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Polish Food
Polish Culture: Polish Food
Polish Food
Food, Drink and Restaurants in Poland
Poland has a distinctive national cuisine with stodgy soups, stews, pork chops and roast joints of poultry served with boiled cabbage amongst the most well-known and traditional dishes on the menu in this part of eastern Europe.
Visitors arriving into Poland's major cities, such as Krakow, Warsaw and Katowice will be spoilt for choice as far as restaurants (restauracja), cafeterias (bar mleczny or 'Milk bars') and cafes (kawiarnia) go. Local, rustic food is by far and away the most common seen on menus up and down the country, but there has been a major growth in the popularity of French-inspired and Oriental dishes over the past few decades.
Across Poland, most standard eateries will offer a broadly similar menu. A Polish classic and must-try item during your time in the country is 'pierog' - a small parcel of boiled dough which be made up to contain any sort of ingredient, be it sweet or savoury. You will find a beetroot-flavoured borsht called barszcz on the menu time and time again in restaurants and cafes, while a particular stew (bigos) containing meats, cabbage, mushrooms and spices is a long standing national favourite too.
A real savoury delight is Golabki - cabbage leaves stuffed with rice and meats. These treats can be enjoyed as an alternative to some of the more heavy meals Poland typically has to offer. Fried or grilled meat is common in most Polish recipes, such as 'kotlet schabowy', a pork cutlet fried in batter. Little potato pancakes called placki are also really tasty, served with sour cream and cucumber or covered in either a vegetarian or meat goulash.
On the subject of vegetarians, it should be stressed that those who do not eat meat and fish are unlikely to find Poland particularly easy country to visit from a culinary point of view. Krakow and a host of other cities now have dedicated vegetarian restaurants and cafes, but these are few and far between. Most mainstream restaurants at least have one or two vegetarian options on the menu, though these are typically things like omelettes, cheese-based dishes or salads.
Turkish-style kebabs have caught on massively in the last twenty years in Poland and there are few high streets in major cities that are without a kebab stall, asin neighbouring Germany. That said, typical Polish street food is still very popular and fried fish for one is commonly sold at tourist destinations. Another real favourite is smazalniaryb, a piece of baguette-like toasted bread topped with cheese, mushroom, chicken, tomato or anything else that takes your fancy.
One of the most famous Polish food and drink products is of course vodka. Most bars will stock a wide range of vodkas, ranging from tradition varieties, double/triple distilled and flavoured variations. Poland also has a wide range of national beers and lagers including Zywiec, Tyskie, Lech and Zubr. As is common place across Europe, beers and lagers are served in 33cl or pint glasses. Ask for 'jedno male' for a small glass or 'jedno duze' for a pint.
There are a number of unique food and drink venues across Poland. The fantastic Piotr i Pawel supermarket in Warsaw's Blue City Shopping Centre sells every kind of Polish and world produce imaginable while the city's Blikle ul. Nowy Swait is a famous cafe/sweet shop with also serves luxury meats, cheeses, breads and wines.
When in Krakow, check out the bustling stalls of the Stary Kleparz market, which sells fresh fruit and vegetables and Ciasteczka z Krakow, meaning 'little cakes from Krakow' - a store bursting with cakes, chocolates and biscuits in exquisite presentation boxes which make great gifts.
Andy Greeves
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