We’ve wanted it since we came here… We arrived in blogger conference Blog Conference Poznań on Saturday and we immediately knew we had to see what’s going on in Poznań when it comes to cuisine. Last year visit (HERE!) made us hungry for more and we discovered a few delicious and interesting places. We wanted more!!! A nóż widelec had been on Łukasz’s list for a very long time, and with each coversation we had about Poznań’s restaurants we were more and more sure: we need to go there!!!
I admit: I was a little discouraged by the distance. To get there from Stary Browar where BCP was happening, from Old Town where we had our hotel, it was way too far away – we needed a car, Uber or a taxi. Fine – let’s go! We outside of a small, one-story building. Garden, umbrellas. We go in. Nice place, lots of grey. Elegant, not too fancy. Smiley service and a sign on a wall that say: “Chase whatever makes you happy”. This place has to bee good.
Hungry, we flip through the menu pages nervously. We know that Michał Kuter is the chef and A nóż widelec offers Polish traditional cuisine with no redundant combinations. When it comes to soups, you can get classic chicken broth, żurek, sorrel soup and – a little surprising to us – Wielkopolska’s blind fish soup (with crabs and dry beef). We skip appetizers (asparagus, steak tartare or smoked carfish with lovage in marinated kohlrabi) and we go straight to dumplings (I’ve heard they’re great!) and main dishes.
We choose żurek made on homemade sourdough with chanterelles and egg (16 zlotys) and sorrel soup with quail egg, mashed potatoes, crispy bacon and sour cream (15 zlotys). Both soups are served beautifully – at first you get a plate with your additives, and then you get the soup.
The sorrel soup is definitely the queen of all sorrel soups in this world – it has a perfect texture, intense taste, it’s beautifully, and yet plainly served. Żurek is for very hungry people – you get a plate with poached egg and delicious, fresh bread, and a pot of soup – aromatic and full of additives – chanterelles and sliced sausage. Together they make a perfect set.
I order dumplings for the main dish – we’re happy you can choose a mix and try different kinds – with roasted veal leg, cabbage and forest mushrooms with pork scratchings and onion, and with potato and cottage cheese stuffing and fresh herbs. The mix I get is 12 dumplings and I can tell you this – I had never eaten such dumplings before and I bet you hadn’t either!!!! Improbably delicate, thin dough, aromatic stuffing, perfectly fit additives. I eat one of each kind and I can’t decide which one’s better. The ones with veal leg and a nice, aromatic dip or the ones with cabbage and mushrooms or maybe the one with potato and cottage cheese stuffing and delicate cream sauce. I don’t know how they do that but I even like pork scratchings that I usually can’t stand!!! It may sound funny, but even they are delicate in here!
I’m amazed! I had been considering classical Polish pork chop with butter mashed potatos with dill, cucumber salad and stewed onion with thyme (36 zlotys), but the dumplings in A nóż widelec are an absolute must eat. Looking at the food standard I can feel that the pork chop can bring you to your knees, though.
The main dish section is mostly meat – beef loin steak, a cut of meat from the back of a lamb, rabbit saddle, duck leg. The only meatless dish is a kind of salmon fillet.
Łukasz chooses a cut of meat from the back of a lamb with mushrooms roasted in French pastry, sunchoke, gremolata and black chanterelle sauce (68 zlotys). The meat is perfectly roasted, mouth-watering, delicate – pure pleasure. The whole dish is beautifully composed when it comes to its taste – nothing’s wrong, everything needs to be on that plate. When you eat it, you can feel its lightness, perfection, harmony and you know it’s one of the best lamb dishes you’ve ever eaten. I’m telling you – write down that address!!
Time for sweets. Ever since I came here, I knew what dessert I’d order. Assiette with strawberries, puffs with whipped cream and sour cream sorbet (24 zlotys) sounds like the quintessence of Polish summer and your childhood. I have eaten puffs with whipped cream so rarely lately that whenever I see them on the menu, I realize how much I miss them. And strawberries – they make a perfect match with whipped cream and make the puff lighter. But just so it’s not that beautiful, I would mix things up a bit – sorbet, thin and crispy meringues and strawberry mousse are served with strawberry sauce and strawberries – everything is delicious but there’s too much going on. I feel like the dessert wouldn’t be hurt if we only left the puff, strawberries and sauce. Okay, maybe the sour cream sorbet too. But whatever – it’s still delicious and I’m going to dream of puffs at night. Łukasz orders ice cream – chocolate and cherry ones, but I think it’s the weakest part of the dinner. Still delicious, but not incredible.
Michał Kuter’s A nóż widelec proves that you can feed people with Polish, traditional food, but with no combinations, difficult words, smears and foam on your plate, and yet in an absolutely genious way. Not too fancy, with a smile on your face and a heart on your sleeve. So that everybody leaves happy. Huge applause, especially since the chef was gone when we were in the restaurant – usually it makes dishes way worse, and here it was still perfect. So if you ever want to show someone traditional Polish cuisine in its best, pack your bags and go to Poznań!!! IT’S WORTH IT!!!
PRACTICAL INFO:
Facebook page – HERE
ul. Czechosłowacka 133, POZNAŃ
Phone number: 61 832-91-78 or 506-831-265
Open:
Monday 12-18.00
Tuesday-Saturday 12-21.00
Sunday 12-19.00
plentiful dinner for 2
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