ROME, WARSAW, CRACOW – MY CULINARY TRIPS

Chocolate in Venice

To be honest, I hadn't intended to stay away from my blog for so long. But I was swamped with work and then the longer I procrastinated, the more difficult it was to get down to work and write my weekly posts. But here I am again to tell you about my culinary trips and reveal a few announcements regarding my blog. :)

Roman motto

In April, I spent a lovely weekend in Rome, where I lived on art and Roman pizza. A full account will appear on my blog very soon!

Aleksander Gierymski, In the Arbour, 1882, detail.

My trip to Warsaw was less exotic but equally interesting. I went there to see the exhibition of Aleksander Gierymski, a famous Polish 19th-century painter, and to do research for an article on food in art which will appear in Apetyt, a magazine published by Kraków bloggers. More details to follow.

Café Rue de Paris, Warszawa

While in Warsaw, I discovered a very nice French bistro, Café Rue de Paris, which is situated near the roof garden of the University of Warsaw Library. The café offers delicious quiches, tasty cakes, very good coffee and nice ambiance. I'm sure it'll be one of my favourite destinations during my future trips to Warsaw.

Chochołowy Dwór

I've also visited a few restaurants in and around Kraków, including Zbójcy w Pałacu and Chochołowy Dwór, but sadly I didn't it like any of them well enough to go back there and write a review...

Wielopole 3, Kraków

Fortunately, my favourite places in the Jewish quarter Kazimierz: Kolanko No. 6 and Bombonierka are still great so I could safely invite there my fussy family from abroad. In the meantime, I also discovered two inconspicuous but very tasty restaurants: Wielopole 3 and Dobra Kasza Nasza. You can expect their reviews quite soon.

"Sherlock" - BBC series

Finally, I've decided to write more articles about food in culture and I'm currently working on my posts about food in Jane Austen's times and in my favourite TV show “Sherlock.” So stay tuned! :)

Zbójcy w Pałacu, Kraków

PS. If you want to know what food festivals will take place in Kraków and Lesser Poland (Małopolska) region this summer, you can check out the new tab on my blog: Food Festivals - Summer 2014. :)

Artichokes in Rome

CHARLOTTE IN WARSAW – IS IT REALLY HIPSTERS' DEN?

 

Reportedly, the most hipster place in Warsaw is Saviour Square ('Plac Zbawiciela' in Polish), and the most hipster place in Saviour Square is Charlotte. When I was in Warsaw, I decided to investigate it myself, especially because I really liked the Charlotte café and bakery in Kraków (you can read about it here).

Saviour Square seems to be one of the most charming corners in the Polish capital. The round square with solid buildings in Socialist realism style is dominated by a neo–baroque Church of the Most Holy Saviour and a half–burnt rainbow awaiting reconstruction. Charlotte is housed in one of the buildings with a colonnade, under which you can find a pleasant beer garden with a view of the whole Square. The café’s interior is rather stark and industrial but it's enlivened with a huge common table decorated with fresh flowers.

My friend, Jasmine, and I sat at one of the few free tables under the colonnade and we were immediately approached by a cute waiter. With his side swept blonde fringe and impeccably white shirt he didn't look like a hipster at all. We discreetly glanced around but unfortunately we couldn't notice anyone bashing out at their typewriter, wearing their granddad’s clothes or even wearing glasses without lenses. We were a bit disappointed. ;)

Nothing in the menu seemed particularly hipster, either. We had a problem to choose just one dish from all the French delicacies but finally Jasmine ordered quiche with ham and asparagus (PLN 9), while I settled on a French toast called pain perdu (literally 'lost bread' in French), which was golden, crunchy and lavishly covered with honey (PLN 12). Yum. :)

Sipping aromatic coffee, we almost gave up hope of meeting a real hipster but at last I saw him! He was wearing a hat (granddad’s?), thick–framed, black glasses, checked shirt, rolled up corduroy trousers and the final proof – elegant, leather shoes without socks. So Charlotte does sometimes become hipsters' den. Mystery solved. ;)

Address: Plac Zbawiciela (Savior Square), Warsaw

Website: www.bistrocharlotte.com , www.facebook.com/bistrocharlotte

Fussy on Facebooku = more photos
Wersja polska