On Happy Cow, there are only two vegan restaurants in Timișoara. Biofresh is one of them. The restaurant is located somewhere in the old city centre, on a pedestrian street.
Inside, only one table is taken at this hour in the morning. The waitress greets me with a big smile, which she keeps displaying throughout our interaction. I sit at a table from which I can see what is happening behind the bar, but also at all the tables in the main room.
I have plenty of time to analyse the design
Biofresh has two generous rooms, the first with 7 tables, and the second with 8. The tables are made of wood, and so are the chairs. The latter are not very comfortable, but some colourful pillows could easily solve the problem.
The rather outdated floor tiles have a diamond pattern on them. The tall, vertical windows are each crossed by a shelf. On and under these shelves there are a bunch of natural plants, with fairy lights hanging among their branches. On the opposite wall, the bar entrance is guarded by another plant climbing all the way to the ceiling.
It is accompanied by the palm leaves painted on the wall, using green and cream nuances, contrasting with their golden branches. Above my table, the two blackboards painted on the wall are displaying probably the most popular dishes from the menu.
Pretty lively for a Friday morning
When I entered, only one table was taken. But people keep coming in, which is a good indicator for the restaurant's popularity. The waitress's joy and kindness remains no matter the context. When a tall man refuses to have vegan coffee, she directs him to the restaurant next door. Then, when she gets some passive-aggressive remarks from another gentleman upset that he didn't get his food at the same time as his partner, she responds calmly.
She approaches my table. I order an apple, celery, kiwi, spinach and maca powder juice, without a straw, then ask her to help me choose the main course, as there's nothing on the menu that particularly appeals to me. I oscillate between baked potatoes with mushrooms and vegetables, fajitas with vegetables and artichokes with vegetables. She tells me that she likes fajitas a lot, but that the portion is a bit big. I follow her recommendation and plan to take away leftovers.
People keep coming into the restaurant, either to dine inside or to grab their daily menu. Two women also enter the place, heading straight towards the bar, and I can tell from the nutrition discussions initiated with the customers that one of them is probably the founder.
A really generous portion, but…
I get the fajitas and the four pieces barely fit on the plate. The pita bread is crunchy, but the vegetables have a bland taste and not so much texture. I can however identify carrot, mushroom, green onion and diced red pepper. I would have cooked them less and added more spices. After a few mouthfuls, it gets a little too spicy for my taste. But the sensation dissipates as I combine it with the much too simple guacamole paste. Kind of disappointed.
I manage to eat only two of the four pieces and I am happy to find out that the takeout boxes are made of cardboard. The leftover food would be great during the weekend, when the vegan restaurants in Timișoara are all closed.
The next day, a friend living in Timișoara tells me that Biofresh has pretty much the same menu since the beginning. And they've been on the market for a while: 12 years in total, 8 of which at the location I visited. Despite the simplicity of the menu, they seem to be doing well, according to the waitress. The traffic I noticed was low according to her and they are mostly visited by foreigners.
