Description: Food in Poland's popular tourist destinations outside of the cities is rather poor. The restauranteurs push to maximise profits in what is a short season. Despite the fact that Zakopane has tourists all year round, the situation is not much better. Having spent over 6 hours in the car, I was rather peckish and spotted a Chinese restaurant just off the main drag. Four of us went there on Valentine's Day, we were happy to get a seat as we hadn't made a reservation.
The downstairs was closed, so other than the oriental music and the smell of food luring us upstairs, it was not particularly inviting but we pushed on up there anyway. We attempted to sit down at a table for four but the room was arranged in such a way that to sit there meant having to manouevre the people behind us and squeeze in every time the waitress needed to pass. After a few minutes, we gave up and sat at a 5 seated that had become available. It was still a squeeze and I was basically back to back with the chap behind me. I suppose I should have counted myself lucky that he didn't have BO!
The table top had been transformed into a giant menu, which I found a nice touch, as was the bell to ring for service. It certainly would have been if it wasn't just one girl on who had to run around like a blue house fly. She certainly did her best and no one could have a bone to pick with her. The restaurant was doing its best to flog small cans of fruit juice, I opted for a slightly stronger beverage but in hindsight the juice may have been a better option. The lager was rather flat and certainly worth no more than the 6zl I paid for it.
I ordered some spring rolls and crispy chicken whilst my wife had a spicy beef dish. As always in Poland, both meals came served with the obligatory 'surowka' , a giant portion of cabbage that I feel never really suits the meal but eat anyway and then feel like a fat rabbit afterwards.
Crispy chicken, essentially just a breadcrumbed breast is usually as safe as it gets and my cautiousness paid off here with my dinner partners practically wincing their way through their meals which were a concoction of salty meat and cheap vegetable products. The ingredients that were being used were recognisable as having come from 'Biedronka', one of the country's budget supermarket chains. It was certainly the first time I had seen runner beans that had been in brine, used in a Chinese dish. Hopefully it's the last.
The toilets were located downstairs, which may have been why the downstairs section was closed. If the food is anything to go by, I could see it being a popular place to visit.
A meal and beer will set you back about 25zl, which is cheap but there are much better cheaper restaurants to be found and its no coincidence that after eating in this place, we cooked our own meals for the remaining nights during our most recent visit to the lovely mountain town.
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