Polish food is hearty, meat-heavy, and genuinely delicious. It draws on Slavic traditions with influences from Jewish, German, and Ukrainian cooking. In the cities, a modern restaurant scene has developed alongside the traditional. Poland is also good value — a proper meal with drinks costs far less than its Western European equivalent.
What to Eat
Pierogi are the national dish you'll encounter everywhere: dumplings filled with potato and cheese (ruskie), meat, sauerkraut and mushroom, or fruit. The best are made by hand. Look for restaurants that make them fresh rather than from frozen.
Bigos (hunter's stew) is a slow-cooked mix of sauerkraut, cabbage, smoked meats, and mushrooms, traditionally made in large batches and improved over days. Rich and deeply savoury. Most common in autumn and winter.
Żurek is a sour rye soup, often served in a bread bowl, with hard-boiled egg and sausage. One of the better soups in European cuisine.
Kielbasa — smoked sausage — appears everywhere: on its own, in soups, at street stalls. Quality varies enormously; the good stuff is extraordinary.
Oscypek is a smoked sheep's milk cheese from the Tatra mountain region, grilled and served with cranberry jam. Buy it from the vendors in Zakopane or at Krakow's market.
Gołąbki — cabbage rolls stuffed with minced meat and rice, cooked in tomato sauce — are traditional home cooking, the sort of thing Polish grandmothers make.
Drinking
Vodka is the national spirit and Poland produces some of the best in the world. Żubrówka (bison grass vodka) and Wyborowa are widely available. Traditional vodka culture involves small shots, often chilled, sometimes with a pickle or bread as a chaser. In Krakow, vodka tasting bars in Kazimierz are a legitimate tourism experience.
Beer has grown enormously — Polish craft beer is now genuinely excellent. Brands like Pinta, AleBrowar, and Browar Artezan produce well-regarded beers. Żywiec and Tyskie are the mainstream lagers.
Kompot — a sweet fruit drink — is the traditional non-alcoholic choice with meals in more traditional restaurants.
Where to Eat
Polish milk bars (bar mleczny) are subsidised self-service canteens that date from the communist era. Several survive in major cities and serve traditional food — pierogi, soups, bigos — at extremely low prices. They're basic and no-frills, but the food is often excellent and authentically Polish. Recommended: Bar Mleczny pod Barbakan in Krakow, Bar Bambino in Warsaw.
In Krakow's Kazimierz and Warsaw's Praga district, the restaurant scene has become internationally competitive, with good Polish-modern cooking alongside international cuisines. Krakow in particular has more good restaurants per square kilometre than most cities its size.
Restaurants in Poland typically open for lunch around noon and serve dinner until 21:00 or 22:00. Booking ahead is advisable at popular places, especially on weekends in Krakow.