Priorities

The food that I experienced in Krakow gets its own blog entry :) I know. I have a problem. I'm not working to change that, so you'll just have to support me.


These are chocolate concoctions that I saw in a pastry shop. Who wouldn't want to eat a hedgehog made out of sugar? I appreciate the craftsmanship and creativity. It kind of reminds me of the show "Ace of Cakes". The weird thing is being able to see my reflection in the picture.

A delicious apple pie that I had in the Jewish Quarter. The presentation was interesting because it looked like more of a streudel. The whipped cream was definitely house-made as well, complimenting the pie with an almost bitter taste. The powdered sugar/cinnamon sprinkling was also a bonus. Of course, it's nothing like Grammy's pie made from the apples in the front yard, but they get points for interpreting an American classic.
The next 2 FANTASTIC dishes came out of a place that Najda and I randomly found in the basement of a building while we were strolling through the centre. I think it was called Pod Kominkiem, but I'm not sure. The restaurant was an experience in itself. First we had to find it. Then, we wondered if we were even in the right place. It was a mix between dive bar/family style restaurant with minimal decorations and long picnic tables with dim lighting. I had faith though.

After sitting down and ordering a round of beers, we start to look at the menu. After a couple of minutes, a guy comes around the corner to ask us about our drink order. Once we had confirmed our selections, he proceeded to tell us that if we wanted anything from the kitchen, the wait would be about an hour because he was backed up. Apparently the guy was pulling double duty as bartender-chef. From experience I know this is NEVER a good idea, but the service industry here is nothing like the US, so they're decision making skills are excusable. I was impressed however, that he actually told us about the back up, and was extremely apologetic about the whole thing. We didn't feel the need to go anywhere else because the food looked incredible and was decently priced, so we told him we could wait as long as the beers flowed at a good pace. We told him to take his time.
I think he really appreciated our gesture of patience, because he came back a couple of minutes later to take our orders. A portion of our group of 9 had gone to go get kebabs, so there were 5 of us left who were in for some serious eating. I ordered the dish above, which was dubbed "The Highlander". The dish below was a part of Dom's meal, and it was sweet pirohies with sugar and cream. Nadja and Vaida had pirohies filled with jam, and I couldn't get a picture because they were so tasty, they ate them before I could get my camera out!

The best part? The food only took about 30 minutes to get out! It definitely pays to be courteous to the restaurant staff. When he came back to check on us, we could barely contain ourselves on how good the food was. Very traditional, obviously made with care, and incredibly satisfying. Worth the wait, no matter what. Definitely good prices as well. I think my whole meal cost under $20 including drinks.

In retrospect I wish I would have written more things down so that I could remember the names of places and whatnot. If I go to Krakow again, I'll certainly remember WHERE they were...

We also had INDIAN FOOD on the first night at a place called Indus Tandoor, which totally made my entire life that much more bearable. I had been lacking serious ethnic food experiences. It was AMAZING...at least I thought so after my deprivation. I had a vegetable tandoori with naan. It came out almost fajita style. DELISH. Just the right amount of heat, and a great combination of flavors. I also tried Sherisse's Chicken Tikka. The sauce was so creamy, it was all I could do not to steal her pot. I also got to drink some traditional Chai. It's much less sweet than the Chai that you get in coffee houses in the US, but you can really taste the ginger.