Stradomska 12 Krakow - Modern Polish Food With A Michelin Seal Of Approval

Anthea Gerrie Enjoys Polish Favourites With A Modern Twist At Michelin-Rated Stradomska 12 Krakow.

There can’t be many restaurants in the Michelin guide which offer fermented cabbage juice as first of a flight of homegrown drinks presented with national pride as part of a tasting menu. But Stradomska 12 clearly wowed the culinary inspectors making their first nationwide picks for Poland, putting this innovative restaurant firmly on the Krakow dining map, so it was a recommendation to be trusted.

To be fair to a sommelier used to international guests at a restaurant within a five-star hotel, he did offer a glass of the Polish sparkling wine currently winning international accolades as an alternative accompaniment to our trout butter with caviar. But the sauerkraut juice seemed more in keeping with a room designed to evoke memories of grandma’s dining room rather than grand hotel with its simply-dressed tables, lamps throwing gentle light from panelled walls and floral-patterned ceiling.

Named for its address, Stradomska 12 is a pleasingly intimate space a 10-minute stroll from Krakow’s Old Town. It fields just a few tables – its home, the elegant Stradom Hotel, also has an Italian restaurant and a cocktail bar to sate guests’ appetites – and an open kitchen at one end in which head chef Robert Panek creates his own take on traditional dishes.

The crusty potato roll with which that trout caviar was served was likely a staple he grew up with, although the trout-butter emulsion presented to spread it on was clearly a contemporary Invention. As for what to wash it down with, Poles consume fermented food and juices because they’re good for the gut and a perfect antidote to the rich fatty, often both fishy and fatty, dishes they crave; it’s to be hoped this prettily pink trout butter dotted with pearls of orange roe which explode deliciously on the palate becomes a fixture on the changing menu.

The cold beetroot soup which followed was based on the national summer dish of Lithuania, of which Krakow was once the capital during the years Poland and Lithuania stood as one united kingdom. More elegantly served than in Vilnius, where a quarter of a hard-boiled egg is chucked into every bowl, here it came as a golden garnish of grated yolk, with horseradish adding piquancy, dots of dill oil bringing its own gorgeously green contrast to the raspberry pink of the world’s most beautiful soup. A taste of Polish mead was the perfect partner – not sticky with sucrose like an English monk’s-made mead as we feared when it was proposed, but strong and only subtly sweet.

Chef Panek wanted to serve us lamb rack for a main, the priciest dish on a surprisingly affordable menu at the equivalent of £23, but although the dressing of local bryndza cheese, nuts and blackcurrants sounded interesting, we preferred to taste a cut not readily available in the UK, opting for slow-cooked belly of wild boar (about £17), its succulence tempered by a sauce based on apple cider vinegar. Actually, less succulently fatty than pork belly, but robust and full of flavour, with lightly pickled vegetables providing a perfect foil.

With this we got to taste the newish varietal making waves in the East European wine world, cabernet cortis which grows well in a warming Poland known more for its cool-climate white wines. Not surprising that our Winnica Moderna example from Lower Silesia, one of the country’s warmest corners, had notes of the beetroot its ruby-red resembled as well as enough weight to stand up to the boar.

This being the land of plums, we had nothing but high expectations of the Polish sloe liqueur which accompanied a delightfully deconstructed cheesecake, completing an excellent-value flight of paired Polish drinks for around £28 including the glass of bubbly we passed on.

The country’s food is universally excellent – now that Michelin has discovered Poland, it’s no surprise they’ve found nearly 200 restaurants worthy of inclusion in their red guide – and local winemakers are producing homegrown vintages to write home about, thanks to a greater abundance of sunshine. But don’t dismiss the pickle juice, the deliciously briny aperitif we’re still remembering; to assuage any doubt, this would be the place to order a shot of local vodka to add to it to make the world’s most delicious dirty martini!