If you follow me on social media, you may have seen that I spent a week touring Poland at the beginning of the month. I was honoured to visit some of their best food suppliers and restaurants, I am so excited to share it all with you! Over the next few months I’ll share my favourite spots, what I learned about their culinary culture and some travel guides about the places I visited. I thought I would start by sharing five foods from Poland that you really need to try, whether that be when you visit Poland for yourself or for you to source and try at home.
Craft Beer
Whilst lots of tourists travel to Poland to try the craft beers, there is more to the history than you may initially think. Did you know that centuries ago, the water in Poland was contaminated so the locals drank beer instead, children included. They used to believe it was medicinal and was sticky in texture, in fact the stickier the better! There were over 400 beer houses in Gdansk alone thanks to the number of granaries in the city which, hailed it as the centre for beer production and consumption in Poland. Today you can still visit many beer houses and micro breweries, and I had the pleasure of visiting Brovarnia Gdansk. Brovarnia Gdansk is housed in a 17th century building and only uses natural ingredients to brew in their small micro brewery. They have 3 beers brewing at any one time, which are pumped straight into the bar for you to enjoy with friends. You can also do a tour of the micro brewery and taste the beers they have brewing at that time. It is well worth it!
Zurek
Soups are popular in Poland and we had soup as a starter before every meal, even before the starter in some places! There was a lot of pumpkin soup, which is clearly in season in winter, but this was my absolute favourite and is called Zurek. Zurek is a soup, usually served at Easter, which is made with rye flour to make a sour rye soup base. It is then filled with chopped Polish sausage and hard boiled eggs. The flavour is creamy with a slight sour aftertaste that you would expect. This one was served in a hollowed out bread roll, similar to bunny chow that I enjoyed in South Africa.
We tried this delight at Karczma Pod Strzechq; a road side restaurant about 45 minutes outside of the capital, Warsaw. I’ll write a full restaurant review soon but it was the cutest ski chalet style wooden building with a roaring fire and a true rustic feel.
Herring
Also in Gdansk, we ate a serious amount of herring which before this trip I’d have said I didn’t like. Being next to a river means a lot of fish was, and still is eaten in Gdansk. Herring used to be eaten by the poorer people alongside cabbage as it was a lot cheaper than other food items. I enjoyed herring five different ways at one of the oldest restaurants in Gdansk, Pod Lososiem. My favourite was an old family recipe of the chef, which is a variation of the dish often served on Fridays in religious households around Poland. It is simply herring, onion and egg but seriously delicious. The second dish I’ve shared above is served with hot chilli for an Asian influence that has a slightly sour yet hot flavour. I was amazed that herring stood up so well to such intense flavours.
The restaurant has been painstakingly restored back to its former glory, when it was the first place to distil Goldwasser vodka in 1598. Margaret Thatcher, George Bush Snr and Princess Anne are amongst the famous people who have dined here over the years so it is not to be missed.
Goose
Poland cuisine heavily relies on fresh and local produce and goose is in season in the smaller villages between November and January, so naturally we were treated to a full goose feast at Gozdawa Palace hosted by eccentric chef Piotr Lenart. A highlight for most was the goose tartare, which was created in front of our eyes with garlic and herbs. Minced and served on toast, it is seriously creamy. The skin from the neck is used to house pate but my favourite was the baked goose, which is soft and falls off the bone.
Goats Cheese
The most fun place we visited was the goat farm! Kosia Farma Zlotna is a family run working farm in Morag, where the owners chose to leave city life to run a real life farm. The goats are seriously chilled out and laid back thanks to being free to roam and graze, which helps the products they make be exquisite. We tried the smoked and unsmoked cheeses, both are seriously delicious. Lightly creamy with a slight sour note but much firmer than the goats cheese we are used to in the UK. It is well worth a visit to see where the goods come from, quite literally from farm to table. The family have also converted the top of the building into 2 guest rooms so you can stay and be awoken by the gentle bleating of the herd.
I could have added so many more culinary delights to this post but there will be more from this epic foodie journey around Poland. What would you add to the list?
