This
weekend my American friend came to visit me in Kraków and I was
faced with a culinary puzzle. Where can I find a restaurant serving
dishes which are gluten-free (Kathryn is gluten-intolerant),
vegetarian (we both don't eat meat) and, most importantly, tasty? I found
the solution to this riddle on the Internet (e.g. here and
here) and below you can read an account of our culinary
adventures.
POD
BARANEM – GLUTEN-FREE PIEROGI
Almost
every foreigner visiting Poland wants to try our famous pierogi
(Polish dumplings) but where can I find pierogi which are
gluten-free? Apparently, in a restaurant near the Wawel Castle called Pod
Baranem, which has probably the widest array of gluten-free dishes in
Kraków. Our pierogi ruskie (Russian-style dumplings with cottage
cheese and potato filling, PLN 24) and pierogi with cabbage and
mushrooms (PLN 25) were delicious – covered in melted butter with
fried onion and full of yummy filling. The effect was spoiled by
dough which was slightly too thick but Kathryn explained that it
could have been the fault of the gluten-free flour. All in all, we
left the restaurant full and happy.
Address:
Pod Baranem, św. Gertrudy 21, Kraków (Old Town)
Website: podbaranem.com
SHAKE & BAKE – GLUTEN-FREE
CAKES AND SMOOTHIES
The
following day, we had breakfast in Shake & Bake cafe close to the
Bagatela Theatre, which serves gluten-free pastries and shakes.
Savoury muffins (with cheese and olives) were very nice but
unfortunately they were sprinkled with huge salt crystals turning the
muffins into a salt mine. Luckily, brownie with peanut butter was very nice and almost salt-free. In the cafe, we were accompanied by two pink dwarfs and a
cute pink deer. :)
Address:
Shake & Bake, ul. Dunajewskiego 2, Kraków (Old Town)
Website: shakeandbake.pl
CAFE MŁYNEK – VEGETARIAN
AND GLUTEN-FREE
We had a hard time choosing our food in a vegetarian restaurant Cafe Młynek because all gluten-free
dishes and desserts seemed really nice. Finally, we followed advice
from a friendly waitress and ordered crunchy potato pancakes and
spicy pasta with vegetables and hot pepper. The servings were so big
that we didn't have any space for dessert. But after lunch we stayed
in the restaurant's beer garden to sip coffee with cardamom and
hot ginger lemonade and admire the view of the quaint Wolnica Square.
Address:
Cafe Młynek, Plac Wolnica 7, Kraków (Kazimierz)
Website: cafemlynek.com
CAFES
Fortunately,
most of the drinks are naturally gluten-free so we
could safely venture into my favourite cafes: Mleczarnia in
Kazimierz (you can read more about it here) and Forum Przestrzenie near the Vistula River (it serves really nice coffee
and home-made lemonade). We spent the evening in Domówka Cafe,
sipping cider and playing a funny board game about shopping in the communist era called “Kolejka” (which means “queue” in Polish). On
the whole, I think Kathryn's stay in Kraków was a great success,
both from the social and culinary point of view. :)
OTHER
GLUTEN-FREE PLACES
Here
are a few other gluten-free restaurants and cake shops which were also on
our list but we didn't have enough time to visit them.
WieloPole3
(read more here) – restaurant with unusual vegetarian, vegan
and gluten-free dishes Wielopole 3 (Old Town)
La
Manzana – gluten-free Mexican restaurant, Miodowa 11
(Kazimierz)
Red
– gluten-free cake shop, Smoluchowskiego 7 (Bronowice)
NovaKrova – gluten-free began burgers, Plac Wolnica 12 (Kazimierz)
PS.
All photos in this post courtesy of Kathryn.
