Poland |

The Warsaw Gazette – Part 4 – Lunch at a Milk Bar

Image

My colleagues in Warsaw thought I was crazy to lunch at a ‘milk bar’ one weekend. Why would I want to eat at such a low brow establishment when the city has a generous selection of international cuisine, fine dining restaurants and funky coffee houses and bistros?

Aside from the fact that the bill at a milk bar can be less than five dollars if you desire, a bar mleczny (‘milk bar’ in Polish) is also a peephole into Poland’s past.

The dining hall at the Bar Mleczny Pod Barbakanem in Warsaw (just before I got told off for taking a photograph!)

Milk bars were first established in 1896 and as the name suggests, they offered mainly dairy based and vegetarian meals. They were especially successful during the war when times were lean for many citizens and meat was rationed.

In the post-war years, milk bars offered cheap meals to people working in companies that did not have onsite kitchen facilities. Even today, you will find men in suits frequenting milk bars across the city during their lunch breaks.

At the bar mleczny pod barbakanem (or ‘milk bar under the barbican’) the no-frills décor did have a fair amount of old world charm, as did the lady at the order desk who told off any tourist crazy enough to take a photo of the dining hall on her watch.

She rolled her eyes in exasperation when I pronounced something incorrectly from the polish-only menu that hung on the wall behind her. In the end I felt obliged to say “tak” (Polish for ‘yes’) to whatever she decided my husband and I should eat that afternoon.

She yelled my order of meat perogies (apparently periogi ruski, cheese and potato dumplings, were not an option that afternoon), borscht (warm beetroot soup) and potato pancakes to the kitchen ladies at the back. I suspected that her bark was probably worse than her bite but didn’t want to tempt fate by asking her to pose for a photograph with me for the blog.

The pick-up and drop-off counters at the milk bar

In the short time we were there, the old kitchen ladies produced an amazing quantity of soups, fried pork chops, pierogis and pancakes in a small working area.

When I went to get my order from the counter, I spent a few minutes trying to converse with them in my barely existent Polish. It was clear that the kitchen standards would have probably not met the health and safety requirements in some parts of the world, but the food that was turned out was positively delicious!

A big wave for the camera from the ladies in the kitchen!

When we finished lunch and passed our tray of used plates and cutlery through the window at the end of the dining hall, I didn’t envy whoever was on washing-up duty that day.

If you’re looking for the “Milk Bar Under the Barbican” in Warsaw, that’s exactly where you will find it!

From the old market square, walk towards the barbican in the direction of ul. Freta. Once you’ve crossed the cobble stone bridge, you will find the milk bar on your right at the point where ul. Nowomiejska meets ul. Mostowa. They close early in the evening so make sure you get there in good time.

If you’ve been to this milk bar in particular, or to another one somewhere else in Poland, I’d love to hear about your experience!

The Warsaw Gazette – Part 3 – Żoliborz

Image

Żoliborz is the polar opposite of Praga. It’s an urban architect’s paradise with its well-planned outdoor spaces, quiet leafy lanes and a public park that was full of young families enjoying the beautiful weather that day.

Before I got to see any of it, my friend Maria first treated me to a Polish Sunday brunch at one of Zoliborz’s most well known restaurants, Zywiciel.

This restaurant is also mentioned in the Warsaw Guide for Young Travellers as an eating establishment that “takes pride in serving typical Warsaw cuisine e.g. tripe.” For those looking for a ‘morning after the night before’ cure, the restaurant serves a “Sick Kitten” breakfast (number 3) which comes with a side order of Alkaseltzar!

The name Żoliborz originates from the 18^th century, when it was known by its French name ‘Joli Bord’ or ‘beautiful embankment’. It belonged to monks who parceled off the land to allow for settlements to develop and was absorbed as a neighbourhood of Warsaw in the 1920s. As you can see from the photo below, Żoliborz is still very deserving of its name.

Warsaw Citadel and the Hibner Park

Żoliborz has always been the hub of Warsaw’s intelligentsia, and the boroughs are still referred to as such. As we strolled through the “Officers Żoliborz”, “Officials Żoliborz” and “Journalists Żoliborz” that day, I came as close as I could possibly get to the homes of some of Poland’s famous sporting, political and artistic personalities. (No names will be mentioned here!)

Plac Sloneczny or the “Sun Square” is a round urban space at the heart of Oficers Zoliborz. It was meant to function as a sun-dial, with the shadow of the tree moving along the twelve row-houses.. Unfortunately, instead of a tall and straight tree, there is a sprawling maple tree planted.

When we arrived at the Parc Kepa Potocka, Maria showed me the neon light installation in the shape of a glass of pink lemonade.

Park Kepa Potocka was a great place to go for run in the evening!

“Lightspurt” the neon installation created by Polish artist Maurycy Gomulicki. Unfortunately I never had a camera on me to photograph the night view of the pink bubbles!

The artist Maurycy Gomulicki wanted it to be symbolic of the joys and pleasures of life. As he said just before the opening of the exhibit:

I’m into pink, because I really think that one should be seriously engaged in experiencing pleasure, beauty, and delight. I’m not trying to talk people into dull egoistic hedonism, I rather want to revise the popular ideas about what’s important in life. I cannot accept the dominant position of death and pain over life and pleasure.

That Gomulicki’s push for a new view of life met with resistance from some quarters is not surprising as the pain of the holocaust is still very raw for many families in the country.

During my time in Warsaw, I was continually amazed with the minutia of Polish history that people could provide to me. Maria was no exception and as she waved me off at the bus stop in the late evening, I felt privileged to have had the opportunity to see, through her eyes, a part of Warsaw that doesn’t often make it into the guide books.

The Warsaw Gazette – Part 2

Image

Last weekend I had the opportunity to visit Praga and Zoliborz (pronounced “Jolly–Bosch”), two suburbs of Warsaw, with my colleague Maria.

Maria and I are kindred-souls, particularly in our approach to food (“life is good on a full stomach” and “quality beats quantity”) and when she offered to show me around Warsaw I didn’t refuse. So with Maria in the driver’s seat on a fabulously sunny Saturday afternoon, I was first introduced to Praga.

The Lonely Planet describes Praga as “the place to be” as “artists, musicians and entrepreneurs” have slowly turned it into a hive of cultural activity. This is still a low-income neighbourhood as evidenced by the crumbling facades of communist-era apartment blocks, which stand in stark contrast to the contemporary feel of the financial district on the other side of Warsaw. Some of the buildings in Praga still bear the scars of the last world war.

As many buildings cannot be demolished completely for reasons of heritage, the owners have taken to gutting out the inside and then constructing newer establishments into the shell. It has resulted in a mish-mash of architectural features, which my tour guide excitedly pointed out to me as we drove through the neighbourhood.

We also took advantage of the afternoon to visit areas that should be avoided at night. Maria was not overreacting when she locked the car doors and slid our bags under the seats. Even reputed tourist sites insist on using common sense and caution in some of the ‘rougher’ areas of north Praga.

We drove past some interesting places including the longest building in Warsaw, which is 508 metres long and has 43 entrances. Its address is ul. Kijowska 11 and according to the ‘Young Travellers Guide to Warsaw’ the building was designed to “conceal the crumbling buildings of old Praga from people arriving at the train station across the street”.

Lunch was at the ‘No Name Bistro’, known that way because (you guessed it!) it has no name. Located on 1 Stalowa Street in Praga this restaurant has one table only around which customers can enjoy perogies and other hearty Polish fare. We finished off the afternoon talking up a storm in a pastry shop on Mokotowa street.

Maria invited me to join her in Zoliborz for a Polish Sunday brunch. To challenge my self-proclaimed inability to find my way even with a map, she sent me directions to the tram stop and the restaurant by sms that evening. What we did and saw will be the subject of my next post. But until then, I’ll leave you with some of my favourite views of Praga.

Views of praga

View more presentations from vanrandin

The Warsaw Gazette – Part 1

Image

The streets surrounding the Palace of Culture and Science were teaming with life this Friday evening and Poland’s tallest building looked beautiful illuminated.

It was strange to walk around a shopping mall after 8:00pm and to have the time to browse through the grocery store aisles. As supermarkets don’t stay open late in Switzerland, getting to the stores before they close at 18:30 is a stressful undertaking, especially when you work full time.

The Zlote Tarasy shopping mall had a coat service on the main floor so that you can shop around without being encumbered with a heavy winter jacket. Such an ingenious idea warranted a photo, but a security guard stopped me just as I was about to press down on the button. After spending sometime in Kyiv last December it seems that Eastern European countries have an uneasy relationship with cameras. So I had to restort to taking out photos surreptitiously with my IPhone for the rest of my time in the mall.

I’ve forgotten how annoying it is to be unable to carry out even the simplest of functions when you don’t understand the local language. It’s been a while since I’ve had to ask for help in finding the correct button on the scale to weigh a bag of tomatoes.

Couldn’t quite work out which number corresponded to which vegetable…

When it came time to pay, I couldn’t choose the checkout counter with the shortest line. Instead I had to join a long queue of people waiting to be sorted at the end of the line by a machine, which gives you the number of the counter where you unload your purchases.

The young gentleman, who was behind me in the line, gallantly offered to pay the 1 groszy (pronounced “gro-she”) that I was missing. Granted, 1 grosz is equivalent to around US$ 0.03 (the larger denominations of money are called “zloty”, pronounced “zeh-loh-tee”) but he did it spontaneously and with a smile. Also not one person waiting in line huffed impatiently as I searched my wallet for small change.

I do have to watch my waistline over the next four months, as food is cheap and delicious. This afternoon’s hot meal of Rosol z makaronem (clear soup with noodles) followed by Golabki z pieca (stuffed cabbage roll) was only PLN 18, the equivalent of US$ 5. I could get used to this.

The Warsaw Gazette

Image

It wasn’t just the good weather that made it difficult to leave Switzerland

I’m writing this to you from Warsaw, a city to which I have relocated temporarily on account of work. For the next four months my ‘home’ will be a series of hotel rooms from where I hope to bring you stories of life in this captivating country.

This was a difficult to move to make because I have had to leave behind my beloved husband, Michel. While we will see each other most weekends, I am slowly realizing just how much I rely on him for moral support on a daily basis. It seems odd finding my way in this new country without him. So I’m dedicating The Warsaw Gazette to him and hope that he will feel part of the experience through this blog while he carries on with life in Switzerland.