Gdansk Restaurants

1 more image

"Czerwone Drzwi" means a red door in Polish. This restaurant is my recommendation for an average (I mean not low) budget visitor who wants to taste delicious Polish food in stylish interiors in the heart of Gdansk old town, nearby the world's largest brick Mariacki church.

Although both Urszula and I were not very hungry we decided to eat something. At first we wanted to seat on a porch/terasse but it was getting cold. So, we passed through the red door to enter stylish and a bit snobish interior of the restaurant which gave us a nostalgic feeling of the middle-class interior of the past ages. We were seated close a one hundred year old piano from Copenhagen.

The waiter and his service was perfect. He knew everything on food served and gently convinced us to order more than we were going to at the beginning. The food is served on genuine china. It's neither cheap nor one of the very expensive restaurants, I usually skip. We paid with drinks, tax and a tip 80 zl (20 euros). Soups cost 8 - 15 zl, the main dishes 14 - 39 zl.

Favorite Dish: The menu contains Polish, Russian and Italian meals.

Urszula wanted fish. First she asked the waiter about roasted salmon with apple. He recommended speciality of the chief: trout with herbs roasted in an oven and served with boiled and roasted potatoes (28 zl). Urszula ordered it together with lettuce salad with salmon marinated in white wine. Although I am not a fan of fish (especially in Poland) I have to admit that it was the best trout I ever tasted, the salad was delicious as well.

I had two traditional Polish meals:
- borsch - beetroot soup with ravioli,
- dumplings with veal and mushrooms.
The waiter warned me that the soup is served very hot just like it should be. It tasted so great that I asked the waiter what they had added to the soup to achieve a bit sour but delicate and unique flavour and taste. He called the chief of cousine who informed us that they added some local herbs and some kinds of sour apples.
The dumplings were boiled and then a bit panfried on a butter and tasted great as usual in Poland :-).

4 more images

I am, or better to say, I should be on a low calory diet. I mean that, in fact, I skip any diet while I am happy on the way here or there, that is quite often recently. My trip to Gdansk was not an exception. Thus I had to propose an ice-cream for my wife (read: a half for me) as soon as I had seen a line for ice-creams in front of the Pellowski Cafe. And it was a very good choice.
The Pellowski company runs a few bakeries and patisseries in Gdansk. Their cakes and bread are said to be the best in town and are very popular. Thus, be prepared for waiting in a line.

Favorite Dish: Ice-cream of your favourite taste, necessarily topped with chocalate shavings. Yummy!
By the way, Polish milk chocolate with huzelnuts by Wedel company (Whole Nut by Cadbury Poland now) is the best I have ever eaten. It's a well known delicasy available only in Poland now but soon all over Europe, I am sure. Shriver Belgians!

Hmm... you never know what you eat in the European Union now :-(. You may buy "Belgian" chocolate or "Czech" beer ("German" beer soon) produced in Poland. Keep in mind that these products are marked with a very small writing: "Made in Europe" :-)

3 more images

This small restaurant has two advantages: the location at main pedestrian street (great place to watch people) and - despite the name suggesting Tex-Mex food - limited choice of delicious Polish meals like:
- "bigos staropolski" - old Polish stewed dish made of sauerkraut and/or fresh cabbage, meat and mushrooms (15 zl);
- "pierogi z miesem" - dumplings stuffed with meat (16 zl).
The service is nice and helpful but too slow.

Favorite Dish: I had a bowl of delicious "zupa kurkowa" for only 5 zl (1€ = 4.3 zl). The soup is made of fresh, forest, yellowfoot chanterelles. These mushrooms are common in forests around Gdansk. They are served either fried (kurki smazone) or in a soup (zupa kurkowa) in local restaurants - my recommendation.

4 more images

This patisserie ("cukiernia" in Polish language) offers local cakes, pastries and ice-creams. There is simple interior with small tables and two tables under umbrellas in front during summer (always busy). The service is average, the choice quite good, prices average.
The triangle, decorative top of a house of the patisserie is interesting as well.

Favorite Dish: Ciasto z borówkami: a pastry covered by a jelly with fresh forest bilberries available seasonally (in summer), I suppose - yummy :-).

First warning. If you arrive to Gdansk by train skip McDonald's located at the Main Railway Station (Gdansk Glowny). The station is neither clean, nor comfortable place and the food you order in McDonald's maybe the worst you ever have in Poland (additionally not the cheapest).
If you are hungry and, anyway, can accept chain fast food, walk a little bit northwards along main Podwale Grodzkie Street to Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) located in nice old house, open daily 9 am - 11 pm.

Favorite Dish: Whenever (rarely) I eat in KFC I order:
- Twister (with no mayo, please) and/or
- Salatka Caesar = Caesar's salad (with no sauce, please)
- mineral water (no sparkling).
It all cost approx. 16 zl (€ 4; US$5) or a bit more.
Twister is folded tortilla with chicken, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce and mayo sauce.
KFC Ceasar's salad contains: chicken, tomato, cheese, lettuce, herbs of Provence and sauce.

4 more images

"coffeeheaven" is a chain of coffee/sandwich bars in Central Europe (Poland, Czech Republic and Latvia in 2005, more soon). They offer many kinds of both hot and cold coffee, other soft drinks (fresh orange and grapefruit juice), fresh sandwiches and cakes (baked on place) and are usually located in shopping malls or supermarkets. It's my recommendation exclusively for not a budget visitor in a hurry.

As I am definetely more for local than chain restaurants/bars, this coffeeheaven in Gdansk was my first ever. I didn't expect anything special but... I was surprisingly satisfied about my drinks. The design of the interior and service were OK. The only disadvantages are paper cups for coffee (can you accept it?), high prices (as for Poland) and no information that you have to first make an order in a bar (many people took a seat and waited, waited... for nothing :-).

Favorite Dish: Juice from fresh oranges (8.50 zl = over € 2.00) and my large caffe latte (9.00 zl = € 2.25) tasted very well.

I'm not sure if you would call The Sphinx an Egyptian restaurant but they certainly did a good job with the decor. When I got to Warsaw I discovered many more Sphinxes and the penny dropped that this was a franchise but my initial encounter with Sphinx in Dlugi Targ in Gdansk left me feeling I'd come upon something quite exotic. The decor was very 'Rock-the-Kasbah-ish' with dimmed lights, wispy decorative hangings and loads of colour and jewelled finishes on furniture and accessories.

Favorite Dish: My favourite dish in Sphinx was the Beef Shoarma. This came in average or large portions and was accompanied by generous servings of salad. Basically it's a very highly seasoned beef dish, served in strips with a sort of naan bread to acompany it. The grated carrot and cool cucumber type salads were a refreshingly cool contrast to the HOT meat. One of the tastiest meals I've had anywhere in quite some time.

1 more image

Like its neighbour, Goldwasser, Restaurant Barylka enjoys a wonderful position on the waterfront overlooking the embankment and the Motlawa. Its extensive menu includes fish. Polish Cuisine plus separate children’s and vegetarian menus. The terrace outside with round iron tables and cushion-padded chairs is very inviting, however, the service we received was, sadly, anything but welcoming.

When Steve ordered his starter, Chicken Livers with Apple and Raspberry Sauce, our waitress pulled a face that was at best disapproving at worst disgusted. We asked why, was the dish not on, was it not very nice in her opinion? We were not given an answer and simply left to ponder if we had made the right choice. This feeling continued throughout the meal, as did the indifferent service, and despite some very nice food – the chicken livers were plentiful and delicious – we spent most of the meal feeling on edge, unwanted and unable to relax. The dessert I chose (crème brulee) was not available, nothing untoward as restaurants do run out of things, but again this news was delivered with distaste.

We decided not to leave a tip but when we got the bill a 10% service charged had been automatically added (we hadn’t noticed this on the menu but that was our fault). We were very tempted not to pay it but in the end wimped out, although often we leave an additional tip on top of this if we feel the service has warranted it.

Our visit to Barylka was very disappointing, doubly so because it was our last night in Gdansk but, happily, it was also quite untypical of the service we received elsewhere in the city and, indeed, elsewhere in Poland which we have generally found to be friendly, polite and helpful. We did have the same waitress throughout so I am inclined to think it was just her rather than the ethos of the restaurant. I would still recommend Barylka as the food was very good and the setting excellent and, as I say, I fear we may have simply got an unfriendly waitress. I do hope so, I really do.

Favorite Dish: We had

Chicken Livers with Apple and Rosemary – well cooked meat with a delicious mix of flavours
Onion Soup with Cheese Toast – nice, clean taste with the toast floating on the top

Halibut with Leek and Caper Sauce plus Potatoes and Vegetables – lovely creamy sauce and light flavoured fish
Polish Roast with Potatoes and Veg – wholesome, filling, tasty food

2 beers, 2 Goldwasser

173 zl
(approx. £30.00/$59.00)