The gastronomic range of Krakow will delight even the most sophisticated gourmets. Here is our list of the best restaurants in the former Polish capital. In the area of gastronomy, Krakow lags slightly behind the dynamic Warsaw, but, nevertheless, it is the second gastronomic center in Poland, where a large number of interesting places are collected.
Ed red
A steakhouse that recently opened near the Market Square specializes in meat dishes, especially steaks made from the meat of a special breed of cows that are bred in Poland in natural conditions. Ed Red’s chef is Adam Chrzęstowski, one of the most famous Polish chefs. In the restaurant you can taste not only dry-aged steaks with classic French sauces (for example, demi-glace). You can also order delicious offal dishes (which are becoming more and more popular in Poland) with grilled croutons: veal goiter, tongues, liver, cerebellum, and even bovine eggs and beef heart. Be sure to sample the Polish farm cheeses that are always on the menu.
Zazie bistro
One of the most famous restaurants in the city – among city residents and tourists. There are always a lot of people here, so it’s best to book a table in advance. The restaurant is located in the Jewish district of Kazimierz. Its interior is similar to a French bistro, and the establishment itself specializes in cuisine with a French accent. For several years, the restaurant’s hits have been veal goiter served with ricotta, duck liver, yolk and fried pistachios, or Parisian liver pâté with prunes soaked in Armagnac.
Pod nosem
This two-level restaurant is located on the most beautiful and oldest street in Krakow – Kanonicz, right under the walls of the Wawel. This is the right place to end your walking tour of old Krakow. The menu features mostly Polish cuisine with a modern twist. The unusual interior is decorated with tapestries. Przemyslav Bilsky, the restaurant’s chef, studied and worked in London. The seasonal menu will delight visitors with asparagus soup, dumplings with duck and slices of farm cheese, goose breast marinated in Wieliczka salt and raspberries, or veal with young cabbage and smoked potatoes. The restaurant also serves delicious caviar from the Polish Antonius Caviar.
Copernicus
The restaurant is located in the Renaissance building of the hotel called Copernicus on Kanonicza Street. The restaurant offers lunch and tasting menus. We recommend trying salmon steak in pickled onions, lamb giblets with shrimps and garlic, parsley cream soup with veal goiter, Polish lamb with Jerusalem artichoke and fried artichokes, or cod with barley porridge and Polish mushroom salad. In summer, the roof of the restaurant turns into an observation deck from which you can enjoy the view of old Krakow.
Trzy Rybki
The elegant Trzy Rybki restaurant is located in the open space of the Stary Hotel. The menu depends on the season. Spring and summer are the time for fresh vegetables, asparagus and artichokes, so order goat cheese dumplings, artichokes and truffles. The autumn menu is dominated by game, mushrooms and forest plants. After a hearty lunch, it is worth taking the elevator to the roof, there is a terrace from which you can admire the Krakow Market Square, the towers of St. Mary’s Church and Sukiennice.
Bottigliera 1881
Bottigliera 1881, located in Kazimierz in Krakow, was included in the Michelin guide for the first time in 2016. The institution is considered a “wine cellar”: it offers over 400 types of wines, selected by sommelier Michal Jancik. The chef, Pavel Krasus, has worked in Poland and abroad. The menu depends on the season. A variation on the theme of bouillabaisse soup is served here with bok choy cabbage, onions and shrimps. There are also interpretations of Polish dishes: for example, knuckle with horseradish, dill and mushrooms or pike perch with parsley, crayfish and young vegetables, as well as lamb with millet and beets. Of course, you should use the advice of the sommelier to make the dishes seem even more appetizing.
Biała Róża
The Biała Róża restaurant is located in the historic palace complex on Planty, near the Market Square and Wawel. Chef Lukasz Tihiy, when preparing his dishes, looks for inspiration in the old Malopolska cuisine, where Jewish, Hungarian, Austrian and Ukrainian motives were intertwined a hundred years ago. In modern processing, you can try, for example, lamb sausage with rhubarb, wild elderberry and juniper, homemade chicken with Krakow buckwheat soufflé, leek and ginger puree, and Polish farm cheeses. For appetizers, you should try lamb with sorrel, sea buckthorn and spinach, or Baltic herring with onions, new potatoes and yogurt.
Miodova
The Miodova restaurant is located in Kazimierz, and its chef, Mateusz Turaj, previously worked at the Ancora restaurant in Krakow under the direction of Adam Chrzenszowski. In preparing the dishes, the chef drew inspiration from Maria Grushicka’s Illustrated Krakow Cookbook, as well as Jewish and Austro-Hungarian cuisine. The menu includes dishes such as baked goose stomachs with tomatoes and rosemary, matjas herring with lightly salted cucumber wrapped in a spiced pancake, or modern dumplings, such as lamb aspic and Emilgrana cheese. For these dishes, it is best to order wine from Central or Eastern Europe, including from the Srebrna Góra area, which is located near Krakow.
Studio qulinarne
Studio qulinarne is one of the most beautiful restaurants in the Kazimierz district of Krakow, with a picturesque summer terrace. It is housed in a post-industrial renovated building that once housed an old tram depot. The restaurant’s interior is sophisticated and modern. The dishes from the menu of chef Oskar Zasun, a fan of modernist cuisine, combine Polish and foreign elements. The summer menu includes lamb tartare with mint, shimiji mushrooms and greenfoot yolk (Carpathian breed of chickens), as well as, for example, a veal trio with carrot and asparagus puree.
Pod baranem
Pod Baranem has been successfully operating for many years. The restaurant located near the Wawel is famous for its Polish cuisine with an author’s accent. The interior is designed specifically – on the one hand, you can feel the spirit of the era of the People’s Republic of Poland, and on the other, a bourgeois house. In addition, the spirit of art reigns on the walls with paintings, for example, by Edward Dvurnik. The owner and chef Jan Baran defines his cuisine as a family kitchen. In addition to traditional Polish dishes, such as magnificent cabbage rolls (cooked with cereals, in an amazing mushroom sauce), the must-have list includes games, pies, and fish from our own smokehouse. They say there is no better place to feel the atmosphere of a bygone era, and from the best side.
