Category: Gdansk

I’ve somehow managed to miss this craft beer bar located in the city centre of Gdansk and I only located it because I was looking for somewhere I hadn’t been that might sell decadent pizzas. Or indeed any pizzas.

I arrived just after 14:00 and I’m not entirely sure why so many places in Poland open at that time, which is too late for lunch and seemingly too early for most other people. I was the only person in the bar, which didn’t entirely surprise me. There was a friendly welcome from the staff member though and it felt an inviting environment to be in.

The concept here is of having cans and bottles in the fridges, with a staff member pro-actively offering assistance to help customers find something that they like. The staff member explained the fridges and their contents, all friendly and engaging. The fridges are also clearly laid out and are in a logical order.

It became apparent quickly that the choice of beers here was outstandingly good. This set-up frankly shames hundreds of British pubs who offer no craft beers, but yet could nearly all offer some set-up like this (assuming they’re not tied). Such a simple and easy way of offering a wide selection of beers across lots of different styles. I very much liked it, although it gave me a problem that there were too many good beers and I had to buy some to take away with me.

The bar had a wide selection of beers from the Warsaw based Funky Fluid, which can be a little difficult to source in the UK (I think I’ve only seen them in Brewdog and even then, only rarely), who are one of my favourite breweries.This pink guava, passion fruit and peach beer was a delight, packed with fruit flavour, easy to drink and with a suitable amount of sour kick to it. For me, it would be hard to make a sour much better than this, a glorious drink.

And then the Cooke Monster from Inne Beczki, a micro-brewery based in Blonie (I had to look that up, it’s a town not far to the west of Warsaw). This was the decadent delight that I was looking for, packed with coffee and chocolate flavours, as well as being smooth, despite being 7.8%. This wasn’t far from being like a chocolate milkshake, one of the better oatmeal stouts that I’ve had.

I gave thought to whether I should just spend the entire day in the bar, but I thought that might be pushing it a little too far as I didn’t want to stumble out. The snow and ice has nearly all gone, but I thought a long visit might be excessive, although I wouldn’t have taken much persuading to stay for longer.

I had found this bar because their pizzas were recommended, but I went instead for the chicken bagel with pickle, mozzarella, pickled red onion and white cabbage. I expected something much smaller than this if I’m being honest. Although I expected to enjoy the bagel (otherwise I wouldn’t have ordered it) this was far better than I had expected. A large portion, an entire chicken breast and a coating that was rich in flavour. The chicken was tender and moist, the pickle and red onion added a salty and sour taste, whilst the bagel was of a decent quality. Very enjoyable and even the white cabbage was delicious, so they’re clearly doing something right for me to be able to write that.

But back to the bar itself, which was clean and comfortable, with pro-active service from the staff. There were a number of customers who came in during my visit, often they just bought one beer to take out or sit in, some others lingered for longer. It’s rare that I’m so delighted by the beer options that I have to take some beers away with me, and it’s so rare I’m not sure that I’ve ever done it. There are also enough other beers here to keep me entertained on a future visit, with the prices are all being reasonable for the quality offered.

As I mentioned, this is what more pubs in the UK should be doing, not just micro-pubs and a few forward thinking bars. Too often the choice of beers in pubs and restaurants is bland and unappealing, but yet this lovely little bar in Gdansk has managed to outclass so many of them. This is one of the best bars that I’ve been to, such a simple concept but such excellent food and drink and a friendly and genuine service. This is very much all on-trend, but it isn’t formulaic, it’s just informal and forward thinking.

Sundays are designed for craft beer or cafes (and religion for those that want – I don’t judge), and I was happy to follow this tradition by doing both. It’s important to support a broad range of hospitality sectors in Gdansk, I’m happy to do that.

This was a slightly busier cafe than my photos suggest, I had to wait for people to leave before taking them. The surroundings are pleasant, I particularly liked the books. Reading the news, I was puzzling over the situation in Ukraine that was unfolding when I was sitting here as well, I was thinking about going back to Kyiv next week, but I think I might wait to see what happens first as I’m not into danger travel. Anyway, that’s enough politics for the blog.

This is a surprisingly interesting way to people watch. I suspect that I need to get out more if things have come to this, but there we go.

I ordered at the counter in my usual broken Polish, which went better than usual, although I set the bar very low on these encounters. I was given a buzzer so that I knew when to collect the food and I like it when things are kept simple like this. It took them 12 minutes to prepare my coffee and cake which seemed quite a long time, but I was in no rush at all.

This photo is something of an optical illusion. That’s a large slice of cake and it’s almost a bucket sized cup of coffee, although to be fair, I did order a large latte. The prices were expensive for Poland, coming in at just over £5.50, which was quite decadent of me, but the peanut butter cake was delicious and the latte was one of the best that I’ve had. This was quite fortunate as I had about a litre of it to get through.

I liked this cafe, it was laid-back, informal and I stayed for a quite a while getting work done. They serve slightly more substantial meals, but I was happy with my cake which tasted moist and so seemed fresh. Friendly surroundings, a peaceful environment, good food and drink, definitely a recommended way to spend part of a Sunday afternoon.

Leaving my usual IHG and Accor options for the night, I booked into the Hotel Artus in Gdansk city centre, opposite St. Mary’s Church. I noticed that the Genius Level 3 offer for this hotel gave a free room upgrade, so I thought I’d try that, especially given the low prices.

Positive first impressions, I don’t think that brickwork is particularly old, but it adds some character to the room, as do the big windows.

The sitting area of the room, all modern and contemporary. The light at the rear didn’t have a bulb in and the bathroom sink didn’t have a plug, but I didn’t let these factors concern me.

And that was the view from the room, quite spectacular and a complete delight to look out onto. There was regular noise from the church bells and the usual sounds of a city, all of which I thought were charming and added character. The hotel has picked up some negative reviews about the noise from the church bells, which is ridiculous as far as I’m concerned, what’s the point in staying next to this historic building which is one of the largest brick built structures in Europe and complaining about the noise from it? Anyway, I thought it was all really rather lovely.

The breakfast room in the attached cafe, my first impressions were positive. This serves as a cafe which is open to the public during the day and the surroundings are a well thought through mix of modern and traditional.

The latte was dusted with cinnamon, this was a decent coffee.

I was disappointed to discover that they’ve scrapped the buffet breakfast arrangement and are just serving plated breakfasts. I’m fairly sure that this is just because they’re quiet, but I don’t like penny pinching like that as they could just put a few items out and refresh as appropriate so that guests can have what they want. The rolls, peppers and salad elements here were nice, as was the yoghurt. What I assume is pork was bland and tasteless, and the cheese tasted of cardboard. I was initially pleased to see toast, but it was some sort of odd and inedible toastie. Annoyingly, there was no orange juice, jams or gherkins, which are my staple diet at Polish hotels, along with salamis and the like. I must admit to missing the breakfasts offered by IHG and Accor hotels, and these shouldn’t really be better than smaller hotels like the Artus, especially given it has its own cafe.

The hot options were limited to sausages and scrambled eggs, which is a shame as a decent poached egg and toast is one of the nicest things. The sausages were poor quality and things like this are far better just placed on a buffet arrangement so that guests can choose if they want them or not, perhaps just trying a small amount. The onions were nice, although it’d be difficult to get that wrong. I felt quite guilty about how much of the food here had to be chucked in the bin, this is a wasteful arrangement from the hotel. I’m not convinced that their penny pinching actually saved them anything here either.

Anyway, this room was cheap, at £20, so absolutely nothing to complain about there, although the breakfast was extra. As room views go, this was one of the best that I’ve had and as a lover of city noise, the ambient sound of church bells and pedestrians worked nicely for me. It was a shame the hotel served some cheap items up for breakfast, otherwise this would have been a near perfect review. Breakfast aside, I liked the atmosphere in the hotel and there were no annoying noises either internally or externally. I’ll also remember that lovely room view for a long time, so I’m glad I stayed here.

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.