Restauracja Balaton
- January 9, 2007
- Rated 4 of 5 by
mightywease from Carshalton, United Kingdom
Situated along the walk from the Rynek Glowny to Wawel Hill, the restaurant Balaton at ul Grodzka 37 provides excellent value Hungarian and Polish cuisine.
The surroundings are simple but pleasant: White walls, wooden chairs and benches, black and white photos on the wall, and an array of hanging wooden fish. The menu comprises a variety of soups, brought to your table in a metal dish suspended over an open flame from which you ladle it into your bowl. Herrings, salmon, and salami for starters are followed by main courses of meat (including veal and wild boar goulash), poultry, and fish dishes, many incorporating potato cakes and dumplings. There is, however, only one vegetarian dish: Potato cakes with mushroom sauce.
Service was understated but friendly and with a touch of flourish. For instance, a main course of Hungarian-style chicken was brought out sizzling from the kitchen and served ceremoniously from a platter onto the plate. As for the food itself, it was great, tasty, filling, well-cooked, and well-spiced. The main course of trout was perfectly cooked, crisp skin with melt-in-your-mouth flesh underneath. Each main course also came with a side order of refreshing carrot, red and white cabbage salad. And the price for two people for two courses with beer and vodka was 99 zloty, including a tip (approx. £17/$33). Excellent.
We had:
Bean soup - (“I don’t care what it’s ‘been’ what it is now!” Sorry, couldn’t resist the old joke!) – spicy, moorish
Mushroom soup – tasty and warming
Trout with almonds and boiled potatoes – absolutely superb
Chicken Hungarian-style with dumplings – very good spicy sauce of tomatoes, pepper, mushroom, and onion
Two beers, two vodkas
From journal Krakow - History, Culture and Legends