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This cellar bar and restaurant is located on Długi Targ, which is the city’s main street which means ‘Long Market’ in English. This road is a bit of a faff to walk down at the moment as nearly every restaurant seems to have staff members trying to get customers into their premises. I remember last time I was here that these staff members usually called out in English, as this a tourist hub, but it’s mostly Poles around the city at the moment and so there’s little English to be heard. Incidentally, I don’t like staff members trying to call me in places as I’m not likely to just randomly go in somewhere without my usual laborious checking if I might like it, so I usually detour around them. Anyway, I digress.

The steps down into the restaurant.

There’s a huge room that customers walk through to get to the restaurant, an area I imagine is probably usually used for larger groups or when they’re particularly busy. It’s not immediately apparent where to go next, but fortunately a staff member noticed me looking confused and came to assist.

Not the greatest of photos because of those lights, but the beer tanks are visible in the background. It’s sometimes a little difficult to know whether venues such as this are welcoming for those who just want a drink, but at the moment I’m fairly sure they want whatever trade they can get. The staff here were friendly and there was a comfortable and inviting vibe, with the service being efficient and timely. I was also pleased to note that there was some internet connectivity in the cellar as I needed to upload things to Untappd, although I think there’s wi-fi as well.

The venue brews its own beer, this is the Witbier which had pleasant orange notes to it, very drinkable. They list the beers that they brew in the menu and there’s seven or eight different options.

This is the Baltic Porter which they’re particularly proud of and this was an above average beer which had a richness to it. I only noticed afterwards that they offer flights of beer so I would have probably got one to try more of their beer offerings.

Although I only went in for drinks, I accidentally also ordered (this happens with an alarming regularity) a little bar snack of currywurst with fries and this was one of my better decisions, especially as it was keenly priced and tasted delicious. There are more substantial meals offered here as well, which looked well presented and appetising.

I liked it here and there were a mixture of drinkers and diners, all of whom looked content, as well as family groups and couples. The two drinks and meal came to £9, which I thought was reasonable given the central location of the bar and the general quality of the service. There’s probably a bit more that they could do with their beer options though as they state they’re after the craft beer market, so they could perhaps start getting a couple of guest beers in to offer an ever changing menu, as well as of course adding themselves to Untappd.

There are a fair few craft beer bars in Gdansk and this is one that I don’t think that I’ve been to before, a cellar bar in the centre of the city. It’s not unusual for venues here to be creative with their names to get the word beer or similar into the title, this is another quirky choice.

That’s a really rather lovely blackboard full of exciting drinks across a range of different beer styles.

The bar is visible on entering, with a few seats at the front near to the door and then a longer section that goes off towards the rear. It’s inevitably a bit dark given that it’s in a cellar, but there’s nothing wrong with that set-up, as the Hop and Vine is one of the best pubs in the UK…. The staff member came and lit a candle for me at the table as well which added some extra light.

There were some tempting, and expensive, darker beers, but since it was lunchtime I thought that I’d be measured and stick to some lighter beers. This is the Runaway, a fruit sour which was better than I had anticipated with rich flavours of mango. Some of the beer prices, particularly for darker beers, are expensive by Polish standards, but the quality is high and that’s entirely understandable.

And the Fruit Bomb IPA, stone fruit flavours and very drinkable.

I liked this bar, it had a welcoming and inviting vibe, important for every venue, but perhaps even more so for arrangements like this, when it’s a cellar bar where people aren’t quite sure what they’re walking into. The prominent blackboard and engaging staff member added positively to the whole experience, and there were plenty of seats available. A well thought beer menu with plenty of choice and the live list is available at https://labeerynt.ontap.pl/. If Poland had a Good Beer Guide, this pub would be in it (and apologies if it already does have an equivalent guide….)

It’s cold in Gdansk at the moment, so the thought of a hot dog seemed a perfectly sensible one. Actually, getting out of the wind coming from the river seems an entirely good idea on its own, but the thought of a cosy little restaurant made it even more appealing. Hot Bear came well reviewed in terms of its products and customer service, and it wasn’t far of a walk from the pub that I was in.

Nice and cosy inside, there were a couple of tables taken by other customers during my visit, but it was generally quiet. That was quite handy as it’s a small venue for eating in and I can imagine getting a table isn’t something that is easily done during the summer months.

I placed my order at the counter and got the buzzer so that I could collect it when it was ready. I was made to feel welcome when ordering and although they offered me a printed menu, I had already read in advance to decide what I wanted. I can sometimes be an ideal customer in that regard, no delay, just straight to ordering.

If you’re going to call a place Hot Bear, then it’s only right to have a bear theme to the arrangements.

And this is a fun touch, the other side of the wall from the previous photo.

I saw this in the fridges and thought it looked a little different, a strawberry and pepper wheat beer. It’s not going to win any beer of the year awards perhaps, but it was suitably fruity. They’re made a bit of an effort here with the beers to have a decent selection, I was pleased with the options available given it’s a relatively small food venue.

And the main event, the spicy hot dog, the fries with spicy sauce and a bottle of coke. A generous sized meal, the bun was fresh, the sausage was decadent and meaty with the sauce being spicy. It was a very good hot dog and the fries were moreish, I could have eaten a fair number of those.

The environment was clean and there were numerous fun design options around the place. It’s understated and laid-back, an inviting atmosphere where I felt welcome. The staff speak fluent English, which is always handy as they battle valiantly against my poor Polish. Absolutely recommended and the prices are reasonable too, with the friendly farewell being called out when I left much appreciated. There were also a fair few delivery orders being collected, so it seems to have a positive reputation locally.

Just a few photos (of no great significance) to give an indication of what Gdansk looks like at this time of the year. Incidentally, there appear to be very few tourists about, on my past visits to Gdansk there were lots of British and Germans conversations going on, but all quiet at the moment. I’m not sure it’s ever a packed tourist city in January, but it’s still quieter than I had envisaged.