Bucharest restaurants Relais & Châteaux Le Bistrot Français and Bistro Ateneu merge

The Bucharest restaurants Relais & Châteaux Le Bistrot Français and Bistro Ateneu have merged, Le Manoir group announced. The newly-created restaurant is located in the Galleron building, which in the past two years hosted Relais & Châteaux Le Bistrot Français. It will carry the name of Bistro Ateneu and will continue to be affiliated to the Relais & Châteaux network.

The kitchen of the restaurant operated by the Preotu family will be run by Alexandru Dumitru, named Chef of the Year in 2019 by Gault&Millau Romania. Cătălin Grancea, Maître de Maison Relais & Châteaux Le Bistrot Français, starting with 2015, and Octavian Gruianu, the head sommelier of the same venue, will keep their posts in the new project.

The change is part of the Le Manoir group’s plan to develop a strong venue "that is to become one the most prestigious properties."

“This year we purchased a manor in Balotești, with a 17,000 sqm garden, where we cultivate our own fruits, vegetables, and aromatic plants. From my point of view, this will change the gastronomic philosophy of our restaurant, because it will take it into a farm-to-table area, where we have a lot more control over our stock. Gathering all these elements and identifying a chef like Alexandru Dumitru, extremely talented, organized, making an active contribution to this new culinary trend - modern Romanian cuisine, we felt it was time to move on to the next level, to unite our strongest points and bring them together into a major project, that will leave its mark on Romanian gastronomy, contributing to its modernization and dissemination,” Cristian Preotu, the owner of Le Manoir group, explained.

The venue will also host guest chefs from the Relais & Châteaux network. “It will be an extremely interesting cultural mix, where we promote local terroir and discover, in our turn, valuable elements for other cultures,” Preotu said.

Le Manoir expects a EUR 1.2 million turnover for the new restaurant, 30% more than the 2018 one of Relais & Châteaux Le Bistrot Francais.

Relais & Châteaux Bistro Ateneu opened its doors under the new formula on August 19.

Le Manoir was established by Cristian and Maria Preotu. It has been active since 2004 in the area of gastronomy and niche products with the business-to-business imports and sales division Le Manoir, the Comtesse du Barry stores, and the restaurants Relais & Châteaux Bistro Ateneu and SushiRoom. In August of this year, Le Manoir included in its portfolio The Owl, a mixology bar opened close to the Romanian Athenaeum.

(Photo courtesy of the company)