Newton restaurant lets you fill in another country on your culinary map

The instant she heard there was Moldovan food in the Boston area, the kidlet began campaigning to check it out. Moldova's just not a place that comes up often.

So on a recent Saturday, we trekked over to the Moldova Restaurant, 344 Watertown St. in Newton, to find out more about Moldovan cuisine.

Inside, it feels more like a contemporary coffeehouse (and, in fact, they have quite the coffee setup, with a variety of caffeine beverages available): wood floors and tables, large photos of bucolic Moldovan scenes and stylized border paper that sort of looks like a subway map - with flowers. Also, one wall is devoted to a large map of Moldova.

We started with placinta cu brinza si verdeata, a "traditional pie with cow cheese and herbs." It was sort of a Moldovan quesadilla, but way thicker than a tortilla and with cheese that was crumbly, rather than simply melted. It was also quickly gone.

Placinta cu brinza si verdeata:

Next up, friptura de gaina, "Roasted chicken, stewed in broth with onions and garlic, served with traditional polenta with sheep cheese and sour cream on the side."

Seeing "stewed," we thought we'd get your basic stew in a bowl. But instead, we got what you see at the top - a mixture of chicken and onions on a platter with a mound of polenta and separate dishes of the cheese and sour cream. No matter, it was still delicious, with some subtle spice we couldn't place.

For beverages, I went with the traditional can of Diet Coke. The kidlet, however, ordered a compot, a "Home Made Fruit Punch." It tasted exactly like a liquid cherry pie.

Menu.