KARMNIK (KRAKÓW) – FEELS LIKE HOME

Where do you usually buy food? As I mentioned in the post about Krakowskim Targiem Festival, I love traditional markets, especially Plac na Stawach in Kraków (near Cracovia Stadium). There are my favourite, friendly greengrocers, a butcher's shop with always fresh meat, a stall selling home-made cottage cheeses and butter, and much more. What's more, everyone, both vendors and buyers, are much friendlier than in your usual supermarket.

Famished after the shopping spree, we usually go for lunch to nearby Karmnik restaurant (karmnik means 'bird feeder' in Polish), where the atmosphere is even more welcoming than at Plac na Stawach. The restaurant is run by one family who oversee all the details: from serving the guests, to preparing the dishes, to changing decorations according to the season.

The interior is small but neat and cosy. In the photos you can see the winter look dominated by silvers and whites with splashes of red and green. I especially like the quaint, yellowed pages from an old cookery book hung on the walls. I can't wait to see what this artistically gifted family will prepare for the spring season. :)

Menu changes daily but you can always order some nutritious soups (PLN 6-8), meat with potatoes and salad (PLN 15-20) and crunchy pancakes (PLN 9-11 for 2 pancakes). Sometimes there are also delicious savoury tarts (about PLN 11 a piece), which are a particular favourite of mine. Pasta, such as penne with chicken and spinach (PLN 16), is also very good.

Portions, especially of the meat dishes, are really large: the cutlet is as big as the plate, there's a heap of potatoes and four different salads served on a separate plate. That's why D. and I often share one portion for two. Our favourite dishes are pork breaded cutlet (kotlet schabowy, PLN 15 zł) and grilled chicken breast with mozzarella and spinach (PLN 16). The latter is usually quite salty but as each portion is prepared individually for every client, so you can always ask for less salt on your meat.

All the dishes are really fresh and tasty, almost like home-made. Not all of them were to my liking, for example onion soup, which didn't taste at all like onion, but I think it's a matter of taste because D. really liked it. Drinks include delicious fruit juice called kompot in Polish (PLN 3), coffee and tea, but the only thing lacking in Karmnik is desserts. I think home-made cake would be a perfect complement to the lovely lunch.  

Karmnik is probably the restaurant I visit most often in Kraków – mainly because of the delicious food, friendly ambiance and very reasonable prices. You can have here both breakfast and lunch or you can just drop by to drink some warming tea with raspberry juice. I recommend this restaurant to everyone who likes Polish home-made food and warm, informal atmosphere. You can also come here with your kids or dog – everyone will be welcome. :)


Pros: tasty food, big portions, nice interior
Cons: wait time (dishes are prepared only after an order has been placed), some dishes are too salty, no desserts

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Address: Senatorska 13, Kraków (Zwierzyniec)

Website: restauracjakarmnik.pl 

Daily menu on facebook (in Polish): 

pl-pl.facebook.com/RestauracjaKarmnik

BEST FRENCH RESTAURANTS IN KRAKÓW

What country do you associate with love? For me, it's definitely France – French culture, French language and most of all, French food. That's why before upcoming Valentine's Day I've prepared for you my subjective ranking of the best French restaurants in Kraków. When you click on the subheadings, you'll be able to read full reviews of each of the restaurants. Cracovie, je t'aime! :)

4. ZAKŁADKA (KRAKÓW) – FRENCH CHIC VS. OILY SNAILS

Pros: a tasteful interior inspired by the film “Amélie,” nice, free snack before the meal, delicious onion soup

Cons: ill-mannered service, fried snails soaked in fat

Address: Józefińska 2, Kraków (Podgórze)

Website: http://zakladkabistro.pl/

3. LA PETITE FRANCE – ALMOST LIKE PARIS

Pros: tasty, seasonal salads, delicious fondant au chocolat (cake filled with melted chocolate), a small shop with French specialities

Cons: stark interior, small portions, mediocre coffee

Address: św. Tomasza 25, Kraków (Old Town)

Website: www.lapetitefrance.pl

2. CHARLOTTE IN KRAKÓW - FRENCH DELICACIES

Pros: breakfast served until midnight, delicious sandwiches, lovely coffee

Cons: bread in croque-monsieur wasn't very crunchy, the restaurant can get sometimes crowded

Address: Plac Szczepański, Kraków (Old Town)

Website: www.bistrocharlotte.com

1. ZAZIE BISTRO – THE MAGIC OF FRENCH FOOD

Pros: delicious foie gras, nice service, very good quiche

Cons: uncomfortable chairs, mediocre onion soup

Address: Józefa 34, Kraków (Kazimierz)

Website: www.zaziebistro.pl

Please note that all of the above restaurants are very popular so you should book a table in advance, especially on the Valentine's Day! :)

But if you're staying at home that night, you can watch one of my most beloved films, “Amélie,” and read my post about French food in this film: FILM AMÉLIE – HOW FOOD CONNECTS KIND PEOPLE.

And for dessert, one of my favourite French songs about love. It's neither Edith Piaf nor Jacques Brel (even though I adore them as well) – but controversial Carla Bruni. Hope you'll enjoy her sexy voice! :)

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ZAKŁADKA (KRAKÓW) – FRENCH CHIC VS. OILY SNAILS

As its Polish name suggests, French restaurant Zakładka food & wine is situated behind a footbridge. More precisely, next to the footbridge connecting Kraków's two historical districts – Kazimierz and Podgórze.

From the beginning, Zakładka enchanted me with its stylish interior which reminds me of my favourite film, “Amélie” (about which I wrote here): red upholstered sofas, an old gramophone, china statuettes of dogs and pigs, black-and-white photos of French stars. It seems elegant and warm at the same time. And noisy - as finding a free table without a prior booking is practically impossible.

While waiting for our dishes, we unexpectedly got quite tasty free starters: a few small pieces of bread, including a warm roll, a piece of pâté and black olive spread served in an egg cup.

Afterwards we were served two huge soup plates. My onion soup (PLN 9) was thick and delicious (much better than the one in Zazie). While mushroom cream ordered by my friend, Mi, (PLN 12) was very aromatic but apparently the cook had been slightly too liberal with salt...

After the starters and soups, we were full up and quite content with our visit so far because, except for the salty mushroom soup, everything was very good. Unfortunately, from that moment everything went downhill.

First of all the snails. Because neither of us was very hungry, we decided to share one portion of snails, just to try how they taste. We thought we had clearly explained our wish to the waitress so we were astonished to see her bring two big plates of snails – one for each of us (PLN 28 each). When we politely pointed out the mistake, the waitress snapped that she had read our order back to us and that we should eat the two portions without any problem. After such a retort, we decided to end the discussion to avoid further unpleasantness.

The snails were served on a nice, decorative plate but it's the only positive thing I can say about them. They were literally swimming in fat which, according to the waitress, was garlic butter with herbs but to me it tasted more like ordinary oil. So I have no idea how the snails themselves tasted because the oily flavour and texture killed all other sensations.  

Secondly, the service. For the first part of our meal (before the snails), the waitress was very nice but than she started behaving in a peculiar way, for example looking at my plate and making remarks whether I had eaten everything from my plate or not. I think there's a fine line between directness and incivility and the waitress was close to crossing it.

So all in all, I have mixed feelings about Zakładka. On the one hand, a charming interior, big portions and delicious onion soup, but on the other – impolite service and snails soaked in fat. And what would you think about such a restaurant?

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Address: Józefińska 2, Kraków (Podgórze)

Website: http://zakladkabistro.pl/

FILM AMÉLIE – HOW FOOD CONNECTS KIND PEOPLE

Welcome to the first part of my new series: food in art and literature. I'd like to start with "Amélie" – my favourite film about love, loneliness and, of course, food.

I'm sure you all remember the famous food scenes, such as Amélie's delight in cracking crème brûlée or the way she ate raspberries off her fingertips. Actually, the topic is so vast that one could write a whole book about food and drink in this film. But this time I've decided to focus only on how food helps the characters (especially the nice ones) connect with others, proving that Julia Child was right – "People who love to eat are always the best people".

Eating in France is a form of a social ritual. Friends and families gather around the table, munching at French delicacies, sipping wine and enjoying each other's company for hours on end. This social function is visible in the film in the café where Amélie works as a waitress. In Des 2 Moulins café on Montmartre in Paris, patrons drink kir (white wine with crème de cassis, or blackcurrant liqueur) and mauresque (anise–flavored liqueur called pastis mixed with almond syrup) and have long discussions about love, life, and latest gossip.

In stark contrast to this lively place, there is a melancholic scene of Amélie cooking pasta only for herself. She looks out of the window and notices her neighbour, 'The Glass Man', who also has dinner in absolute solitude. Fortunately, after a while the two become friends and spend time together eating speculoos (Dutch ginger biscuits) dipped in mulled wine. (By the way, it seems to be a peculiar choice of snacks for a hot summer, don't you think? ;))

The Glass Man also connects people over a meal in another, more metaphorical way – each year he paints a copy of Renoir's “Luncheon of the Boating Party” and every time he paints different dishes on the table. “They look quite happy there”, says Amélie. “They should be”, he replies. “This year they had hare with morels. And waffles with jam for the children”. :)

Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir, 1880-1881, source: wikipedia  

Love for food also helps some of the characters win over new friends, especially in the case of a mentally challenged Lucien. Working for the greengrocer, Lucien treats every fruit and vegetable like a precious treasure that should be handled with respect and gentleness. Amélie, who herself appreciates small pleasures, such as plunging her hand deep into a sack of grain, understands his childlike need to take delight in everyday life. That's why there's a thread of understanding between these two characters, both of whom dislike Lucien's surly, philistine boss, Mr. Collignon.

Similar joie de vivre (and joie de manger) characterizes Dominique Bretodeau, a man who used to live in the same house as Amélie. Every week Bretodeau buys a fresh chicken at the market, roasts it and savours the most delicate pieces of meat. However since the split with his daughter many years ago, this weekly ritual serves as a painful reminder of his loneliness. But thanks to Amélie's intervention, he decides to reconcile with his daughter and towards the end of the film we can see a heart-warming family reunion: Dominique carves a roasted chicken but this time he doesn't eat the best morsels himself – he gives them to his little grandson. Once again food becomes a means of showing love and affection.

And the most moving scene in the whole film is the baking scene. At the end of the film, Amélie makes her famous plum cake (identified by some bloggers as kouign-amann), fantasizing that she prepares it for her sweetheart, Nino. When she notices that she's run out of yeast, she imagines Nino running to the shop downstairs, buying yeast and quietly coming back home to surprise her. When she realizes that it is a cat, not Nino, who has actually entered the kitchen, she bursts into tears. However in some magical way the cake baking really brings Nino to Amélie's apartment and the whole story has a happy ending. I only wonder if Amélie and Nino have finally managed to bake and eat the plum cake? ;)

Amélie (French: Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain), directed by Jean–Pierre Jeunet, France 2001.

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PS. Tomorrow I will post a review of a French restaurant Zakładka, whose interior seems to be inspired by "Amélie". :)

ZAZIE BISTRO – THE MAGIC OF FRENCH FOOD

Zazie, a French bistro in Cracow's Jewish quarter, Kazimierz, was on many occasions recommended to me by my three friends, incidentally, all of whom are called Michał. Now I wonder if Zazie is some kind of a secret meeting place for Michałs who like French cuisine. ;)

After all their praises, I expected something amazing so I was a little disappointed to find the interior so... ordinary. Even though one of the walls is covered with a large black and white photo of the Eiffel Tower and there is also a cast-iron lamppost bringing to mind Narnia, the whole interior didn't make a striking impression on me and the metal chairs turned out to be extremely uncomfortable. Luckily, friendly waitresses and delicious food compensated for all the shortcomings in aesthetics and comfort.

When I saw a long menu, I didn't know what to choose. I was especially tempted by escargot à la Bourguignonne (snails) but decided to try it next time. Finally, I ordered delicate foie gras with a sweet potato pancake and kohlrabi with port wine (PLN 22). I was slightly apprehensive about this dish but this unusual combination of the ingredients proved to be exceptionally tasty. I think that only a very talented (and brave) chef could have successfully carried out such a culinary experiment. Chapeau bas! :)

 I usually can't resists French onion soup if I spot it in a menu and this time was no exception. The onion soup in Zazie (PLN 9) was quite tasty, even though it was a far cry from the one I ate in La Taverne de l'Arbre Sec in Paris. Nevertheless, it was one of the best onion soups in Kraków.

My friend Gosia ordered very nice Alsatian quiche with bacon, brie, apple, and red onion (PLN 11 / a piece). For dessert we had a pear cooked in white wine served with almond sauce (PLN 11). The sauce was delicious but the pear itself was so sweet and overcooked that it was almost tasteless, which is a pity because the dish has great potential.

The interior is so neutral and the food so delicious that Zazie seems to be a perfect venue for practically every occasion: from a family dinner with kids and the dog, to a meeting with friends, to a romantic date. However, you should book a table in advance because the restaurant is often fully booked – which, taking into account their excellent French food, comes as no surprise. :)

Address: Józefa 34, Kraków (Kazimierz)

Website: www.zaziebistro.pl

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PS. And for dessert a French singer Zaz, whose name alwaysreminds me of Zazie. :)