Another weekend and another festival hits the streets of the Tricity. Last week I was roused from a mild hangover by a fifty strong samba band marching outside my window. I fought the urge to close the windows, grabbed my camera and headed down to join the party.

The troupe slowly made its way from the railway station down to the cobbled streets of the Old Town where it stopped on the steps of Dwor Artus to bang out a couple more numbers.

I’m a little sketchy on the details, but at least some of the group were from L’Omberico Del Mondo – a Polish group that plays up and down the country – but the charistmatic conductor had the strongest Scottish accent I have heard for a long time.

It was one of the last days of pure sunshine of the year and the streets lined wall to wall with smiling people – it really made me appreciate being able to spend summer in the Tricity.

A full set of pictures can be found on Flickr.

We took you to the Sure Bar for drinks before and after reading that it served ‘the best burger in Poland’ according to the usually accurate tourist magazine In Your Pocket, we decided this would be the place to close out an indulgent week of birthday celebrations.

We’ll cut to the chase, it was not the best burger in Poland. It was not even the best burger in Gdansk – the £8 (38 PLN) dense, flavourless meat patty falling into second place behind the £1 (5 PLN) McRoyal from McDonalds. If you are looking for the best burger in Gdansk, save your money and head for the golden arches.

Fish in Gdansk has been good, but we’ve never had a battered fillet. The fish is served looking a bit sorry for itself. The batter a little soggy on the top… as if it has been left resting somewhere… but where has the deep fried fillet been sitting? A quick flip and the answer is obvious – it’s been sat keeping warm a touch too long under the grill.

We really wonder why a restaurant/pub that is trying to elevate the quality of international food in Gdansk would let something like this out of the kitchen. Anyway, the waiter was apologetic and offered a replacement, but as we had an early flight the next day we were short for time and picked out the cod within. The fish that could be salvaged from between the soggy and burnt portions was ok, but the lemon mayonnaise (definitely not tartare sauce as described) was really nice and woke up the chalky chips.

The seating options for dining are realistically limited to five tables at the rear of the bar. Unfortunately this left us sitting right next to one couple and only a couple of tables away from another. In a bar that only had six people in it, that meant social awkwardness, whispering for everyone and the embarrassment that comes with photographing one’s food.

We quite like having a drink here. The cocktails are expensive, but interesting and well made and hotel gave us an opportunity to do a bit of ‘celebrity spotting’ when we came for a drink after stumbling into a premiere up the road.

So when you are in Gdansk, for cocktails come to the Sure, to be sure, but set your eating expectations low.

Food
Service
Decor
Value

Sure Bar
Radisson Blu Hotel
Dlugi Targ 19
80-828 Gdansk

Coming from rain soaked Julys in Belfast, summer in the Tricity is a revelation. Long sunny evenings matched by long golden beaches can’t help but put a smile on our faces and make us wonder how we will cope with the scraps of sunshine that await next year when we have returned home.

A new hobby we’ve picked up in Poland is rollerblading – a popular pastime here thanks to the long stretches of cycle paths, including a brand new strip of smooth tarmac that hugs the coast from Brzeszno to Sopot. On one sunny morning we ‘bladed’ (is that what they call it?) the 7km from central Gdansk to Jelitkowo for the annual sand sculpture display and back again – even more impressive given we still lack the ability to stop without assistance from helpful lamp posts and friendly trees.

Another summer indulgence that can’t be missed in the Tricity is the ice cream – we’ll really miss wandering into the Old Town in the evening to grab a cone of the fantastic vanilla and chocolate mieszane (’mix’) cones. I’m not sure if these are a Tricity, Polish, or even Central/Eastern European blend of icecream, but the tight swirls of rich vanilla cream and nutty chocolate make the British ‘99′ seem a bland way to cool down.

I’m yet to capture an adequate shot of the beach on the Bay of Gdansk, but the 10 mile stretch of sand that borders Gdansk, Sopot and Gdynia is the Tricity’s best asset. Town planners have been smart enough to preserve a 500m strip of green belt between the sea and the city to make a trip to the beach feel like a real escape from city life – while only a few Zloty away on the tram.

The areas nearest the tram stops become crowded throngs of of bronzed young people and families, the sheer length of the beach means there is always somewhere quiet to relax and watch the boats in the bay. Take your pick as to which view you would prefer!

A random blessing in our stay in Gdansk has been our new found friends (and fellow far flung couple) K & G, who are currently living in Gdynia for a year. At least once a month we find ourselves heading up to the sea side for another evening of good food along with a smattering of beer, wine and the occasional spirit.

So it was that we ended up spending a long, warm August afternoon in paper party hats chowing down on a tray of lobster at a ‘crayfish party’ (or kräftskiva) from G’s native Sweden.

Traditionally marking the start of the Swedish crayfish harvesting season, kräftskiva are held in August – but it seems that whatever stocks they had in the southern Baltic were long gone, as despite searching the whole Tricity, not a single crayfish could be found… But fear not, a quick and tasty substitution for lobster from the far side of the Atlantic saved the day.

Aside from the small matter of no crayfish at a crayfish party, everything else was in place for the authentic Swedish experience – the garden was decked in suitably fishy decorations and the table laid with paper plates and napkins printed with the elusive shellfish.

To accompany the lobster, K served a sublime traditional cheese pie – lovingly adorned with a crayfish insignia etched in raspberry. The pie was pure cream, eggs and rich Vasterbotten cheese – stick that in a buttery homemade pastry case and you have pure pie perfection.

If that isn’t enough cheese for you, the rest of the huge Vasterbrotten wedge was served up with crackers on which to spread the moist mushy parts of the lobster – bits that I would never dared eat had our hosts not given me assurance they were safe. In fact these were the best bits – I just need more experience eating lobster…

Another essential element at a crayfish party is booze and Swedish party songs – although we were slow to pick up some of the more lyrically complicated chants, we did manage a brief Finnish shout of ‘nu!’ (’now’) before each shot of sweet schnapps.

Beer and wine followed and by the time we got the train back to Gdansk we were fuller, tipsier, happier and tired out – another memorable weekend thanks to K&G, thanks!

A few weeks ago we returned to Gdansk after a short trip home, and it was great to take to the cobbled streets of the old town (albeit through Belfast-esque weather) to try the new Verres en Vers restaurant in the beautifully restored Radisson SAS on the the main historic square of Dlugi Targ.

The Radisson itself is really a remarkable restoration job. The lobby is bright and spacious and we decided to take a drink at the Sure bar just off the foyer. This was billed as a ‘cosy Irish bar’, but the reality was that it felt like a hotel bar. A classy, stylish one with an excellent cocktail list, but ‘Irish’ and ‘cosy’ are not two words that spring to mind.

We went for a couple of cocktails at 25 PLN (£5) each. Pricey drinks in Gdansk, but really well made and just soooo good. As the Radisson has only been open a few weeks, the bar was empty, the silence broken only by us and a light tinkling of 50s swing from the sound system. The cocktails were good enough to go back to, but the price will probably discount much of a local trade.

Drinking up, we sauntered along the corridor to the restaurant. Decorated in dark woods and light creams, it certainly looked the part of a stylish bistro. We took a table at the window overlooking the main street – we had plenty of choice as there was noone else dining there on the saturday night. Hopefully, no big deal as the restaurant was new, pricey and the tourist season had been stalled by the chilly weather.

The wine list was impressive in content, but seemed obscene in price. Wine is more expensive in Gdansk in general, but a house white at £20 a bottle seems a touch expensive. We opted instead for a caraf of Alsace Reisling at £10. At 25cl the caraf was almost humourously small, but the wine was good quality and it gave us a wee glass each.

The first starter we ordered was the onion soup. This was far and away the highlight of the meal – a rich broth stuffed with crunchy croutons and packed with cheese. About as good as a French onion soup can be (that means really good) and keenly priced at 20 PLN (£4).

After the full flavours of the soup, the crab salad could not have been more bland. The crab was completely without any flavour, so tasteless that it was almost disturbing… We grabbed the salt shaker and kept grinding until it at least it tasted like salt. The rocket and mixed leaves salad was also very lame. At around £10 for the starter, this could not have been worse value.

Mains arrived with some fantastic ‘garlic bread’ on the side. In this case the bread (a very non descript baguette) was accompanied by half a bulb of roasted garlic and a knob of butter. The soft garlic cloves could then be spread onto the bread and dusted with salt to create the some of the most amazing garlic bread we have had – why don’t we do this at home?!

Main number one was the fillet of beef with a brandy sauce and roast potatoes. The beef was perfectly cooked to medium rare and was a really great slab of meat. The sauce was a little fiery with chilli oil, but very tasty and a good dip for the potatoes.

We ordered a side of Dauphinoise potatoes with this (I didn’t realise the beef came with roasties) which were adequate… but rather than being creamy had more of a dry eggy texture. Hmmm.

The other course was the pork belly. At 40 PLN this was one of the cheapest things on the menu, but came as two large slabs of slow cooked pork belly with a nice crispy edge. The meat was served with potatoes and fennel in a red wine sauce, with a green side salad. While not wildly exciting, it was about as good as a meat and two veg dish could be – not bad at all.

Onto dessert, and with summer (supposedly) here we opted for two light fruity ones – strawberries with cognac and cream, and mille fuille with raspberries and cream. They were fine, fresh, fruity, did what they said on the tin, but nothing more.

Removing the cocktails and tip from the bill, the meal came to 350 PLN (£70) for three courses and a glass of wine each. While the ambiance and staff were superb, you really are paying for the location more than the uninspiring food. The onion soup was so good, though, that we might give it another chance now the summer is properly here.

Food
Service
Decor
Value

Verres en Vers
Radisson Blu Hotel
Dlugi Targ 19
80-828 Gdansk

We were going to keep the Paddy’s day tradition of drinking from noon alive in Gdansk. However the pub we had planned to go to wasn’t open until 5pm, so I worked it for the first time ever.

The Irish Pub is located in a cellar off Ul. Korzenna. The first thing that hit us was the wall of smoke and then the shock at being told by a bouncer that we must put our coats in the cloakroom (2PLN each) – ker-ching! But we found a couple of comfy chairs, had green pints of Polish beer mixed with blue curacao and watched Riverdance on the projector.

Karaoke and some dancing came later – good craic was had by all!

I wouldn’t recommend working the next day with that lethal combination. Being too tired to shop and cook, we went back to Masala. I know we recommended it before, but maybe we were just lucky? We ordered a green thai curry…. you can imagine the natural fragrant ingredients that go into traditional thai curries… lemongrass, green chillis, ginger, coriander, fish sauce, coconut milk…

And then you get this. The flavours were slightly there, but considering the lack of green chillies that were in it (it wasn’t spicy at all) I’m wondering where the green came from? The colour just put me right off. Maybe they wanted to celebrate the day after St Paddy’s day too?

Unsatisfied after the relative disaster of our trip to Pod Lososiem, we decided not to give up hope and to venture back into the Old Town for a late Sunday Lunch. It was a cold, wet day that reminded us of home in Belfast and in turn made us grateful for the usually dry weather here.

On the few nights we have been out for drinks, Cico has been a regular stop for cherry vodkas and Szarlotka cocktails, but we usually breeze through the Bistro style ground level and down to the downstairs lounge that is all moody neon lighting, white furnishings and huge, bed-like couches that stretch the length of the room.

Today we stepped inside and found the bistro fairly busy for a Sunday afternoon – young couples, families and a few groups of friends eating and drinking to the music ranging from 50s swing to laid back beats. We took a seat at one of the chunky dark wood tables and sank into the plush dark brown cushions that could furnish any modern trendy bar anywhere in the world.

The menu is long but with clear specialities – including a long pasta menu that we didn’t sample. The classic cocktail menu is also extensive and at around 17PLN (£3.50) are cheaper than the same drinks in Belfast. We got through a Margarita, a variation on a Gimlet and an apple Martini and all were well prepared.

On to the food, then. Unfortunately there was a slight order mix up and one prawn dish was substituted for another – but no harm done as the waitress apologised, the lower price was charged and the sizzling prawns were delicious and served with a fresh salad and garlic bread.

Breaded Camembert may not be the most sophisticated dish around – but the cheese was hot and gooey and the accompanying cranberry sauce was sweet and sharp.

The first main was a slightly random combination of pork roulade stuffed with leek and cheese, a feta and pesto salad and a mushroom risotto. Although the flavours didn’t really make for a coherent plate, each individual element was perfectly prepared. The mushroom risotto was rich in flavour with the right combination of creamy softness and texture.

The second plate was a modern take on the very traditional Polish ingredients of pork, potato and cabbage. Here succulent pork ribs doused with a honey mustard sauce were placed on a sour cabbage slaw and served with a creamy mash – could there be a more comforting combination?

By this point we were beyond stuffed and dessert was out of the question – the selection looked fairly typical but we’ll be sure to go back and try a couple...

Instead we closed the meal on a very sweet, dessert-like ‘White & Green’ white chocolate and pistachio coffee and a refreshing ‘Bangkok’ herbal tea.

In Cico we have found a new regular spot – good food, good drink, well priced and great ambient music to relax to.

Food
Service
Decor
Value

Cico: Come In Chill Out bar and restaurant
170 PLN (£35) for two including three cocktails, one fancy coffee and one speciality tea
Gdansk
ul.Piwna 28-30

After a few weeks of not visiting traditional Polish restaurants, we decided it was time to get back on the saddle and try again. We wanted it to be good. We really did.

Pod Lososiem is regarded as one of the best restaurants in Gdansk. Famous people go there – Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher, various central European and Eastern European presidents. It’s one of the most expensive.

And on entry to the restaurant, it felt expensive. Three members of staff were standing on our arrival in a hallway lined with old paintings in gilt frames. One guy took us up a small stairway to the cloakroom and we exchanged coats for tokens. I thought this was strange… usually coats are taken from us at the start and magically returned at the end.. but then I saw a tip tray and it all made sense. Money for putting our coats on a rack and giving us a token? Seriously?

We were led to our table in a beautiful old room. Tastefully decorated with dark wood furniture and oil paintings, softly lit by concealed lights and candles, the room was cosy and it didn’t matter that we were the only guests for half an hour.

The menu was varied and we had difficulty narrowing down the choices. To start with we went for liver with caramelised apples and calvados, crayfish soup.

As we waited, we were treated to 3 slices of bread straight from a sliced loaf from a supermarket and butter that was so hard we considered warming it over the candles! The bread was obviously sitting out for a while so we didn’t bother but it still cost 4PLN which came as a surprise on the bill at the end.

The liver was the most tender I’ve had and went well with the apples. It was so good I got excited about my main course. The soup was rich and tasted like it was made from a proper crayfish stock with lots of crayfish tails added at the end. It was ‘what it said on the tin’. Unlike the mains.

My “golden salmon on flan of carrots and broccolli, baking potatoes with thyme” was actually a shot of goldwasser liquer with well seasoned but overcooked salmon, boiled carrots (no flan), no broccolli, a dry potato and courgette gratin and wait for it… moussaka which was lukewarm on top and stone cold underneath…

It is also worth noting here that the restaurant’s name ‘Lososiem’ is a reference to salmon and the restaurant is ‘renowned’ for its salmon dishes, and yet the fish was dreadfully overcooked.

The “back of deer with rosemary with boletus mushrooms and grilled vegetables” was back of deer with mushroom sauce (perfectly cooked and pink with a creamy mushroom sauce) boiled carrots, potato gratin and cold moussaka. Deja vu?

It was so bad it was funny. Laugh out loud funny. It felt like they were trying to palm off the leftovers from lunch rather than spending a few pence going to the local market and picking up some broccoli. Finding the exact same sides on salmon and game meat just screams time saving and cost saving laziness.

The dessert menu was fairly sparse, with the usual suspects and nothing creative – hot cherries with icecream and creme brulee. We shared a creme brulee at the end as the waiter recommended it and we thought it would somehow end the experience on a better note than if we left straight after the mains. But it was barely average. Good brulee topping, but the underneath custard was just too cold.

We left the restaurant, taking time to look at the photos of the famous people on the way out and we realised they were mostly out-of-towners… rather like all the other diners we overheard that night. Not a good sign when locals don’t dine at “one of the best restaurants in town”.

Pod Lososiem has now prompted us to break from our simple star rating of old and to split our restaurant ratings to sub categories – the service was excellent, our waiter was very attentive, and the decor was a welcome change to ultra modern or fake and tacky old… but the food was simply poor.

Food
Service
Decor
Value

Restauracja Pod Lososiem
220 PLN (£45) for two excluding wine
Gdansk
ul.Szeroka 52-54

Last night we headed up to Gdynia to see what was billed as a fire and ice show. Expecting a few intricate ice sculptures and fire dancers weaving between them, instead we found ourselves observing little more than a wall of people with toddlers on their shoulders.

Perhaps Gdynia council (or whoever arranged the event) were expecting less people – I can’t imagine many of the visitors were impressed by the solitary ice sculpture of a… a… mermaid? a boat? It wasn’t quite clear, but whatever it was, it was far from impressive.

We could see the fire show in progress and joined the throng of people trying to get a view – eventually we found a spot where we could see the performers gearing up for the show. It wasn’t very exciting.

This is what we wanted to see – beautiful sculptures and a bit of drama…