I’ll be honest with you: we used to love Soul Kitchen. We’ve only been there 2-3 times but both the place their style of cooking was always great and we often recommended Soul to others. We knew things were going to get worse when the chef – Andrzej Polan – left the place in July 2014. A few months later, due to a very long restoration works in the building where Soul Kitchen was, the place closed. Such a shame! But we knew we will hear fromt Andrzej Polan in the future and waited patiently for him to open a new place.
I don’t know if it was when we were visiting all the temples of Burma, or when we were eating Singapore in its food courts that it turned out that the place finally opened! A new place, with a fantastic name which left no doubts (great work, copywriters!): Mała Polana Smaków (Little Glade of Flavours) – Andrzej Polan’s new restaurant. We quickly booked a dinner with our friends, hoping for lots of delicacies in good company with good wine.
Mała Polana Smaków can be found on ul. Belwederska 13, right next to a tiny park. I rarely visit this area, even though it brings back cool memories and makes me go back 13 or 14 years. The interior of Polana is absolutely charming – warm light, bricks and jeans seats and pillows. Cosy – on one hand a little bit homespun, on the other very elegant. The restaurant is small, so be sure to book a table.
for a romantic dinner or dinner with friends
The menu is divided into Small (starters) Deep (soups), Big (main courses) and Sweet plates. Like in Soul Kitchen. We skip the soups and stick to starters and main courses. Born in Świnoujście and being a true fan of all sorts of fish, Łukasz goes for Baltic sea herring with Brussels sprouts, dried prunes and apple puree (PLN 28). Our friend from Szczecin orders the same. As I’m forever in love with goat’s cheese, I take baked pumpkin with beetroot, goat’s cheese, pomelo, coriander and kumquat (PLN 28).
buns with cottage cheese and apple mousse for starters
baked pumpkin with beetroot, goat’s cheese, pomelo, coriander and kumquat – PLN 28
steak tartare – PLN 38
The starters are preceded with charming little buns with Nigella, served with cottage cheese and apple mousse – we tried similar in Soul Kitchen. A good start. The herring turns out to be just perfect – nice texture of the fish, great yet unusual (Brussels sprouts?!?!) flavour combination makes the meal original and memorable. You want more of it. What’s important neither the Brussels sprouts nor the prunes and apple puree mess with the herring’s flavour. The fish is the main character here and that’s how it should be. My pumpkin with goat’s cheese is also good – plenty of flavours on the plate but they go together well. Half of this portion (and the price! :)) would be a great idea though. It’s a starter and I’m already filled and afraid I won’t be able to eat the rest of the diner. Steak tartare is one more perfect meal – classic and served beautifully. It’s hard to spoil a tartare but this one is surely one of the best in town. Feeling great, we wait for more!
salmon sausage, beetroot, marinated pear – PLN 37
soft duck, pearl barley, blackcurrant – PLN 42
cabbage roll from sauerkraut with prunes, goose, boletus and horseradish – PLN 38
We try three out of six available main courses. Cabbage roll made from sauerkraut with prunes, goose, boletus and horseradish (PL 38) is surely the highlight. The idea of making a cabbage roll from sauerkraut seems intriguing, mushroom sauce is tasty too, however 3 out of 4 people consider the meal too salty. Unfortunately my soft duck with pearl barley and blackcurrant is disappointing – meat is indeed very soft and goes well with blackcurrant but I don’t like the fact that it’s all dipped in large amount of pearl barley risotto which swallows every bite of my duck – I know that I already had my starter but it’s not the first time I’m getting starter, main course and a dessert. It’s definitely not my favourite way to serve duck and I have to admit that I was hoping to find one. Łukasz seems to be the most disappointed person thanks to his salmon sausage (PLN 37) – again 3/4 of the table consider it too salty, the smoky flavour is prevalent and the salmon seems to be missing. Tastes a little bit like salmon sausage sold in the supermarket but it’s not what we expect from a chef such as Andrzej Polan. What’s interesting, salmon sausage is quite small compared with the other meals and it would fit the Small Plate much better.
We feel that something’s wrong after eating the main courses. How is it possible that the starters are so great and nothing amazes us from the main courses section?? I should have taken dumplings with veal, kale and pumpkin (PLN 31).. maybe they would have satisfied me?
Desserts save the day: cheesecake is quite ordinary, but cottage cheese, chokeberry liqueur and mulberry mousse (PLN 28) tastes great. An unusual dessert, beautifully crafted and these crispy cookies to eat it with. Delicious! Yet again: I would prefer half the portion for half the price 🙂
cottage cheese, chokeberry liqueur and mulberry mousse – PLN 28
homespun cheesecake
The conclusion? I have to admit I’m a little bit puzzled and don’t know what to do with Polana Smaków. I won’t lie to you: we expected much more. I expected to go there and then write things like: ‘Yes, you have to go there, definitely, for a date, for a get together with friends, for dinner’. I like such reviews the most because I love spreading good news. This time I don’t know what to do.. The starters were great, desserts were cool too, but we weren’t happy about the main courses. And aren’t these supposed to be the most important?
Also the wine prices start from PLN 95/100 for a bottle so if you go for a dinner for two with half a bottle of wine and water, you will have to pay about PLN 250 (I lost the receipt but it’s easy to count). You and your wallet decide if it’s too much or not. For me it’s quite a lot and for such price I expect everything to be perfect, especially knowing what Andrzej Polan is capable of.
Years ago my Polish language teacher gave me back my essay and said: ‘Somebody else might have got A for this, but you’ll get a B-. You can do better than that’. I was 15 or 16 then and it made me really angry. Now I totally agree with her: you always expect more from the best because they can do better… We think Andrzej Polan can do better than that.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
ul. Belwederska 13/44
tel. 22 400 80 48
tel. 505 133 636
email: rezerwacja@polanasmakow.pl
opening hours:
12.00-22.00
0 Comments