. We left some fishbones behind and carried with us good, solid feelings of gratefulness. While moving our stuffed carcasses to the car, we agreed to a collective regret of not knowing about Cherhana any sooner, as well as to our inability to find a place for desert... that is Mother Ani's Dobrogean pies, mind you. How can you see (and smell) those pies without a warm feeling in the chest, south of heart and north of stomach? I'm telling you, it's akin to the sentiment Quetric described when he got his first encounter with the famous "Community rabbits" in Munchen.

The wonderful little heaven

If Anthony Bourdain and Zamir missed the place during their visit, that's no reason you should repeat their mistake. On the contrary, I urge you to visit and most importantly - to EAT there. It's one of the few places on the Romanian seaside worth seeing! Much more so than Dracula's Castle or any other weird touristy place.

DICTIONARY:

Cherhana: Fisheries station; place for transit storage and/or preparing of fish.

Mujdei: Crushed garlic in sour cream souce, basically. May get additional flavouring from lemon juice and/or herbs.

Saramura de peste: Dish consisting of fried (salted) fish seved in olive oil sauce with chopped onion, lemon juice and ground black pepper.

Macabroo is a romanian journalist and an unabashed admirer of Anthony Bourdain's show "No Reservations".

NOTE: The original post appeared here on August 17th, 2007. Current conditions at Cherhana Club 23 are not known. Anthony Bourdain is an American author and Chef. He's also hosting the widely watched "Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations" TV show, a culinary and cultural adventure program on Travel Channel.

Anthony Bourdain in Romania

"La Cherhana" - a seaside story