A castle hidden at the end of a passage
VLAD is a restaurant and bar built around the legend of Vlad the Impaler: stone, candlelight, portions fit for a prince and Transylvanian humour. You don't walk in from the street but through a passage, and the signature dishes are finished at the table, with fire and smoke.
A place like this isn't sold with a list of dishes and a form. The site had to make you feel you were already inside the castle, then take you quickly to two things: the menu and a booking.
The menu, told as a show
The site is split into eight chapters numbered in Roman numerals, each with its own tone: the voivode's menu, the coffin, the signpost, the show at the table, the story, the way in, the gallery and the booking.
The signature dishes are presented by what happens at the table: the schnitzel that won't fit on the plate, papanași for five or six people, meringue torched with a flame, meat sizzling on the cast-iron pan. The coffin with three shots, the house signature, has a section of its own, with the waiter's line and a button that orders it to the table.
The guest doesn't read a menu. They see the moment they are about to film.
The place's jokes, put on the page
The signpost inside the restaurant, which people photograph on their own, becomes navigation: "Hungry? Try sarmale" leads to the menu, "Therapy? Try țuică" to the bar, "Ibiza 2,170 km" to the booking.
Because the entrance is hidden, the site explains the way in four steps, from the lantern on the street to the door, so nobody turns back thinking they have the wrong address.
The story, then the table
The story chapter separates history from legend: Vlad, born in Sighișoara in 1431 and ruler of Wallachia, and Dracula, Bram Stoker's character from 1897. The restaurant borrows only the atmosphere from both.
Booking takes 20 seconds: date, time, party size, name and phone, then the message goes out ready-written on WhatsApp. The whole site is also in English, and the menu has a separate page, opened from the table by a QR code.
