Culinary Krakow, part 2

Here comes the rest of the charming restaurants we visited during our stay in Krakow in early June. I am still amazed by the warm welcome we experienced everywhere as well as the Polish people's good mastering of the English language. 

1. Pod Zlotym Karpiem

This small restaurant is located in a historical building on Krakow's Main Square. A bit hard to find at the end of a narrow alley but well worth looking for. It serves regional specialities with a modern twist. The first two photos show the homemade dumplings; the meat and duck versions. To die for!

We went here for dinner the day we arrived and naturally wanted to try a Polish red wine with our dinner. Unfortunately it didn't impress us as strongly as the food did. 

Our mains consisted of: duck breast with blueberry sauce, roasted beet puree and toasted bread with goat cheese. Lovely.

Fish carp on butter with a green apple sauce and fresh vegetables. Lacked a bit of seasoning.

Steak from Polish beef, dressing with sheep's cheese, chips from root vegetables. Not bad. Special thanks to the waitress, who was a real pearl with her nice manners and top notch service.

2. Starka restaurant

This little treasure in Kazimierz serves simple and modern Polish food. The name Starka refers to the Polish vodka and here you can taste a lot of different vodkas, like cranberry and ginger vodka. An intimate traditional restaurant with a warm and cosy atmosphere. 

The portions seemed huge, so we decided to skip the starters, although they sounded tempting, and went straight for the mains. Pork sirloin, stuffed with plum and wrapped in crispy bacon. Served on carrot mousse with a cognac-pepper sauce, roasted potatoes and caramelized vegetables. A beautiful, hearty and tasty dish. 

Beef cheek, served in an aromatic, smoked bacon sauce with herb dumplings and caramelized carrots. Tender meat and nice flavours.

Lamb, served in a hot pan with a rosemary caramelized pear, blackcurrant sauce, potatoes roasted with onion and bacon plus warm caramelized beets. Mouthwatering.

3. Pod Leliwa

Located in the very heart of Krakow with tables outside as well. We had breakfast here, but it's also open late and they serve lunch and dinner as well. Remarkable service and attention. 10+.

4. NapNap café

A bistro, where we had another delicious breakfast. It seemed to be popular among the local people as well. Unfortunately I have no pics from this place but here you can read more about the bistro that is open for dinner as well.

5. Nakryto

We stumbled upon this lovely restaurant in Kazimierz when looking for a quiet place to have lunch in the shade...after walking under the hot sun all morning. Outstanding service as well as food.

I was dying for a good salad and chose one consisting of lettuce, oyster mushrooms, pear, walnuts, long-ripened cheese, smoked butter sauce and buckwheat honey. Just what I longed for and the butter sauce dressing was extremely delicious.

The others had the dish of the day ... but I can't remember what it was. Some kind of dumplings, I think.

Here you find the first part if you didn't read it yet.

Culinary Krakow, part 1

If you have been planning a culinary trip to Krakow, Poland … hesitate no longer. Fantastic food with cultural visits in between. Every restaurant is within walking distance and the traffic is probably the most pleasant I have experienced. No stress and polite and careful drivers. 

I hope my suggested restaurants will come in handy. The service in all of them was impeccable and the food mostly very good. The real Polish food is a bit heavy, but there is no shortage of lighter dishes that, more or less, are influenced by fine dining.

1. The Black Duck

As the name suggests the focus is on duck meat in lots of different presentations. The restaurant is quite small so reservations are compulsory. We were lucky enough to get a table for a late lunch as we passed by and ventured inside. We had the duck dumplings with chili sauce as starter (no photo) and continued with traditional Jewish sweet stew with beef goulash 

and Barley cereal and vegetables stuffed leaves of white cabbage with tomato sauce. This vegetarian dish was something out of the ordinary tastewise. Polish cuisine.

2. Restauracja Padre

This restaurant is all about fine dining in an Italian inspired cellar. The food was good and the service (too) fast. Interesting wine list.

We chose Gamberi de Catalunya (grilled prawns with chorizo, tomatoes and parsley, served in a wine and butter sauce),

beef carpaccio, marinated in green pepper and sea salt and served with parmesan, rocket, Dijon toast and mustard seeds,

Mains: pork loins, marinated in ginger and honey, served with pumpkin mousse and crunchy dill,

codfish loin, served with chickpeas, coriander and beurre blanc sauce,

duck fillet, served with Jerusalem artichoke roasted in coffee beans, raisins flambeed in cognac and forest fruits sauce.

Halibut steak on black tagliatelle with cauliflower shrimps and chili (divine).

3. Garden restauracja

This restaurant serves modern European cuisine both indoors and in the garden. Reservations are a must. All our dishes were outstanding. The menu changes according to the seasons and unfortunately I don't longer recall all of our dishes. 

Soup with mussels

Dumplings filled with seafood

Goose liver mousse and elderberry(fantastic)

Chicken? with asparagus

Lamb

Turbot?

Octopus (lovely)