Before my trip to Gdansk I only had a vague idea of Polish food in my mind: potatoes, sauerkraut and pork. But after a few evenings dining in Gdansk this idea had changed.
As Gdansk is on the coast they serve a lot of fish in the city, and not even meat dishes were heavy as I had thought.
I always want to taste local dishes, that’s what you want when you travel. Here are some top picks of the restaurants in Gdansk.
In cooperation with: Polish Tourist Organisation
So here is a small collection for you, places for dining in Gdansk Old Town:
Pod Lososiem Restaurant
Dining in Gdansk Old Town: the pink facade of Pod Lososiem
The Pod Lososiem Restaurant in the Old Town (ul Szeroka 52-54) is one of the oldest restaurants in Gdansk and has hundreds of years of history. Today this famed restaurant is run by the third generation of one and the same family. The hosting family came and told us about the history and also showed us the interiors:
Presidents and Politicians
This is the place in Gdansk where visiting politicians, presidents and other celebrities dine, among former guests are George Bush, Francois Mitterrand, Angela Merkel, Princess Anne, Margaret Thatcher, the Pope – and of course Lech Walesa who is from Gdansk.
We dined at Pod Lososiem on our second night in Gdansk. At the same time there was a very important occasion taking place, a memorial dinner of the Polish president (from Gdansk) that dramatically died in a plane crash exactly five years earlier, together with more than 90 people.
Salmon and Goldwasser
Pod Lososiem means The Salmon. To start with I took a plate of salmon specialties. For the main dish I just had to try their specialty, the Three presidents’ beef sirloin that was served to George Bush, Richard von Weizsäcker and Lech Walesa in 1997.
The beef was enormous, 300 g, and they were happy to serve me only a half portion of it. Everything was very tasty here, the starter, the main dish, the red wine and the dessert. You will be happy after dining in this place.
We also tasted the original Goldwasser Vodka with gold flakes Pod Lososiem is famous for. The old recipe combines over 20 herbs and roots. We thought it tasted anise and maybe a bit orange, and if you like 40 % alcohol you will surely enjoy the flavor of Goldwasser. For me the flavor was too strong.
As you can guess, dining at Pod Lososiem can get a bit expensive, of course depending on which country you come from.
Then, let’s step into a Kashubian restaurant:
Velevetka
Dining in Gdansk: Restaurant Velevetka
Another top restaurant in Gdansk is Velevetka. It’s a Kashubian restaurant right in the heart of the old town, opposite the town hall and the Neptune statue. The restaurant is down in the cellar and very small, you almost feel like being invited into a private home. The decoration against the white walls is all Kashubian themed. Simple and stylish.
Velevetka has local Kashubian specialties on the menu, Kashubia is a region west of Gdansk. To start with we took a potato cake filled with smoked bacon and Kashubian fish soup with mussels. The potato cake portion looked so pretty I had to wait before starting to destroy it.
Most guests seemed to take a main dish that was served in a loaf of bread, so that’s what we did too. I took goulash with buckwheat in wholemeal bread (the one on the right below). It tasted like traditional food, not spicy at all, but there was far too much to eat for me.
The one on the left is pork chop with sauerkraut and roasted potatoes, also in a loaf of bread.
We really enjoyed the traditional regional dinner of Velevetka, Krakow and the super cosy atmosphere of the restaurant. Velevetka is both cheap and homey, a must experience in Krakow.
The third restaurant I will show you is Kokieteria, a hotel restaurant:
Kokieteria
River view from the Hanza Hotel restaurant Kokieteria
One of the nights we dined in our hotel restaurant. We stayed at Hanza Hotel on the Motlawa river and Restaurant Kokieteria was in the same hotel. The interior style is modern, clean and international, and in the summer you can also choose to sit outside on the terrace and watch the waterfront and the old grain houses on the other side of the river.
Kokieteria is said to serve regional Pomeranian food so we tried to pick local specialties. The food was very fresh. To start with I took Baltic herring with apple horseradish mousse. Good and not too salty!
For the main dish we took goose breast and duck leg, I took house wine and Clas beer, according to our preferences. My duck leg with millet, horse radish and parsley paste was again fresh and good! And goat cheese with chocolate and buttermilk as dessert was not a bad idea either. Very nice!
Then, some more restaurants, not in the old town of Gdansk, but a bit outside:
Restaurants outside of Gdansk
Delmonico Cut Steakhouse and Palac Ciekocinko
Our other Poland blog posts contain two more restaurants in the Gdansk region, the Delmonico Cut Steakhouse in Sopot and the restaurant of Palac Ciekocinko in the region of Kashubia. Here are the links for information on these two restaurants:
Our trip to Gdansk was made in cooperation with the Polish Tourism Board, but like always all opinions shared in our blog posts are our own.