When preparing for my trip to Poland, I got asked a lot: “how will the food be?”. I honestly was not aware myself of what to expect as I had not researched the topic.  Is food in Poland more like in Germany or more like in Russia or neither?  Was Polish cuisine going to be a lot of cabbage?  What types of meats were most common in Polish dishes?  I was curious to find out and wondered if I would love Polish food or just eat it and be thankful to not go hungry.  There was definitely no need to worry! I would enjoy every morsel I ate during my visit to Krakow!

Krakow’s Main Square is said to be the most beautiful in Europe

Eating out in Poland was cheap

First, let me say that eating out in Poland is cheap. I am not talking going to a hole in the wall or a mom-and-pop type of place. I am talking even at nicer restaurants. On the top end of the scale (places we never visited since we felt the food we were having at mid level restaurants was outstanding enough), a main entree could run up to $25 (at least, based on a non-scientific sampling from my walking around!). At the restaurants I ate (most were recommended by the people who rented us the apartment), a main entree was no more than $8-10.  Talk about reasonable!

Food in Poland was delicious

Now on to the quality of the very affordable food:  Every meal was delicious. Whether the veal scallopini at Cherubino‘s or the pork knuckle in honey and plums at Polskie Jadlo, every dish was spectacular. House wines were not shabby either. I didn’t get to eat desserts at every meal simply because I was usually stuffed by then.  However, you can’t keep me away from desserts for too long!  I had ice cream a couple of times and it was double-darn good ice CREAM! The real stuff.  Creamy!  I also tried the cream cake that the late Pope John Paul II favored in his birthtown of Wadowice and a rather large and delicious doughnut on the train to Czestochowa.  Keep the pounds coming, baby!

Cream cake – delicious!

“Bite me!”

The places we ate at in Krakow were:

• Kuchnia i Wino (ul. Jozefa in the Mazimierz district, http://www.cracow-life.com/eat/restaurants_details/61-Kuchnia_i_Wino)
• Cherubino (on a side street from ul. Jana called ul. Tomaszka, http://www.cherubino.pl/restaurant_krakow.html)
• Polskie Jadlo (ul. Jana, http://www.cracow-life.com/eat/restaurants_details/1272-Polskie_Jadlo)
• Miod i Wino (ul. Slawkowska, http://www.cracow-life.com/eat/restaurants_details/270-Miod_i_Wino).

We also enjoyed bakeries (“cukiernias“) around the Old Town district, and a cafe in a square in the must-see Kazimierz district called TeD (Plac Nowy 7) – very nice loungey feel to it.

The only thing that bothered me a little bit about restaurants is that, while they have a non-smoking section, it is practically non-functioning as you still get to breathe enough secondhand smoke to lose a little of the sense of smell…  The smoke can ruin the aromas and even the taste of food and it is a shame it was still so prevalent (hopefully, this has changed since my visit!).

So what was Polish food?

So what is the Polish food I experienced?  Well, lots of meat (especially pork), potatoes (fried or baked, of different shapes), little in terms of greens (unless you order a salad), bread (served with lard in the more traditional places I went to; yes, LARD but it had bacon to probably make it healthier 🙂 ), etc..

The pot on the left is lard for your bread!

A lot of the pork was fried which reminded me of my favorite Cuban dish (masitas de cerdo) but the pork knuckle was not fried (it was very tender!).

My best meal in Krakow: the pork knuckle cleverly served. Flavorful and tender!

I also enjoyed pierogis (many options as far as filings), and pancakes stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese.

Ricotta cheese and spinach -stuffed pancakes

OK, I better stop here because I am making myself hungry!  As you can see, I enjoyed the food in Poland and would love to find a place serving Polish cuisine near me…  Hope you get to experience Polish food – in Poland or elsewhere!