Wierzynek claims to be the oldest restaurant in Poland, tracing its history to a 1364 banquet hosted by the merchant Mikołaj Wierzynek for King Casimir III and a gathering of European monarchs. Whether or not the current restaurant on the same site has genuine continuity with that medieval feast is a matter for historians, but the building is genuinely old and the claim has been respectable enough to draw generations of heads of state, including Charles de Gaulle, Fidel Castro, and numerous popes on their way to visit Krakow.
The restaurant occupies several rooms of a 14th-century townhouse on the Main Market Square, and the combination of Gothic vaulted ceilings, period paintings, and formal service makes for an experience that is deliberately theatrical. The menu is Polish with French classical influences — duck, game, carp prepared in traditional ways, and a wine list that takes its responsibilities seriously. It is expensive by Polish standards but quite affordable by international comparison. Book in advance; the market-square tables are particularly popular in summer.