Rebekah's Restaurant (Gourmet Chick in Poland)

When I visited Poland the two things that I was expecting were comfort food and lots of salt. Comfort food, to get the Polish people through those long cold winters and salt because my Polish friend Jade is addicted to the stuff and says that it is a result of her Polish heritage. She adds salt to every meal and even carries tiny salt sachets around in her wallet so that in case of emergency situations where a restaurant has no salt, she has some to hand.

Rebekah's restaurant in Krakow specialised in both comfort food and salt. The menu comprised various stews and variations on the famous polish dumplings, peiorgi. The restaurant itself was a very basic affair with rickety chairs and mismatched furniture. It was clearly a locals restaurant, with the English menu translation the only nod to tourists.

What Rebekah's does well is hearty and unpretentious Polish food. Pork featured heavily on the menu so I opted for the special of Pork Stew with Potato Pancake. I can only hope that this sounded more appetising in Polish. Notwithstanding the utilitarian menu, the stew was delicious. It was a rich, glossy brown peppered with generous chunks of succulent pork. The "pancake" could only be compared to a giant hash brown, however it was soft and not crunchy. I should also point out that it was perfectly salted, and there was no need to resort to sachets. The juices from the stew ran into the potato pancake and it was a treat to mop up the liquid with chunks of potato.

The bill was ridiculously cheap, even in the context of Poland which is a fairly inexpensive country. Rebekah's restaurant really is a must visit if you are in Krakow.

Details: Bozego Ciala, Krakow, Poland

Damage: Such a bargain even my mother would approve

9/10