Borscht, Beast, & Booze: The Many Culinary Faces of Krakow, Poland (And the Wine Giveaway Winner)

A piping hot bowl of borscht from a bar mlezny (milk bar)

Wild boar tenderloins in forest sauce from Pod Baranem

Miodowka honey vodka at Wódka Cafe Bar

When it comes to food, most people tend to associate Poland with two main things: kielbasa and pierogies. There's a lot more to Polish cuisine, as I learned firsthand on my trip, but these two items are undoubtedly ubiquitous staples.  I've already talked about the many excellent sausages to be had in Krakow, and Poppa Trix and I feasted on (more than) our fair share of pierogies on our trip. My favorites came from a cute place called Pierożki u Vincenta. This bright spot had a Vincent Van Gogh theme:

They also have an incredible selection of  fillings. I loved the Russian pierogie with garlic, as well as the ones stuffed with Polish forest mushrooms:

Poppa quite liked the Polish beer, though after Prague I was on a bit of a beer hiatus, opting for wine and vodka instead:

You can certainly find higher-end cuisine in Krakow as well, like those wild boar medallions from Restaurantja Pod Baranem from the top of this post. Look at the cool boar sign:

 We started that meal with a nice pot of bacon fat to spread on bread. I wouldn't recommend a lot of this, but a little is shockingly (even disturbingly) good:

 Next up - soup. It is a Polish meal after all, and you know the saying, right? "The soup fills you up, and the dish plugs you up." I am not making that up, and I can tell you one thing  ... it's not an old saying for nothing, if you catch my drift.

Poppa and I shared garlic soup, and barley soup Krakow style:

Despite the fact that the bowls were volcanically hot - leading me to believe that the soup had been reheated in the microwave - the flavor was intense and deeply soul warming. Eastern Europeans really know how to make soup - I don't think I had a sub par one on my whole trip.

For our mains, along with the wild boar medallions, we had a saddle of venison:

In both of these dishes, the sauce was incredibly rich and complex, with notes of rosemary, juniper, and of course mushrooms.  I also quite liked the roasted potatoes:

No trip to Krakow would be complete without a visit to a milk bar, those cafeteria-style restaurants set up by the government during Communism to provide a cheap, nourishing meal to workers.

 I am glad we went to one, but am sad to report that I found the food (except for the soup of course!) rather bland. Looks pretty though:

However, I found another holdover - kompot - to be much more flavorful. This is a wee bit older than Communism, as its been a traditional drink in Eastern and Central Europe since about 1300:

This odd little beverage is basically a warm fruit juice. Poppa and I stepped into a cafe to take a load off and were intrigued to observe the obsessive attention the woman behind the counter paid to her incredibly well stocked trays of the stuff. We watched as each and every inexplicably thin  local who came in ordered an enormous meal of soup and meat and starch always made sure to take a glass of the stuff. Well, what else could we do?

Mmm, kompot!

I have never heard that Poland is renowned for its breakfast foods, but why not is beyond me. We had coffee ...

... and this luscious plate of what the menu called "eggs on butter" at Cafe Europejska on the square:

 The place was a bit touristy, but it had a nice atmosphere:

Besides, we needed the sustenance to get us through our emotionally draining trip to Auschwitz.  Upon our return that day, we found exactly the thing we needed to soothe our frazzled nerves - the Wódka Cafe Bar, where we sampled one (or two ...) glasses of honey vodka and hazlenut vodka.

 I don't eat fast food at home or on trips, but I just had to take a peek inside this Krakow McDonald's in Old Town. In the U.S., if an ancient cellar was discovered while building a chain restaurant, it would doubtless be demolished. Here, it was incorporated into the decor. Bet you've never seen a McDonalds basement like this!

McSwanky

You all know I'm not much of a sweets gal, but in Krakow I had not one, but two whole sweets! Well, actually I split each with Poppa Trix. First we visited the grandly decaying, shabby chic  Singer:

We had our coffee and cake at tables made from old Singer sewing machines:

My other sweet was a cheese Danish at a little pastry shop across the street from Stary Kleparz, a cool market that I'll write about in an upcoming post:

Get in my belly!

But if travel has taught me anything, it's that the best things often come when you least expect it. Take Kuchnia Polska.  We walked into this humble spot thinking we'd get just a beer, but as we watched people's plates coming to the table we knew we had to order something. Behold two of the best soups I have ever had in my life. Clear borscht with dumplings:

And this Polish sour rye soup with kielbasa, a flavor that has permanently imprinted on my taste memory:

Alas, we discovered this place on our last day in Krakow. Before we knew it, we were on the night train to Vienna, armed with bottles of Polish vodka to ease our journey:

And if you've made it all this way, it's time to reward your patience and and finally let you know who won the Dragon's Hollow wine giveaway. And the lucky oenophile is ... Tanantha!

Cheers! I will be in touch to get your mailing info.

And now, I leave you with this shot of the main square in rainy, moody, beautiful Krakow.