CUISINE

The most pop­u­lar beer trade­mark in the Less­er Poland region is “Żywiec” with its unique logo pre­sent­ing a cou­ple dressed in the region­al Krakow cos­tumes. The name “Żywiec” func­tions in Krakow as a col­lo­qui­al, equiv­a­lent name for beer. For some recent years, the Pol­ish brew­ing indus­try has been enjoy­ing a tru­ly spec­tac­u­lar renais­sance. Pol­ish craft beers brewed often in small local brew­eries enjoy great pop­u­lar­i­ty and win numer­ous inter­na­tion­al awards. In win­ters, Poles drink warm beer with rasp­ber­ry or gin­ger juice. Here we high­ly rec­om­mend beer tast­ing at the Krakow local brew­ery which cul­ti­vates the Gali­cian culi­nary and beer brew­ing tra­di­tion dat­ing back to the times of the Aus­tro-Hun­gar­i­an Empire. Vis­it­ing large beer halls, so pop­u­lar among the cit­i­zens of Krakow, gives tourists the oppor­tu­ni­ty to savour and delight the excel­lent local cui­sine. The atmos­phere which can be expe­ri­enced here will allow you to take a sen­ti­men­tal jour­ney to the era of the Emper­or Franz Joseph, and to feel for a short while the cli­mate of the epoch which has mould­ed and shaped the men­tal­i­ty and culi­nary pref­er­ences among the gen­er­a­tions of the town’s cit­i­zens.  Please, con­tact us for details!

The alco­hol pro­duc­tion in Poland enjoys a deep-root­ed and long-estab­lished tra­di­tion. Poland is famous for its excel­lent vod­kas and beers, and quite recent­ly for quite decent wines. There is also one more type of alco­hol served here by every respectable restau­rant or a Pol­ish house­wife, i.e. the home-made Pol­ish tinc­tures. Pre­pared accord­ing to some old, well-pro­tect­ed fam­i­ly recipes, these tinc­tures delight for­eign vis­i­tors with the wide vari­ety of flavours and extreme­ly high qual­i­ty. Based on vod­ka or nat­ur­al spir­its, the tinc­tures have the alco­hol con­tent of 40 to 45%, and are pro­duced by mac­er­at­ing var­i­ous fruits, herbs, hon­ey, or even horse radish or rowan­ber­ries, and then aged. While savour­ing dry tinc­tures, some snacks are served such as cold meats and pick­les, where­as sweet tinc­tures go very well with gin­ger bread, tan­ger­ines and var­i­ous desserts. At the end of each meal, some restau­rants and house­wives will serve herbal tinc­tures which are said to aid the diges­tive process. A well com­posed process of savour­ing tinc­tures may become a tru­ly excep­tion­al expe­ri­ence for one’s palate and will sur­prise every real con­nois­seur of exquis­ite bev­er­ages. The name “nalewka” is cur­rent­ly being reg­is­tered for the nation­al appel­la­tion with the Euro­pean Union. Please, con­tact us for details!

Poles do insist that a per­son who loves eat­ing knows how to enjoy life. Pol­ish sweets and desserts are excep­tion­al­ly deli­cious, and the local con­fec­tionar­ies and restau­rants com­pete by pre­sent­ing an opu­lent offer of local delights. Such a savour­ing event is a per­fect occa­sion for each gour­mand! We will advice on where to have the best in Krakow ice-creams, taste the most deli­cious apple pie, and which small cafe, hid­den some­where off the tourist track, serves the best Krakow cheese cake. We know which con­fec­tionery serves the best Pope’s cream puff and pop­py seed cake. We will show you the best kosher con­fec­tionary serv­ing deli­cious mac­a­roons and where to drink the best Krakow hot choco­late. This sweet feast will also include dough­nuts with rose petal jam (pop­u­lar espe­cial­ly on Fat Thurs­day) and the Pol­ish gin­ger bread. Please, con­tact us for details!

Have you ever con­sid­ered Poland to be a place where local decent wine and excel­lent goat cheese can be found? Have you ever tried nat­ur­al fruit juices from the local small man­u­fac­tur­ers or coun­try-style bread with­out addi­tives? The Krakow week­end food mar­kets are our pride and you can find here basi­cal­ly every­thing from for­est mush­rooms, famous Pol­ish apples and sea­son­al fruits which have nat­ur­al flavour, home­made bread, goat and sheep milk cheese, nat­ur­al yogurts and esteemed deli­cious Pol­ish sausages. You can taste it all here. By pur­chas­ing local prod­ucts you sup­port local small food pro­duc­ers! Please, con­tact us for details!