Snacks

What could be better than sitting on grass, listening to the music, eating some grilled kielbasa (Polish for sausage), and drinking light beer? Nothing. Well, maybe doing this with friends.

Plac Zabaw – the Playground – is a simple wooden open-air bar-like structure set in the corner of Agrykola Park (one of the central parks in Warsaw). There are only few chairs and sofas, but a lot more of deckchairs which you can place all around the park. You can also bring your own blanket, or just sit on the grass – in the end it’s summer. During the day people are playing badminton, volleyball, or just ball.

In the evening you may come across concerts staged on a small platform. All day you can eat some freshly grilled meat (chuck, and famous kielbasa), vegetables with cream sauce, and a roll with mozzarella. Nights tend to change into dawns here.

The best thing at Plac Zabaw is – as the place is open-air – that space is unlimited. Here you don’t need to be afraid that there won’t be any place or too much people. Just sit on your a…s on the grass and have fun.

This is a very relaxed place, always full of people who seem to have a very nice time here. The atmosphere is one of the best in Warsaw – it’s uncomplicated, cosy, inviting. In the summer period you can sit outside (the door is never closed though, so you don’t feel caught inside), and if it is cold, there are always colourful blankets to keep you warm (but don’t worry, the tea/coffee you choose will do it anyway).

If you ask me, the best tea is Ronnefeldt’s Cream Orange. I also adore (yes, this is the right word) their recommended salads or coffees (keep your eyes open, the list is usually somewhere on/ behind the bar) – very professional and not expensive if you take the place and its cosiness into account.

In a small show-window on the right side of the bar there are always cakes covered in lovely icings – these are reserved for bad mood or a moment of heavenly pleasure. Karma won a senior-friendly badge, so people come here irrespective of the age.

I have lived in Mokotów nearly all my life and I have never liked Praga. Now that I live there, I wouldn’t move in a thousand years and I must say I am an aficionado of this city district.

I was looking for a place where I could invite one of our friends for her birthday. And this place really is one of the coziest locale we could have found! The whole bar has an old Warsaw style, there are old press-cuttings, mirrors and furniture everywhere. Only the staff is young (and very, very friendly).

The music is a mix of the pre-war hits and for example songs made by Starsi Panowie all the Poles know about.There is a wide range of snacks with old Warsaw names you can have, and all the beverages are at quite affordable prices.

This place is a very cosy locale for an evening beer (or even a small birthday party) and in my opinion it can compete with Pawilony (check the Pawilony article), is not so crowded though.

I think that this is one of the happiest places in Warsaw. Because how on Earth can you be unhappy holding a cup of lovely hot chocolate prepared especially for you…?

In the café part you can buy hot chocolates (make sure you try the Wedel traditional one, you won’t be able to eat anything for the rest of the week but the chocolate is definitely worth sinning for), coffees, tees and cakes. There’s also a shop where you can purchase some chocolate and prepare a lovely hot chocolate at home – try Kuwertura naturalna (fresh mix of chocolate straight into the milk), this will solve all your problems, I promise.

Wedel is one of the most traditional chocolate shops in Warsaw and they happen to know a lot about the business and about the feelings of their customers as well – somehow you always leave this place smiling. Every occasion is a Wedel occasion (check the spot for some winter / Christmas gifts 2011).

Make sure you also try TORCIK WEDLOWSKI, a traditional wafer with chocolate which is sold in boxes – this was the first sweet thing I can remember from after 1989 so there’s a piece of history to it.

My first and sweetest memory of a bar in Warsaw are connected to this place. My father used to come here for “obiad” (Polish for lunch, but in Poland obiad is usually bigger than supper, mind you) so I knew the name. Many years passed, my father became a great cook himself so lunches at “Przysmak” are no longer needed.

However, this is one of my favourite bars for a budget lunch now. The bar is situated in a flat, which means there is not much space and you sit with some people you don’t know. The kitchen is really in the kitchen and you are being served in a room. “Kompot”, the drink usually served for lunch in Poland is in a huge pot on a windowsill.

The thing that is most important to me, however, is that the ladies working in the kitchen and behind the till, can still remember my father and I am always called Andrzej’s daughter. I don’t know many places that can compete with that, at least not in Warsaw.

Last time I also saw a quite well-known Polish text/ song writer, Wojciech Młynarski, there (strange to hang over the same table though), which only proves its quality. Or an “off” status. Or both.