I have a yummy guide for you: today I am presenting you the best pastry shops and bakeries in Chisinau. If you have a sweet tooth, that’s definitely for you!
I have to admit that we, I mean Moldovans, don’t have a huge variety of traditional desserts, but we do know how to bake delicious pastries, even though the recipes are imported. The pastry shops and bakeries in Chisinau I mention below usually offer a mix of international desserts and local baked goods. I am sure you will definitely find something here to satisfy all your needs.
So, let’s start!
The best pastry shops and bakeries in Chisinau
1. Granier
Granier is by far my favorite pastry shop in Chisinau. They have several locations around the city, almost in every district, so, regardless of where you are, you will find a place to grab a quick and super delicious bite. You can check their addresses here.
Now, about what they offer: lots of sweet goodness and not only. Here you can buy and enjoy on spot croissants, eclairs, pretzels, bomboloni, donuts, tiramisu, pain au chocolat, muffins, etc. In addition to these, they have a selection of traditional Moldovan placintas with cottage cheese, potatoes, pumpkin, apple and cherries. And they haven’t forgotten about savoury food: you can have a selection of sandwiches with meat, prosciutto, cheese, and vegetables.
The drinks, of course! They have some varieties of coffee on offer, lemonades and fresh juices. Basically, you can get yourself a nice meal here any time of the day. And you can be sure that everything is fresh. How do I know it? Because they run out of almost everything long before they close: sometimes even around 7 pm there isn’t much to choose from. At least, it’s true about the shop that is close to where I live.
My personal favorites are honey cake, placinta with cottage cheese and cherries, and their almond rings. Their honey cake is divine, you should definitely try it!
Now, about the prices (you can check them in the link I put above): their espresso is less than 1 USD/EUR, and fresh juices are around 2 EUR/USD.
Their eclairs cost less than 1 EUR/USD, my favorite honey cake is 1,5 EUR/USD, pretzels are 0,4 EUR/USD, sweet croissants are 0,7-0,8 EUR/USD, sandwiches are 1,5 EUR/USD. Note: prices are per piece. Basically, for less than 5 EUR/USD you can have a nice breakfast or a quick bite.
2. La Mamuca
La Mamuca is another popular bakery chain in Chisinau. Just like Granier, they have many shops around the city: they don’t have a website, so check their locations on Google. They have two locations on Pushkin Street, really close to Stefan cel Mare Boulevard.
Now, unlike Granier, they don’t have tables for people to sit, so you can just buy their pastries and find a bench to enjoy them. For example, there are benches under a tree right in front of the shop in the area where I live. On Pushkin Street you won’t have this luxury, but there are a couple of parks nearby.
When it comes to their offer, they lean a bit more towards savoury food, though they have sweet pastry as well. Here you can get delicious chebureks (it’s thin dough with filling, usually fried) with meat or cottage cheese, pizzas, pretzels, placintas with cottage cheese and potatoes. As for sweet things, they have croissants, donuts, pastry with apple jam or chocolate filling and placintas with cherries.
My absolute favorite here is placintas with cottage cheese! It’s super soft and the cottage cheese is a bit salty which makes the taste unforgettable. Only placintas from Granier are worthy rivals to this one 🙂
About prices: chebureks cost around 1-1,2 EUR/USD, pretzels are 0,5-0,7 EUR/USD, sweet croissants are 0,6-0,7 EUR/USD, placintas cost less than 1 EUR/USD. As in the case with Granier, for less than 5 EUR/USD you can have a nice breakfast or a quick bite, though you will have to look for a place to savour them. And they run out of most of the pastries before they officially close 🙂
3. Dulcinella
As the name suggests, this pastry shop is all about sweet things. They specialize in cakes mostly, but they sell a lot of other pastries like macarons, cookies, croissants, placintas, cupcakes and smaller slices of cake. Some of the placintas are savoury.
Their prices vary, and some items are more expensive than in the other bakeries and pastry shops in Chisinau that I mentioned. For example, some pieces of cake can cost around 2,5 EUR/USD. Their chocolate cookies cost 1,7 EUR/USD per 100 gr., and you will have to pay more than 3 EUR/USD for 100 gr. of macarons. But everything is super delicious, so, once in a while, it is worth it 🙂 Of course, there are cheaper options, so just go around and choose something for your budget.
As for my favorites, their cake Ion is super delicious! It has different layers, one of which is crunchy wafers. At first, it seems that these layers can’t go together, but, combined with chocolate ganache, vanilla and condensed milk cream, they make a truly decadent cake! Unfortunately, they don’t sell it in slices, and the whole cake costs around 15 EUR/USD.
As it is a proper shop, I wouldn’t expect any tables inside to sit, so you can buy the desserts and enjoy them either at home or find a bench nearby.
What is good about this bakery is that, in addition to multiple locations around Chisinau, they have shops in almost every big city in Moldova, so you can enjoy their products even outside Chisinau.
Another good thing is that they have a selection of raw vegan desserts, but I’m not sure you can find them in every shop.
I heard from someone who had actually visited the unit where they bake all the cakes and pastries, that the unit is spotlessly clean, which is good to know 🙂
4. DC Donuts & Coffee
I think it’s pretty clear from the name what they specialise in 🙂 This cafe is located right in the city center, on Puskin Street. They have a wide selection of ring and Berliner donuts: here you can get donuts with chocolate, caramel, coconut, oreos, almond, cinnamon, nutella, fruits, etc. Everything is super yummy and fresh: they make fresh batches when clients ask for it.
I once was at the cafe at 11 am, and they had only 3 donuts on display, and I had to wait for mine to be made. I have to say, they were very quick: in about 10 minutes I had my Pro pack with 6 donuts ready. Just for you to know: in case you decide to order their syrniki, very delicious, by the way, remember that the portion is very generous!
Of course, they have all possible coffees on offer, tea, spritzes, juice, etc.
I find it a bit hard to choose my favorite donut, but it’s definitely one of the ring ones. I think I would go with the Kinder Heaven donut 🙂
They have just one shop in the city, and, considering you will most likely spend all your time in the center, it is a convenient place to stop for a quick grab. And it’s a proper cafe, meaning there are lots of tables with comfortable chairs, the ceilings are high, the walls have interesting tile decoration, and there are huge plants. They have an outdoor terrace as well.
About prices: the price of donuts varies, usually between 1,3-1,8 EUR/USD per piece, so, probably, it is better to buy their sets instead, especially if you have company.
5. Patisserie Caramel
Just like the DC Donuts & Coffee I mentioned above, Caramel Patisserie has one location in the city: in the center on Banulescu Bodoni street. Actually, these two cafes are on parallel streets, so, if donuts aren’t enough, you can come here 🙂
Caramel offers a wide selection of eclairs with different toppings, many-many tarts (chocolate, caramel, cherries, lemon, banana, coconut, matcha, etc.), lots of cheesecakes, cakes and pies. And they have macarons, though they are pretty pricey.
Their eclairs are majestic, but their red velvet cake is divine! I am pretty sure red velvet is the first thing they run out of every day, especially on weekends.
It’s a proper cafe as well, with tables to sit both inside and outside. The overall design is a la French, with pastel colours, soothing and without excessive decorative elements.
My favorites are chocolate eclairs and red velvet cakes. They are soft and fluffy, with lots of delicious cream and filling. Shortly, simply decadent 🙂
About prices: their eclairs are around 1,1 EUR/USD per piece, tarts cost between 1,5-2 EUR/USD per piece. The price of cheesecakes varies as well, around 1,6-2 EUR/USD per slice.
6. Fornetti
I still remember the first time I heard the word Fornetti: it sounded, and still sounds, so Italian, that to me and, I am pretty sure, to many of my compatriots it became synonymous with quality.
Fornetti has pastry shops in many European companies, even in Kuwait, but it originated in Hungary. So much for the Italian name 🙂
Anyway, let’s get to the shops and their products in Chisinau. They are very popular because of the mini format of the pastries which are sold by the kilo. It is good, as you can buy, let’s say, 3 items of each pastry and try almost everything on offer. They have both sweet and savoury minis. The most common fillings are meat, cheese, mushrooms, bacon, cherry and apricot jams. In addition to minis they have hot dogs, donuts, pizza and placintas.
My favorites are minis with chicken and cheese with dill. I still remember these were the first ones I tried when they opened, and I still buy them from time to time. Somehow, the other minis aren’t to my taste 🙂
About prices: according to one shop right in the city center, all mini varieties have the same price, 0,6 EUR/USD per 100 grams.
And another thing you should know: usually the shops are very small, just some stalls behind a window, so there are no tables to sit.
As for the location, these pastry shops are more concentrated in the city center, so it will be easy to find one. As they don’t have the addresses on their website, just google them 🙂
7. Liberte
Liberte is another chain of bakeries in Chisinau. They have shops in different parts of the city, so it will be easy to find one. Naturally, I haven’t been to all of them, but those I have seen don’t have tables outside, which means you will have to look for a place to enjoy your food. It’s a good thing we have lots of parks in Chisinau 🙂
They sell a variety of pastries, both sweet and savoury. Of course, I just have to mention placintas, they are our national treasure 🙂 Liberte offers placintas with cottage cheese, cabbage, potatoes, meat, cherries, etc.
Donuts are another thing they sell: they have a special display for glazed donuts. Here they are a bit cheaper than at DC Donuts & Coffee, but taste delicious nevertheless.
Naturally, they don’t sell donuts and placintas only: they have other pastry, eclairs, Danishes, small pizzas, sandwiches, etc. And, of course, they have coffee, lots of varieties, hot chocolate, tea, and some milkshakes.
About prices: glazed donuts cost about 1 EUR/USD per piece, while a simple one with powdered sugar is 0.5 EUR/USD. The price of placintas is very different: for example, those with cabbage and potatoes cost 0,9 EUR/USD, while a placinta with sheep cheese is 1,4 EUR/USD.
Of course, this isn’t a full list. I promise, more pastry shops and bakeries in Chisinau will follow!
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