The Other Krakow Eats
Besides the culinary highlights of the Pierogi Festival and Restauracja Stylowa in Nowa Huta, I had a couple other eating adventures in Krakow.
The first was Polakowski, a simple restaurant where you order at the counter, they announce your order for you to pick up, and you bus your own plates and silverware.
I had gołąbki, stuffed cabbage rolls with mushroom sauce added. These were a bit flat tasting (like they were flavored with bouillon), and the cabbage had lost all its bite, but it was still tasty. I also got an order of naleśniki, or pancakes, with spinach. I wanted the cottage cheese ones, but they were sold out. I didn't expect these to be deep fried like chimichangas, and were rather heavy as a result. I also didn't expect the portions to be so large! They were each about the equivalent of US$3. I could only eat one cabbage roll and one spinach pancake. Thankfully, the restaurant has take-out containers which you can buy for 1 PLN, or about $0.30.
Since it was my last day in Krakow, I wanted to stop by another "must eat" according to my free city guide. It was zapiekanki, specifically from Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, the old Jewish ghetto. Apparently this place is bustling at night when people want something cheap, greasy, and starchy during a night of drinking. This round, brick structure in the middle of the square has about a dozen windows from which you can order a zapiekanki.
Zapiekanki is basically like french bread pizza, and they bake it to order with your choice of topping.
I got mine with chicken and tomatoes. There's cheese like a pizza, but under the cheese was this tapenade-like spread. I'm not sure what was in it. This was also huge, and I could only eat half of it! Very tasty, with a crispy crust and buttery flavor. I took the other half back to the hotel, which thankfully has mini-fridges in the rooms as well as a "microwave room" (more to come on that in the next post).
