Everybody knows that it’s getting worse and worse in Zakopane. Culinary level is close to the bottom and nice inns where huge meat skewers used to be grilled over fire have been replaced with kebabs and eateries selling food for PLN 3 per 100g. It’s bad. Whole Krupówki street is pretty much the same – dramatic level, poor service, everything designed for the masses, the faster, the better. Like in a factory. We have plenty of stories to illustrate the approach to the guests: extra PLN 1 for a slice of lemon for your tea or a cook who has no time to ‘break an egg’ and a waitress who ‘already made on exception today’ and won’t serve you the borscht in a mug to name just a few. We have much more. And then, suddenly, in Zakopane which is close to a culinary ruin, a light at the end of the tunnel appears. A beam of hope. A beam of sun.
We went to Zakopane to look for oscypek and shepherd’s huts (we’ll write about that later on!), stuff ourselves with Italian specialties in our beloved Le Chalet and see what’s going on at the foot of Giewont. It turns out that indeed there is something going on since both the chef at Le Chalet and our friends living in Zakopane started mentioning Zakopiańska, a new restaurant on ul. Jagiellońska 18. It used to be called Gazdówka then things got a bit more complicated and now it changed the name to Zakopiańska but retained its beautiful, wooden and typically highland look. What’s even more interesting, it’s located far from the tourist areas and next to one of the most beautiful Biedronkas in Poland – also in highland style!
I love such places!
We visited Zakopiańska twice during our stay. We wanted to make sure if it’s actually that good. The interior is also wooden – nice and cosy, but much more modern than other highland inns on ul. Krupówki. On Saturday there even was a DJ who provided a really good soundtrack to our lunch! On Sunday it was peaceful and quiet. First big advantage – kids’ corner (tested by Maks), high chairs and a baby changing table in the bathroom.
early Sunday lunch – peace and quiet
kids’ corner in place. Im happy!
time to see the menu…
The place looks really tempting, whether you’re visiting with kids or not. Time to see the menu. I have to say that I expected plenty of dishes typical for regional inns but here it’s all mixed in a nice and balanced way – there’s oscypek, kwaśnica and lamb but also some salads, shrimps and diverse and interesting soups. It’s modern and definitely more ambitious than any other restaurant in Zakopane I visited.
Starters include a herring, a steak tartare, salmon carpaccio and oscypek – traditional and fried but served with a pear ragout and blueberries (PLN 18) . I’m in! and yes, that’s the handsome ‘guy’ from the cover photo – beautifully served and delicious – two types of oscypek, blueberries, fresh and marinated pear. A really nice take on ‘good, old oscypek’ served on a wooden board.
We leave the salads alone but pay a bit more attention to the soups. It’s the biggest advantage of Zakopiańska! All the soups we try are amazing. First a goulash soup with beef cheeks, pepperoncini and spätzle (PLN 16) . Least photogenic but we both award it a first prize – delicate pieces of meat, perfectly spicy and these soft spätzle. Simply amazing!
We also like my second choice – a winter version of Spanish gazpacho with lentils and gorgonzola (PLN 16). I’m not sure if winter gazpacho is the right name but it’s perfect again – warming, creamy, with string flavour and spiciness added by gorgonzola. Łukasz loves mutton kwaśnica (PLN 12) which assures us that Zakopiańska is also good at traditional highland cuisine. asparagus cream soup with halibut and bacon chips (PLN 14) from the seasonal menu turns out to be the least attractive. You can clearly feel the asparagus filaments remnants in the soup which is a mistake. Fix that! The soup is a bit dull in general and wouldn’t have ordered it again.
goulash soup – PLN 16
winter take on gazpacho – PLN 16
mutton kwaśnica – PLN 12
A really good start with the soups. As for main courses, we go for dumplings while Łukasz orders a lamb shank as well. Apart from that, on the menu you will find fish such as halibut and salmon, some pastas, but it’s the dumplings that sound the most promising – i.e. with lamb, horseradish cream and rosemary (PLN 25) or with bryndza, basil pesto and sundried tomatoes (PLN 24) . We take both of them! Dumplings with beef cheeks in gorgonzola sauce and walnut topping (PLN 24) also sound really tempting. The filling of all the dumplings is really great, nicely spiced and appropriately served. Only the dough needs some work – so soft that it sticks to our teeth – really poor. But the filling with bryndza, sundried tomatoes, basil pesto and hazelnuts.. one of the best dumplings I ever tried!
On our second visit, Łukasz enjoyed a slow cooked lamb shank in brine with cream, potato puree, young cabbage and fennel (PLN 49). The meat was very delicate and tasty, puree was nice and tasty too, cabbage with fragrant bacon tasted as good as at our mother’s. Only the fennel was a bit weird – hard, not cooked properly, hard to cut and even harder to eat. Guess it was just the decoration.
gicz jagnięca – 49 zł
dumplings with bryndza – PLN 24
dumplings with lamb – PLN 24
Despite these little bummers, we were satisfied with both of the visits, filled and full of memories of great flavours. About the service. During our first visit all was in order, however on the second day it reminded us a bit of the standards on Krupówki – nobody noticed our arrival, we had to find the menu on our own and remind the ladies to take our order. The waiter tried to compensate the initial arrogance of the ‘nice ladies’ later on but the first impression is the first impression.
We keep telling people about the place because Zakopiańska is a real light at the end of the tunnel and a sunray after the storm for Zakopane. It’s a sign that there’s still chance for Zakopane to offer something more than mass production for tourist who have low expectations. A for today it’s the best restaurant in Zakopane. Fingers crossed! Keep it up!
Ok, I wouldn’t be myself without boasting about the kids’ menu in Zakopiańska. I don’t remember any child menus from our previous visits to Zakopane. I usually ordered Maks a soup or we shared our meals with him – I won’t buy him a huge meat skewers for PLN 25 or 30! Here, I finally found children’s menu. A cool one! It’s classic but with some nice twists – chicken soup with spätzle (PLN 10), turkey with potatoes and carrot and apple salad (PLN 16), little dumplings with cottage cheese and sugar (PLN 10). Maks liked the turkey the most – served in amazingly colourful way (perfect for any kid) – after eating it, the kid gets ice cream with whipped cream as a treat 😉
turkey with potatoes – PLN 16 – children’s menu
sweet dumplings – PLN 10
the treat for eating lunch
PRACTICAL INFORMATION:
Zakopiańska
ul. Jagiellońska 18 (you can park in front of Biedronka)
tel. 18 533 03 63
opening hours:
daily 13.00-23.00
large lunch for 2 adults and a child
another large lunch for 2+1
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