We visited Krakow, Poland in April. We arrived on Monday evening and left on Thursday late afternoon which gave us plenty of time to try out many Polish delicacies. Krakow is a gorgeous town and we really enjoyed exploring it but we were also very satisfied with all our meals there. The meal prices are slightly lower than in Croatia and the portions are big. My husband was also very happy with different Polish beers (I don’t drink beer at all). We both drank some local vodka shots.

Eating our way through Krakow

Pierogi -are a staple of Polish cuisine. They are filled dumplings with savoury (or even sweet) filling cooked in boiling water. My husband had Ruskie pierogi (potatoes with cream cheese) and I had duck & apple pierogi. On our last night in Krakow we shared as a dessert sweet cherry & mascarpone pierogi. Yummy!

Sour Rye soup – my husband ordered this but I had to try it too. It was very tasty and reminded me of some goulash not a soup since it was very thick. You can have it in a plate or in a bread.

Cabbage rolls with tomato sauce (Gołąbki z sosem pomidorowym) – this looked and tasted very much like Balkan sarma. I liked it a lot!

* We ate pierogi, sour rye soup and cabbage rolls in a lovely, colorful Polish restaurant in Old Town called Pierogarnia Krakowiacy on two occasions

Oscypek Smoked Sheep Cheese, Grilled With Cranberry Sauce I had this as a starter for lunch because I was curious about this unusual (for us) combination.

Duck – we saw many restaurants offering duck meat and later I read that duck is very much a common dish in Poland. I tried duck pierogi and for lunch my husband had duck. That time I had chicken breast but it came with potatoes and cabbage which are common Polish foods. Also, when the waitress brought us drinks she also brough a tiny plate with a huge cucumber and cabbage to go with beer presumably. At the end of the luch we were offered free Wiśniówka (polish cherry vodka/liqueur).

*This lunch described above was at a rather interesting restaurant just below Wawel castle called Pod Wawelem Kompania Kuflowa. In men’s room you can see a ‘vomitorium’, a large sink where you throw up after drinking too much.

Zapiekanka – is a polish street food, a kind of mix of a sandwich and a pizza. It’s cheap and has different flavours. We didn’t think that it was that special actually.

Paczki -this was my favorite! I had them every day:) They are some kind of sweet doughnuts. My favourite flavour was apple & cinnamon. They cost 8 or 9 zloty.

Obwarzanki – they look kind of like more rounded pretzels . They cost 2 zloty and you can find them everywhere in the streets. They can be with salt, poppy seeds or even cheese. I had the one with poppy seeds and it was good but not as good as paczki.

Cakes -since I love cakes and sweets very much I had some very delicious meringue style cakes. We don’t really have those here in Croatia so I had 2 different meringue style cakes at two different places. They are probably not the most traditional polish cakes but it doesn’t matter. I also love gingerbread treats very much so when I saw a rather pretty confectionary shop at Florianska street (Piernikowa Kusica) I just had to buy some handmade gingerbread treats. They were amazing! Please, send me more when you visit Krakow!

Wodki i piwa– this is a chain of cheap local bars selling cheap beer and vodka. You can also find something to eat there such as sandwiches and surprisingly beef tartar. But you have to mix it yourself. My husband had that since I’m not a fan of raw meat. And yes, beer is cheaper than juice!

All in all, we ate very well in Krakow. We had some other meals too but these were Polish specialties that we tried.

Have you been to Krakow or some other city in Poland? What did you eat/drink? What was your favourite sweet treat?

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