Białystok eats well, with a regional cuisine shaped by Polish, Lithuanian, Belarusian, Tatar and Jewish influences. The local specialty is kartacze — large potato dumplings stuffed with seasoned minced meat, sometimes called cepeliny. Hearty and filling, found at every regional restaurant. Other Podlasie staples: babka ziemniaczana (a baked potato cake), kiszka ziemniaczana (a potato sausage), and the rye-beer soup kwas chlebowy.
Tatar villages east of the city contribute pierekaczewnik — a multi-layered baked savoury pastry with meat or cheese — which appears on better menus and at specialist places like Carska in Białowieża. For Jewish food, look for bagieliki (the local bagel, baked from the same dough that produced the cousin known as the New York bagel — Białystok was the original "bialy" town) at one or two surviving bakeries.
The strip along Lipowa and Sienkiewicza streets has the densest concentration of restaurants and cafés. Esperanto and Restauracja Branicki are reliable regional choices; Kawiarnia Wszystko Gra is a good central café for breakfast.