The Karczma Polish restaurant review

Arriving at this restaurant was not a nice experience, rough street, drunk people yelling and being aggressive, outside of the place looked very odd as it’s part of the run-down polish social club, but as soon as you step inside all that disappears... Warmth and buttery coloured light washes over you and the staff greet you very enthusiastically. As a party of six we had booked ahead, but the restaurant was half empty (Friday night, last one before Christmas) but because the restaurant is made up of two rooms, the one we were in was full. Big wooden benches and draped furs help make everything seem very cosy. The menu is in polish and English (some of the translations are pretty funny) and is pretty extensive. Fortunately the restaurant owner was on hand and kindly explained what was most popular and answered all our questions.

We were given complimentary bread, gherkins and a kind of traditional lard spread which I have discovered is the following:
“Smalec is a type of Polish lard created from rendered pork fat. It is a classic peasant dish typically used as a substitute for the ‘rich man’s butter’ and is spread on bread. Smalec and bread were the daily ration for seminarians in Poland during the days of communist oppression.”

From their website

So there you have it!

We ordered a selection of dumplings to start shared among the table- potato  cottage cheese and onion and mixed meat dumplings (usually you would also get cabbage and mushroom, but various members of our party do not eat mushrooms). Polish dumplings are half way between pasta and Asian dim-sum dumpling skins in texture and taste. We all agreed they were delicious.

The ENORMOUS ham hock

Among the choices in our party for mains were (taken from their menu description):

“Beef Olives” - steak rolled around a stuffing of smoked bacon, sausage, onion and pickles, mashed potatoes, assortment of salads

Beef Stew - A real treat , this melt-in-the-mouth beef stew is served on large potato pancake, fried and crisped around the edges , assortment of salads

Succulent ham hock, roasted slowly in beer, fried potatoes, fried sauerkraut, horseradish, mustard

Hunter’s stew - considered Poland’s national dish (sausage, sauerkraut, potato)

The portions were VERY generous and after the bread and dumplings we all struggled to finish. The ham hock was a particularly sizable portion! The beef stew was very tender and the fried potatoes lovely and crispy.

After dinner we had shots of honey vodka which rounded everything off nicely!

It cost £20 each which included shared starter, main meal, 2 bottles of wine (between 6), a shot of honey vodka and a good tip – so it’s very good value!

If you can get past the exterior coming to this restaurant is a warm and fun experience with lovely staff and interesting inexpensive food. http://www.thekarczma.co.uk/index.html