warsaw, poland

Food and beer walking tour

Today I went on a walking tour of Warsaw's beer and food neighborhoods. 

My first stop was at Bambino's Eatery in the center of town. Bambino's Eatery is one of the last known restaurants that uses communist rules to serve food. Everyone has to stand in line to order their meals at an open window. Once their number is called, the customer picks up their food. When the dish is consumed, the customer buses their own table. This may sound like a cafeteria style way of eating, but it is the normal way for communist countries to serve food. And, Warsaw being a former communist run city, the tradition still lives on at Bambino's. 

I enjoyed an old Polish tradition, beet soup. It was quite sweet with a bit of a salty aftertaste. 

Bambino's Eatery menu

My next stop on the tour was Dzik Malina Restauracja i Sklep Wiejski. This restaurant is a traditonal Polish eatery with charm. I enjoyed cold polish sausage and Polish dumplings. 

Dzik Malina Restauracja i Sklep Wiejski eatery

The third stop was at another traditional Polish eatery called Zapiexy Luxusowe. Here, the eatery is known for its cheese toast with different varieties of meats, veggies and cheeses. I had the most popular toast with Polish cheese and mushrooms. To wash it down, I had a soda that was created pre-WWll. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of it.

Zapiexy Luxusowe

Our fourth stop was a bar off the mains trip in Warsaw. There we all took a shot of Polish vodka with a chaser of Polish pickles. What a weird combination!

The fifth stop was at a famous donut shop in old town, Cukiernia Pawlowicz. I enjoyed a Polish donut with rose jam in the center. The rose jam literally tasted like eating a rose petal! 

Cukiernia Pawlowicz donut shop

The last stop on the tour was a bar called, Beer Heaven, with more than 200 different kinds of beers on tap. We tried five different kinds of beer. These five will be up on the beer review page in the near future. 

Beer Heaven

Overall, the tour was insightful. It's highly recommended when in Warsaw. 

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5-star restaurant with two friends

While on my tour, I met a Australian girl who was also a solo travel blogger. We hung out the rest of the night with one of my friends from Hong Kong. We both met up with Hubert at one of his favorite restaurants in the city, U Kucharzy w Arsenale. Here, we all had a 4-course meal with wine, beer and veal tartar. I had never tried veal tartar before. What a delicious appetizer. Or other dishes consisted of salmon spread with bread, pickled herring, veal neck in cream sauce with sage, spatzle and pickled carrots. All in all, we had 7-8 dishes of food... I was considerably full.

The three main courses, pork with mashed potatoes, red beets and potato dumplings with veal neck. 

The veal tartar being finely chopped up in front of us. 

Every dish is freshly prepared in front of all the guests.

Wakeboarding

After a wonderful meal the night before, Hubert had another surprise up his sleeve. All three of us went to a wake boarding spot in the middle of a farming community in Warsaw. Here customers could sit alongside a man-made beach with cabanas, beds, beach chairs, a bar, pool tables and a wake boarding area. I, unfortunately, didn't get a chance to try the wake boarding due to a long line and Hubert having to leave for work. I did, however, enjoy a beer while sitting in the sand under the sun. 

Overall, my two days in Warsaw were delightful. I enjoyed getting to see my friend Hubert after three years. As for the city, I prefer Krakow over Warsaw due to the preserved culture that still exists in Krakow. Warsaw was completely demolished during WWll, which makes 99% of the buildings post-war. There are plenty of things to do in Warsaw. It's a pretty inexpensive city. But, if I had to pick between the two cities, I'd go with Krakow.