(188 Strada Traian. Tel. 021 320 3588) Long wooden benches fill up quickly as offices close and workers flock here for cheap Belgian beer and sausages. It's a bit rough and ready, but that's all part of the fun.

  (Athenee Palace Hilton, 1-3 Strada Episcopiei. Tel. 021 303 3777) Romanians love to eat and drink alfresco, and the king of the city's terraces is this gem at the Hilton. Enjoy great cocktails, good-value barbecue food and live sports on big screens.

  (206 Strada Mihai Eminescu. Tel. 021 212 1330) A real tapas bar. The one local deviation is that the long list of tasty treats—such as chorizo, paella, and mussels in white wine—are served restaurant-style, from a menu and not at the bar.

  (Howard Johnson Grand Plaza, 5-7 Calea Dorobantilor. Tel. 021 201 5030) Tepanyaki cuisine cooked at hibachi grills—where the chef cooks it all on a hot plate in the middle of your table—at its best has never come cheap, but who cares? This is high-class food for high-rollers who needn't worry about the size of the bill.

  (6 Strada Covaci. Tel. 0720 063 836) A tiny cocktail bar inside an antiques shop. How cool is that? There are no tables, you have to sit on stools at the bar.

  (2 B-dul Nicolae Balcescu. Tel. 021 315 8508) This place is at the top of the National Theatre, with the only access via a slow lift. Live music acts of varying quality usually play on the indoor stage, while the outside wall of the theatre is used for for film screenings.

  (4 Strada Ion Brezoianu. Tel. 0726 804 142) Two venues in one: Expirat is a mainstream club playing house and Eurotrash, around the corner (access via a separate entrance) is The Other Side of Expirat, a funkier place attracting a more left-field crowd and playing edgier music.

Emily the Strange is a rather antisocial 13-year-old girl who likes to party. She now has her own store in Bucharest, selling branded clothes, shoes, accessories and bags (12 Strada Gabroveni).

For the best in Romanian delicacies—such as sheep's cheese, boar's meat sausages and kalács (sweet bread from Transylvania)—ignore the supermarkets and head to the Village Museum on Sos Kiseleff. There's a mini-farmers' market on Saturday morning.

Whisper it, but the seemingly never-ending renovation of Bucharest's Old Town, around Strada Lipscani, may at last be getting somewhere. Take a look at Strada Smardan for a glimpse of how the whole area will soon look.

Kylie Minogue plays Cotroceni Stadium on 15 May and the whole country appears to have a ticket. Those who want more prosaic delights should head to the exhibition of cutting-edge French art at the MNAC, inside Parliament Palace.

 – Pitesti—an hour from Bucharest—is home to some notable civic art in its central square and is the gateway to the spectacular Curtea de Arges (20 minutes further north). The 16th-century monastery church is a richly decorated gem. Romania's royal family has its burial grounds in the monastery garden: look out for the grave of English-born Queen Marie.

Bucharest was recently named and shamed as the most polluted capital city in the European Union.