With only a limited amount of time, we weren’t exactly sure where to start given the amount of Polish specialties. Of course the pierogi is Poland’s signature dish, but the country has much more to offer. We sat down in a few restaurants in Warsaw and Kraków to try the countries’ best.
The pierogi, meat-filled dumplings topped with caramelized onions, are amazing. We were happy we found Polakowski, a self-service restaurant in Warsaw that was a one-stop shop of almost everything we wanted to try. And, at 10$ for a two-person dinner, it was a steal.
At the same restaurant, we also tried the golabki, which are gigantic cabbage rolls stuffed with a risotto and minced meat, usually topped with a tomato-based sauce. Surprisingly delicious! To accompany the rolls, we ordered bigos, also known as Hunter’s Stew, which was quite rich and heavy on calories, but really delicious.
We finished our meal by trying a kielbasa sausage, which comes with sautéed onion and although it was also tasty, we couldn’t quite finish it, as the portions were very generous. For desert, we tried chocolate-covered plums, simply a dried plum covered in chocolate. It was not our favorite, but quite all right.
For snack in between meals the Polish love krówki, a semi-soft milk toffee. We also tried Napoleon’s Cake, the favorite cake of Pope John Paul II. It’s a flaky dough with French cream in the middle. We liked the cream, but not the two doughy parts.
After drinking way too much vodka in Russia, we decided to try some beers in Poland. We tried tyskie and warka, and by a long shot preferred warka. Flavorful and aromatic we went for refills!
Finally, one thing we noticed but didn’t try was the widely popular late night snack zapiekanka: a gigantic baguette covered in a mushroom cheese mixture, topped with ketchup. We did however grab a obwarzanek krakowski, or twisted bagel, a popular street food usually sold in carts in the streets of Kraków. For sweet snacks on the go, we really enjoyed rogaliki, which are jam-filled cookies shaped like a mini croissant, and sweet bread filled with jam.
- The best: pierogi.
- The worst: maybe the sight of the kielbasa sausage.
- The healthiest: although rich in calories, the golabki contains healthy ingredients.
