WHEN I visited Warsaw for an opera festi- val ten
years ago there was plenty of opera, but precious little of anything else. The streets were empty, almost bereft of private cars, food shop windows were devoid of anything beyond the barest essentials, and `luxuries' such as instant coffee and tights could only be bought in 'hard currency' stores. Restaurants were cheap because the Western visitor paid in US dollars, grateful- ly accepted at the black-market rate, but most things on the menu were 'unavail- able', and what was on offer was no joy to eat. Today, however, the streets are a per- petual jam of Mercedes and BMWs, and are adorned with luxury shops, hair salons, wine bars and delicatessens, with hotels and restaurants in abundance offering tempting and sophisticated menus at comparatively reasonable zloty prices.
I dined at the Hotel Bristol (tel. 48 22 625 25 25), which is owned by Forte, and ate my best hotel meal since the Carlton, Cannes' Belle Otero restaurant last November, and which cost just £107 for two. The Bristol has been beautifully restored, and its intimate Malinowa restau- rant is tastefully furnished and lit. The head chef, Frenchman Bernard Lussiana, wisely has allowed himself to be influenced by Polish flavours, and we were impeccably served by the chief sommelier Piotr Kamec- Id, who also shrewdly steered us towards an excellent 1994 Bandol rouge as the ideal wine for late supper.
An amuse-gueule of tasty chicken shash- lik flavoured with ginger arrived before our selected first courses, for which Russian student of English law Zarina Korolova had chosen a beetroot jelly accompanying fillets of grilled grey mullet, and I buck- wheat waffles sandwiching a magnificent mousse of smoked fish, an exquisite salad of green leaves and wild mushrooms beside it. The mullet was as fresh as could be, the beetroot jelly wonderfully intense, and the fish mousse between the waffles tasted of sturgeon. Next Zarina ate a thick, pan-fried a point, fillet of sea trout flavoured with lemon thyme, which was superb, and I chose a rack of braised suckling pig, bril- liantly flavoured with Polish zubrowka (bison grass), coriander and basil, and served with wild mushrooms and a pastry envelope containing apple, pear and red pepper: sublime. While we awaited our passion fruit soufflé the chef sent out some yoghurt sorbet flavoured with fresh basil. The soufflé, with passion fruit coulis poured into it, was unforgettable. Coffee came with exemplary petits fours and the meal would have been a winner in any of the world's capitals at twice the price.
Traditional eating is best done in War- saw's beautiful Old City, lovingly restored since the war. Restaurant Bazyliszek (tel. 48 22 31 18 41) occupies handsome premis- es on the main square. On the ground floor is a cheerful bar and the restaurant is spa- ciously arranged on the first floor with decor reminiscent of Rules in London. When I went there ten years ago most of the menu was 'off, though I remember decent carp and hare, but today the long menu suffers no absentees, and Zarina, fel- low lawyer Anna Zavidzka and I had a con- genial lunch. Anna was happy with carp `Jewish style', with a rich aspic, and Zarina enjoyed hot mushrooms in butter. My pick- led herring 'three ways' — herring with three different dressings — was perfectly acceptable. Veal escalope in spicy sauce, fillets of lamb in cream sauce and my hand of pork highlander style, with split peas, beans and horseradish, were good, tradi- tional Polish cooking. Desserts were unre- markable, but Zarina much appreciated her coffee 'old Polish style', laced with dou- ble cream and a good deal of inflammable alcohol. With vodka first and drinkable red Cotes du Rhone, our lunch for three came to an eminently reasonable £58.
In the beautiful Old City of Krakow is an even finer square, unrestored, where restaurants rub shoulders with one another. Wierzynek (tel. 48 12 22 67 33) is probably the oldest established and has bars on the ground floor with three spacious dining- rooms above. These again are traditional, perhaps closer to Simpson's-in-the-Strand, and so is the menu. Zarina started with fresh, correctly served red caviar and I with some delicious, chunky smoked eel, flambe in Spiritus. Zarina then ate some decently hung pheasant, pot-roasted and served on toast with rather too much gravy. My crisply roasted duck with baked apple and good red cabbage was better. Desserts were Viennese cheesecake and ice cream cov- ered with whipped cream and advokaat, followed by coffee and Hungarian tokay in the elegant downstairs café. With a bottle of Bulgarian cabernet sauvignon, the whole bill of £49 seemed most reasonable.
The next day, after the horrors of visiting Auschwitz, it seemed appropriate to dine in Krakow's Jewish Quarter, so we ate a fine, traditional Jewish meal at Ariel (tel. 48 12 21 79 20), opposite the Old Synagogue. Perhaps predictably, neither our pretty, blonde Polish waitress nor the chef were actually Jewish, but both clearly knew their stuff and the highly authentic cooking was much enjoyed. Gefilte fish, chopped goose liver, chicken soup with knedlach, Tchorba soup, Purim chicken and Passover char- roseth all vibrated with tradition and proved that whatever genocide the Nazis attempted at Auschwitz, life still goes on.
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