It is hard to believe for anyone who lives in Bucharest not to have heard of Casa Capsa, one of the best known landmarks of old Bucharest, although possibly few of them have been inside this luxury restaurant-hotel-confectionery-coffee house. Although it might seem too much, Casa Capsa does all that, and it does them with style and elegance, with a certain magic that is impossible to find elsewhere.
The story of Casa Capsa start in 1862, when two brothers, Anton and Vasile Capsa decided to risk their money into a new business : a confectionery shop, the first of it's kind, on Calea Victoriei, the main avenue of Bucharest at that time. This first endeavour was situated slightly north of the present location and although at first it was something much too modern to be popular, shortly it proved to be a success. The two brothers managed to win the hearts of those who loved good chocolate, good candy, rare specialities. Today's Casa Capsa would be opened by their younger brother, Grigore Capsa, in 1868. He had studied for no less than four years in Paris under the guidance of the famous Boissier, one of the greatest confectionery masters of the 19th century, and even turned down the unique chance of being the supplier for the Imperial Court. But the French influence would be decisive, as it determined all of his recipes and specialties.
After a surprisingly good start, the enterprise further evolved in 1881, when it became a full-service restaurant, really high-classed, although it was a time when this kind of business was rarely seen in Romania. Yet, Casa Capsa was asuccessful, very popular and atracted a great number of customers of all kinds, and slowly but surely also became both a brand and a special place in Bucharest. This quick growing popularity was at first caused by the special and unique recipes one could only find at Casa Capsa, such as the delicious Joffre cake, invented to honour the visit of Joseph Joffre to Romania, after WWI. Little is known that it was here, at Casa Capsa, that ice cream was first introduced to Romania, and at first this new speciality was regarded with disbelief and even fear by many, later catching on.
But the fame of Casa Capsa is by all means caused by it's legendary status as a meeting place for artists, writers, poets, journalists of the time. It was the place to be, and after the coffee house was opened, in 1891, you could see here, everyday, some of the most tallented minds of those generations. Many came here for a coffee, a mineral water, a pipe or cigarettes, very rarely some confectionery specialities, as the main reason was the chance of talking about anything and everything. With the National Teatre in close proximity, Casa Capsa was also the gathering place for important artists of that time, coming here after or before the show and just talking. Those who knew of Casa Capsa also said that this was the best place for journalists to gather information, and reporters flocked the place. It was here that governements, laws, relationships or enemities were made or broken, it was the place to be if you wanted to know the real Bucharest. It was a place of legend. It all came to an end after the Second World War.
It was bound to be, as Casa Capsa was for the Communist regime a symbol of the past interwar generation of intelectuals, which had to be forgotten. The place was closed down in 1948 and during most of the Communist years it was the "Bucharest Restaurant", losing most of it's former glory. The original name of Casa Capsa was officially used after 1984, during the last years of the regime. Mostly, it used to serve the Communist leaders for their parties and get togethers. After 1989, slowly and difficult, Casa Capsa returned once again to the life of Bucharest, this time as a luxury place, which had little in common with the interwar and earlier legend.
Over it''s long history, Casa Capsa has had among it's guests a great number of personalities from all over, such as Wilhelm I and Wilhelm II, Franz Josef I, a large part of the Imperial Russian family, the four Romanian monarchs, kings of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, as well Josephine Baker, Sarah Bernhardt, Enrico Caruso, George Enescu and many others. Not to mention dozens of Romanian artists, writers, famous journalists and so on.
photo : capsa.ro
2007-11-19
