The Week we Ate Krakow...

Nostalgia Restaurant

Restaurant | "Nostalgia"

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I last visited Krakow in the mid 1990’s. In those days, Poland had only recently emerged blinking and hesitant into the free market, so many of the restaurants were basic. Choices in Krakow were generally restricted to traditional Polish, or basic pizza places.Of course, time marches on, and our recent visit found us eying up a whole range of different food options. One of the tour guides at the Wavel told us there were over 1000 different restaurants in the city centre; I can believe her! We were keen to sample good traditional Polish food on at least one evening of our visit, and after a five minute wander from the Rynek Glowny (Krakow’s main square), we found our place, the art...Read More

Member Rating 5 out of 5 on January 30, 2008

Nostalgia Restaurant
10 Karmelicka Street
Krakow, Poland
(+48) 124254260

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Cosa Nostra Ristorante

Restaurant

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We had heard that the Kazimierz district was a good place to find unusual and excellent restaurants in Krakow. As we always try to find a restaurant off the usual tourist track (as they have to make more effort to get diners through the door), we decided to take a trek down to Kazimierz one evening.Kazimierz was home to the old Jewish quarter. After the war, only around 6,000 Krakow Jews has survived (the pre-war population was around 65,000). Almost left to wrack and ruin, the area was only restored after the collapse of the iron curtain, when surviving relatives could claim the old family home. Today, the place is a strange mix of restored and dilapidated, but it is a lively place to wande...Read More

We had heard that the Kazimierz district was a good place to find unusual and excellent restaurants in Krakow. As we always try to find a restaurant off the usual tourist track (as they have to make more effort to get diners through the door), we decided to take a trek down to Kazimierz one evening.

Kazimierz was home to the old Jewish quarter. After the war, only around 6,000 Krakow Jews has survived (the pre-war population was around 65,000). Almost left to wrack and ruin, the area was only restored after the collapse of the iron curtain, when surviving relatives could claim the old family home. Today, the place is a strange mix of restored and dilapidated, but it is a lively place to wander.

As it was sleeting, we didn’t want to walk any longer then strictly necessary, and so found the Cosa Nostra on the edge of Kazimierz, on Ul Dajwor, almost opposite the Galica Jewish Museum. As you might expect from the name, the Cosa Nostra specialise in Italian dishes.

From the outside, the place certainly looked promising; a well-maintained building set right onto the street. Inside, the restaurant was clean and tidy, and invitingly painted in a cheerful peach. An English-speaking server greeted us. We put the sluggish number of diners down to the weather, the slightly out-of-the-way location, and the mid-week in January. The restaurant has a ground floor and basement, together with smoking and non-smoking sections. Our table was next to a wall-pained fresco of Italian scenery.

While the food was OK, I was disappointed that the Cosa Nostra didn’t serve us what was described on the menu. For starters, we decided to share a couple of garlic breads (described as focaccia). Rather than receive the risen flat bread I expected, we had some dry and burnt garlic and rosemary on flat and almost unleavened bread. I found the starter very dry, and not particularly enjoyable. Even a little oil added to the topping would have helped.

Thankfully, we had also ordered a couple of salads, whose moisture enabled me to finish a couple of pieces of the garlic bread. My salad was the rather fancy, tuna, quails eggs and chickpea salad. It was very nice, although it didn’t actually contain chickpeas! The haricot beans were fine, but again, we weren’t served what we had expected.

For my main course, I ordered an Etna pizza, which was very large and fairly tasty. While it contained the red chillies and anchovies that was described, it lacked the salami. My beloved’s sun dried tomato certainly lived up to expectation, although like mine, the pizza base wasn’t the tastiest. Our dining companions tiger prawn dish was considerably oversold, being of the small and cheap prawn variety, rather than the juicy tiger prawn version described. It was more of a pussycat.

The wine was a more reasonable deal, being flavoursome and reasonably priced.

One of the stranger aspects to the Cosa Nostra is that the ground floor toilet leads directly into the restaurant (I am more used to there being some kind of alcove, and two doors between toilet and diners). I found it quite disconcerting to urinate, with the voices of happy diners chatting just through the door.

In all, our meal came to just over £40 ($80) for four, so it wasn’t an unmitigated disaster. However, while the food wasn’t terrible, I would much prefer to dine in a place that has a better attention to detail. After we left the restaurant, we wandered around Kazimierz a little more, and found a number of promising looking places within 200 yards of the Cosa Nostra. Given the sheer number of similar priced restaurants to choose from, I can’t recommend the Cosa Nostra. Do yourself a favour and hunt down somewhere else!
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Member Rating 1 out of 5 on January 30, 2008

Cosa Nostra Ristorante
Ul. Dajwor 25
Krakow, Poland
+48 (12) 4221212

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Buena Vista

Restaurant

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If I could have my Krakow stay again, I would have arranged to visit the Buena Vista Restaurant for dinner rather than lunch. At least I managed to enjoy one meal at this excellent and friendly Cuban style bar/restaurant. Buena Vista is located on ul Jozefa in the heart of the old Jewish quarter, Kazimierz. We were keen to rest our legs and grab a drink, and the Buena Vista just happened to be at the right place at the right time. It is something of a tradition that we have at least one Mojito (a rum and fresh mint and crushed ice based drink) on vacation, and as they originate in Cuba, a Cuban theme bar was a no brainer for a pit stop.The bar looked inviting from the out...Read More

Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 30, 2008

Buena Vista
ul. Jozefa 26
Krakow
066 803 50 00

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Miod Malina

Restaurant

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For our final evening meal in Krakow, we were keen to ensure we chose our restaurant well, and so took some time to read our “Krakow in your pocket” guide map. The place we came up with was intriguingly called Miod Malina, which translates to “Honey Raspberry” in English. The restaurant serves a mix of Polish and Italian dishes, a combination that appears to be very popular here in Krakow. Indeed, we too enjoyed flitting from Eastern European to Mediterranean tastes as the evening progressed. We actually found the Miod Malina quite difficult to find. Although it is on one of the main streets between the Rynek Glowny (the main square) and the Wavel (castle), the restaurant stands in...Read More

For our final evening meal in Krakow, we were keen to ensure we chose our restaurant well, and so took some time to read our “Krakow in your pocket” guide map. The place we came up with was intriguingly called Miod Malina, which translates to “Honey Raspberry” in English.

The restaurant serves a mix of Polish and Italian dishes, a combination that appears to be very popular here in Krakow. Indeed, we too enjoyed flitting from Eastern European to Mediterranean tastes as the evening progressed.

We actually found the Miod Malina quite difficult to find. Although it is on one of the main streets between the Rynek Glowny (the main square) and the Wavel (castle), the restaurant stands in a poorer part of the street, behind some large pillars. That the place doesn’t have to present itself in a show of flashy lights and signs, gives an indication it sells itself through the quality of its food. That the place is almost full of locals on a January Monday evening is another positive indicator.

The Miod Malina is reasonably (but not cheaply) priced. As we were on our final evening, we were on a slightly tight budget, and so chose fairly carefully. I would always prefer to enjoy a cheaper dish in an expensive restaurant, and enjoy a meal done well, rather than attempt a splurge in a cheaper place. An extravagant meal done badly is an offence of the worst kind.

I chose the Italian Bruschetta, and enjoyed a simple spread of chopped fresh tomato, with garlic and herbs tottering on three toasted pieces of French Bread. My beloved went with the Polish pancakes with wild mushroom sauce. The potato pancakes were substantial and thick, well herbed, and almost like a rosti, while the wild mushroom sauce was to die for. The Polish have a long love affair with the mushroom, and with dishes like this, I’m not surprised why.

For our main course, I decided to play it safe, with a Tuna, Tomato and Mozzarella Calzone. The dish arrived beautifully baked, steaming and huge. While the dish was simple, the ingredients were excellent and perfectly balanced. The crust likewise was light and perfect. To go with the Calzone, I went with the Polish cucumber, sour cream and dill salad. This arrived with some lettuce underneath, and so was almost a full green salad. Again, I enjoyed the strong taste of the salad against the simple pizza.

My beloved chose a lasagne, which she described as the best she had eaten in a long time, and had a bowl of chips (un-skinned potato chunks) to accompany. As she has worked in an Italian restaurant in a former life, this is rare praise indeed, as only her own made lasagne usually passes muster.

We were sat next to a table of locals who had ordered a full Polish meal. While the dishes such as duck in applesauce were rather more expensive (at around £10 ($20) before accompaniments, they are fairly pricy in Polish terms), they looked the real deal. I’m sure I would have appreciated those meals just as much.

The interior of the restaurant is comfortable, clean but not too stuffy or smart. The arched ceilings give the building a certain class. I especially liked the fun painted raspberry on the wall next to our table.

The restaurant has two long narrow rooms, with about 100 or so covers. Some of the seats face onto the window of the busy street, and so you can watch the world pass by. Although the Miod Malina was almost full when we visited, the service was prompt and efficient if not over friendly.

Our fairly carefully chosen meal with a couple of drinks, came to around £25 ($50) for two, certainly a reasonable deal given the quality of the food. For my money, the Miod Malina certainly matched Restaurant Nostalgia for choice, taste and quality. Perhaps the more friendly service in the latter just gave it the edge.
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Member Rating 4 out of 5 on January 31, 2008

Miod Malina
Ul Grodzka 40
Krakow 31-044
+48 012 430 04 11

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Gruzinskie Chaczapuri

Restaurant

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One of the more tempting and lighter cooking styles of Eastern Europe is Georgian. We certainly enjoyed the lighter taste of the Chicken Shashlik (barbeque chicken with salad) during our trip to Moscow. As we don’t see many (or in fact, any!) Georgian restaurants in the UK, we were determined to have one meal at Gruzinskie Chaczapuri in Krakow during our recent stay.Gruzinskie Chaczapuri is a (small) chain restaurant, with five outlets in prominent places in Krakow. The menu also offers diners a franchise opportunity, so they must be keen to expand. We entered the restaurant in ul Sienna, near the main old Market Square, and I was pleased to note the reasonable prices on the menu. The place ...Read More

One of the more tempting and lighter cooking styles of Eastern Europe is Georgian. We certainly enjoyed the lighter taste of the Chicken Shashlik (barbeque chicken with salad) during our trip to Moscow. As we don’t see many (or in fact, any!) Georgian restaurants in the UK, we were determined to have one meal at Gruzinskie Chaczapuri in Krakow during our recent stay.

Gruzinskie Chaczapuri is a (small) chain restaurant, with five outlets in prominent places in Krakow. The menu also offers diners a franchise opportunity, so they must be keen to expand. We entered the restaurant in ul Sienna, near the main old Market Square, and I was pleased to note the reasonable prices on the menu. The place is casual but tidy and largely frequented by local students during the lunchtime we visited.

I had to give one bad mark on entrance, as we waited a while for the wait staff to seat us. As two members of staff walked past us without acknowledgement, we concluded we would find our own table. I assume this is the standard procedure here, as we quickly received menus once seated. Unfortunately, the Gruzinskie Chaczapuri restaurant appears not to have segregated smoking and non-smoking areas, so we ended up sitting in a rather smoky den.

The menu appeared large, but closer inspection revealed that most of the dishes were simply combinations of a few staple ingredients. We could choose grilled chicken or pork, with soft flat bread (rather like a chapatti), chips, rice, salad (of sweet pickled shredded cabbage) and vegetables in a ratatouille, in any combination or permutation.

Being a glutton, I chose one of the more expensive meals, containing most of these staple ingredients for £5 ($10), but some smaller dishes cost more like £3 ($6) a dish. This is certainly a very reasonable (but not unbeatable) price for Krakow old town.

Our server first gave us two very bland and squashy rolls of white bread. Given the wonderful rye and dark breads that the Polish usually eat, it was a major disappointment. This was more like cotton wool processed bread. To accompany the boring bread, we were given three large jugs of sauce. One was mayonnaise, another, a very bland garlic mayonnaise and the third, a piquant tomato type sauce. All three sauces had obviously come from pre-prepared vats of processed sauce.

After nervously nibbling on the bread and dips, my grilled chicken breast soon arrived squashed into a “road kill” shape for quicker grilling. The restaurant cooked it with Georgian seasoning, which seems to comprise largely of paprika and salt. I liked the chicken overall, but it seemed a just a little dry and overcooked.

My chicken arrived with chips and ratatouille. The former were thin cut, and obviously pre-prepared, while the latter was unfortunately only just to say warm. My beloved had a similar meal, only with her chicken with the lukewarm ratatouille, wrapped in one of the afore mentioned flat breads. She also had the salad of sweet pickled cabbage.

Overall, our meal was a little disappointing, although it was on the correct side of edible. To be fair, our meal was one of the least expensive we had in Krakow, at around £16 ($32) for two, including a couple of beers.

While the Gruzinskie Chaczapuri didn’t particularly float my boat, I can imagine the food going down better with the McDonalds/KFC crowd, and for those on a more limited budget.
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Member Rating 2 out of 5 on February 4, 2008

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Krakow Journals

The Week we Ate Krakow...

Nostalgia Restaurant

Cosa Nostra Ristorante

Buena Vista

Miod Malina

Gruzinskie Chaczapuri

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