I'm currently on a bit of a diet and trying to give bread a miss, had a craving for Chinese food on the weekend though and decided to visit a restaurant I had seen some weeks ago opposite the Warsaw Rising Museum in Warsaw. From the outside, it looked a touch better than the usual abruptly built tin sheds run by Vietnamese but without the trimmings of a more expensive restaurant. The prices looked good and they also had menus in English (probably targeted at the visitors of the Rising Museum), the place had some slightly over the top decorations inside but wasn't too bad.

The waiter (Chinese or Vietnamese.. hard to tell) was difficult to understand in either English or Polish. Beer was 5zl (1.25) and meals were around 10-14zl (2.50-3.50) and rice was a bit extra. I ordered a mushroom and sea food dish (squid, shrimps, mussels) which came as a heavy duty portion on a nicely decorated plate with a lot of stir fried veg and the tasty mushrooms. All in all it was pretty good and definitely worth the purchase, it was incredibly mild though. My fiance likes spicy food and had ordered an apparently spicy meat dish, it wasnt' spicy though and she wasn't impressed.

Overall Chinese food in Poland is very uninspiring, there are plenty of options but most of them are toned down and rather sweet with an enormous side portion of cabbage usually. I was quite impressed with mine but if we judged the place based on my fiance's experience then I think we can safely say this isn't the answer to the Polish/Chinese eating out options.

If you are starving after spending hours touring the Warsaw Rising Museum then it's defnitely worth popping in though as the portions are definitely designed for people with big appetites and it's cheap. It's directly opposite the museum.

Address: Ul. Grzybowska 96, Warsaw
Web Address: http://asianlanh.com/main.html

Pelmeni XL is a restaurant in Riga, conveniently located in old city side street. Pelmeni is a cheerful place, perhaps not because of the serious looking old lady who works there but because of the modern design of the place, orange and white tiles mosaic the walls and give it a festive feel. Orange tables (as I remember) and chairs fill up the room which often gets busy but normally has enough room, generally feel free to join others at their table too. Pelmeni XL is popular with students, young expats and any tourist lucky enough to come across it.

Pelmeni can definitely be considered as fast food, you pick up your tray and a big bowl, then begin filling it up from several pans of tasty Latvian cuisine, mostly salads or dumplings (Pelmeni )filled with vegetables, cheese, pork or beef and a variety of sauces from sour cream to peppery oil, it is then weighed by the till. You will normally pay about 3 lats (3 pounds) for a heftily filled bowl of warm goodness, soups and chips (potato wedges are particularly nice) are also available and cheap, as is beer (1.50) or vodka (0.60) as well as a range of non alcoholic beverages like kefir, coffee, cappucino, milk, yoghurt, fanta, sprite and water (normally from 0.45 to 0.60)

If you succesfully get through your food, this is likely to lead to either praise or smiles from the staff! I don't know why but they always seem happy when you finish it!

Address: There are now 3 Pelmeni XL outlets, the one you are most likely to come across is the one in the old city at Kalku 7.

There is also one at the train station and one at the shopping mall called Galerija Centrs (located at Audeju Iela 16)

Web Address: http://www.xlpelmeni.lv

Pelmeni is Latvian for dumplings, and Pelmeni XL, in the Old Town's main street, is the place to try them. Similar to Polish pierogi, or ravioli, they come filled with cheese (siers), cabbage or meat (a knowledge of Latvian is necessary to read the names of the fillings and various sauces). It's self-service, and, best of all, you pay by weight, so you only pay for what you eat. A bowl of dumplings will never cost more than a lat. The drinks available are quite cheap, with juices and kefirs (sour milk—anyone brought up in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe will have fond memories) costing 40 santimi a glass. Beer is 80 santimi. As with everywhere else in Riga, don't expect any acknowledgement from the staff that you exist, but with prices like these, we weren't complaining.