What to eat in Kraków
Żurek, pierogi and barszcz sit on the same Old Town menu; a milk bar serves the same kitchen for less, and a zapiekanka from the Okrąglak is dinner on the move.
- Żurek
- €7.76
- Pierogi
- €10.27
- Bigos
- €11.18
Kraków's kitchen comes down to five things that turn up on almost every Old Town menu: żurek, pierogi, bigos, barszcz, and a beer alongside them. A restaurant charges €14–23 for a main course; a milk bar serves a full meal for €5–8, minus the waiter and any surprise on the bill.
Żurek, pierogi and bigos — one menu, one visit
All three turn up together on Old Town menus like Pod Baranem's: żurek is a sour rye soup with white sausage and an egg, €7.76; pierogi come filled with meat or with cottage cheese and potato, €10.27; bigos is sauerkraut cooked with several kinds of meat long enough to lose its edge, €11.18. All three portions together are more food than one person gets through in a single sitting.
Barszcz and beer, in Kazimierz
Barszcz is a red, sour beetroot soup, €2.97–5.93 at restaurants such as Krakowski Kazimierz; half a litre of Polish beer alongside it runs €2.97–3.65. In Kazimierz both turn up on the same street that fills up and sits outside once evening comes.
The milk bar — the same food, a lower price
A bar mleczny is a holdover from when the state subsidised a worker's meal: self-service, a menu on the wall, payment at the till up front. A full meal runs €5–8, cheaper than a restaurant for the same kind of food, with no waiter and no tip.
A zapiekanka from Plac Nowy
The Okrąglak, the round building in the middle of Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, sells zapiekanka — half a baguette topped with mushrooms and cheese, baked — for €1.60–2.75, depending on size and toppings. It's eaten standing up, and it's dinner after a night out, not lunch.
Where not to save money
Restaurants directly on the Rynek charge up to double for the same dishes as two streets away, and the menu tends to carry prices in several languages with photos. A meal off the square itself is the same quality for less.
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