We spent the last week recommending Poznań to our close and not so close friends. Charming streets, attractions for kids and obviously a tour of the most intriguing culinary spots of Poznań. 3 days is not enough to get to know with the city but enough to know that’s it’s a place worth going! Our 3 days in Poznań were a bit ‘tiring’ culinarly since we wanted to test and present to you as many restaurants and cafes worth seeing as possible. If somebody ever tells you that there are no tasty places in Poznań, be sure to send him our way!
Toga was another fantastic discovery after Yeżyce Kuchnia. Once again recommended by many and considered one of Poznań’s musts. An intriguing and fascinating place since it’s really hard to find such restaurants. I don’t think I can compare Toga with any other place I know. It doesn’t look modern at all – no trendy ideas, no black board with names of meals written in chalk, no brick walls or a minimalist menu printed on fancy paper. It’s cosy, almost homespun, located in the basement in the back of Plac Wolności, with menu written carelessly with a pen and a felt pen, smiling waitresses and cuisine that’s out-of-this-world.
Prior to our dinner we checked their website and read that Toga’s cuisine is inspired by noble and merchant Polish cuisine. Menu changes often depending on current purchases of the owners, seasonal produce and current suppliers – you can try mutton, a sturgeon and a thing that I was totally amazed with – dumplings with raspberries made right before serving. Sturgeons come from a fish farm in Wielkopolska, cheese from Marek Grądzki who also supplies Kręgliccy and Adam Chrząstowski.
We make our choice and wait. First we get a plate with strawberries, peppercorns and balsamico sauce. We dip the strawberries in the sauce – a cool idea for an original snack that doesn’t make you as full as bread with butter or olive oil.
a nice and light start of the dinner
We try various meals as Toga’s cuisine is very diverse. Łukasz gets a beef heart’s tartare for starters (PLN 30) while I take small blintz with smoked sturgeon and cream (PLN 26). Our culinary friends go for a patra (delicious leaves with a spicy filling (PLN 16) and a spicy goat soup (PLN 16). My choice turns out to be a bullseye – tiny pancakes with a delicate, thoroughly smoked sturgeon. Delicious! Tartare also gets an A+ however one chef once told us that it’s really hard to mess up a tartare. Menu includes some intriguing oddities: sturgeon soup and a selection of fruit soups: made from prunes, raspberries and gooseberries – reportedly all of these are very creamy and tasty. Spicy goat soup turns out to be one of the best dishes – we try a spoonful each after which we all want to take the whole plate and finish it – it bites your tongue nicely, is very fragrant, just perfect! Soup comes with a huge goblet full of veggies chopped in stripes to eat with it. An interesting idea! Patra is my least favourite meal – part leaves, part leaves’ pancakes, really spicy, with a touch of curry but not really my thing. Toasts with goat’s cheese from Marek Grądzki, pears and mint sound great as well but blintz with sturgeon win in my case this time.
spicy goat soup (PLN 16)
beef heart’s tartare – PLN 30
patra – PLN 16
As for main courses, most of us go for meat dishes. There’s plenty to choose from and you can try many things that aren’t widely available in Warsaw such as goose meat and mutton. Łukasz goes for goose meat stuffed with Polish filling (PLN 40), our friends choose mutton in saffron, white wine and lemon (PLN 40) and groats, grilled vegetables and złotnicka pig cheeks in oranges (PLN 45). I stand out and get raspberry dumplings – the menu says that if the place isn’t crowded (and it’s not!) – they make them right before the order. Maks gets tiny chops with potatoes – there’s no children’s menu but a small guy drawn with a felt pen says that you can order miniature version of any meal.
The dumplings are obviously prepared on the spot and right before the order and I can see how they stuff the dough with raspberries. The result is amazing – delicate dough, whole raspberries instead of a pulp of some kind that doesn’t have much to do with raspberries and cream served with it. Absolutely divine! Meat dishes are quite big (seems like a tradition in Poznań…) with a lot of vegetables, groats and sides. They may not look perfect on pictures but they surely taste great (even though they’re not completely spectacular). It’s a kind of traditional Polish cuisine with no weird ideas, not much attention paid to the looks and form of the meals.
my love – dumplings with raspberries
goose meat with filling, served with groats
mutton in saffron, white wine and lemon (PLN 40)
groats, grilled vegetables and złotnicka ig cheeks in oranges – PLN 45
The dessert menu looks really tempting but we’re absolutely stuffed. Sweets menu intrigues with mango mousse, pudding with fried prunes in Krupnik vodka or raspberries baked under a meringue. There’s also a gluten-free chocolate cake. Next time for sure! 😉 Sometimes they also get wonders such as an Ice cream pot with cassava starch, ice cream and gooseberries – it looks LIKE THIS – amazing, isn’t it? Even drinks at Toga are unusual: where else can you find a hot banana and milk mousse, chocolate with ginger or foamed beer mousse with egg yolks?
Toga is a place you have to visit while in Poznań – it proves that you don’t need a trendy interior and complicated meals to amaze. Here, it’s the passion that’s amazing. Toga is not only food but also workshops, cooking courses, catering and so called family dinners during which parents drink coffee while the kids set the tables and prepare food with Toga’s stuff assistance. Cool idea, isn’t it?
PRACTICAL INORMATION:
Plac Wolności 13 A (Arkadia building – in the back of Empik)
tel: 61 8530345,
cell: 512 133 777
e-mail: restauracjatoga@gmail.com
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