A jewel in the rough, don't mind harried waiter, gruff clientele
"So this is Cafe Kredens," I said on reading the sign. I'd heard this place mentioned plenty of times, and had long been tempted by the Insider's recommendation of the place's T-bone steak: "an authentic bleeding hunk of dead animal."
But the happy discovery was tempered by disappointment, because I was sure that Carmine LaBruno, my predecessor in this column, had already reviewed Cafe Kredens long ago, meaning no free meal for me.
However, a thorough search of my complete set of Warsaw Business Journals (Chloe's been telling me to clear them out of the garage, but I can't bear to part with them) revealed my error: The restaurant Carmine had reviewed was the Grand Kredens on Aleje Jerezolimskie, the cafe's younger sister. Cafe Kredens, to my delight, was fair game.
When I called up to reserve a table, I realized that I wasn't the only person confused by the two Kredens. The waiter asked me two times if I was sure what restaurant I was calling. "You want the Cafe Kredens? On Przemyslowa?" We went on a Monday evening after work. The place was full at 8:00 p.m., but not with the yuppie types I was expecting. A mom with two little girls ate their dinners quietly at one table, a blue-collar foursome by the wall sipped tall beers, and two painters smoked and drank beers at the sidewalk table. Not artsy-fartsy painters, I mean real painters, wearing dirty white overalls and caps splattered with gray and brown paint. While we looked over the menu, one painter came in looking to light his cigarette, and with a gruff "przepraszam!" grabbed a candle off our table, lit up and went back outside. The waiter raised an eyebrow at me as if to ask "is he bothering you?" I smiled and shook my head. The incident added to the place's informal, neighborhood atmosphere. The day's Rzeczpospolita hung on a hook by the door, another homey touch I appreciated.
The two-page menu starts off with some soups for zl. 8-zl. 12, including gulash, mushroom, lurek and cream of broccoli. I decided to test out their lurek, because I love that soup and I'm always looking for one that compares to the exceptional lurek they serve at the Pod Aniolami restaurant in Krakow. Chloe was in the mood for a salad, of which the menu listed six or seven in the zl. 12-zl. 22 range. She chose the Greek salad (zl. 14). There are some other interesting starters like chilli (zl. 29), white sausage (zl. 26) and buffalo wings in three, six or nine-portion servings (zl. 9-zl. 27). The mains run zl. 33-zl. 44. Beef predominates, but they also have some pastas, spaghetti for zl. 18 and lasagna for zl. 23. All that interested me was the T-bone steak (zl. 44). They also have a page of pizzas, small ones running zl. 10-zl. 19 and larges zl. 14-zl. 24. Chloe chose a small pizza called Alla Bascailo, topped with bacon, onion, red peppers, capers, olives and black pepper (zl. 19).
There is a short wine list, with some French, Spanish and Italian bottles as well as a Californian for zl. 200 at the top end. We took a Bordeaux from the other end of the list, a Chateau Grand Renom '97 for zl. 65. I don't know what the chateau is reknown for, but it can't be the wine. Welch's grape juice has more body. The restaurant furthered the comparison by serving the wine in juice glasses - dirty juice glasses at that. Now, I've been known to gulp Sophia at home out of empty Nuttella jars, but in a restaurant?
But after a few glasses, we just laughed about it, and chalked it up to that "casual, neighborhood" atmosphere again. Cafe Kredens was even starting to remind me of a favorite little hole-in-the-wall we go to in Montmartre in Paris where the wine glasses are dirty, the dog under the table is dirty, the owner's little kids who climb up on my lap and ask for chewing gum are dirty - and we love the place. Chloe's eyes bugged out when her Greek salad came. No complaints for once about the amount of feta and olives - there were more than plenty of both. I was just as happy with my lurek, which was chock full of bacon and mushrooms and had a bit of that elusive rye flavor I crave in lurek, and only too rarely find.
Chloe was less pleased with her pizza. It looked like your normal, decent but unexciting pizza to me, with a reasonable amount of toppings. Chloe's standards may be a bit higher than mine, though: "It's missing garlic, it's missing oil, it's missing sauces, it's missing the … the … saveurs d'Italie!" That's asking a little much for zl. 19 if you ask me, but anyway, if you're looking for great pizza, this might not be the place (try Ti Amo across the street from the Warsaw Financial Center if you want awesome pizza).
My T-bone steak came, as advertised, still bleeding on a big wooden platter. No sauces were provided, but for my taste, none were needed. The wide, lean steak had plenty of its own juices to wash it down.
Chloe chose a baked apple (zl. 15) for dessert. The apple itself was cooked superbly and was delicous by itself, but Chloe thought the strawberry sauce was unnecessary and made the dish too sweet. I on the other hand had one of the best tiramisus (zl. 15) ever. It was the cake-style tiramisu, as opposed to the mousse kind they do so well at Verona, and was like a rich, chocolate-covered cheesecake, and so big that I couldn't finish it.
Our bill came to zl. 223 ($57). The only problems we had with Cafe Kredens related to the fact that there was only one harried waiter handling all seven tables: taking orders, bringing food, clearing tables and calculating the bills. Details were neglected, understandably. The place was still full when we left around 10 p.m. I'd think that a place doing such brisk business could afford to put another waiter on duty. The Grand Kredens on Aleje Jerezolimskie might be easier to find, but for good food in a relaxed atmosphere, it's worth trying the Cafe Kredens.
But the happy discovery was tempered by disappointment, because I was sure that Carmine LaBruno, my predecessor in this column, had already reviewed Cafe Kredens long ago, meaning no free meal for me.
However, a thorough search of my complete set of Warsaw Business Journals (Chloe's been telling me to clear them out of the garage, but I can't bear to part with them) revealed my error: The restaurant Carmine had reviewed was the Grand Kredens on Aleje Jerezolimskie, the cafe's younger sister. Cafe Kredens, to my delight, was fair game.
When I called up to reserve a table, I realized that I wasn't the only person confused by the two Kredens. The waiter asked me two times if I was sure what restaurant I was calling. "You want the Cafe Kredens? On Przemyslowa?" We went on a Monday evening after work. The place was full at 8:00 p.m., but not with the yuppie types I was expecting. A mom with two little girls ate their dinners quietly at one table, a blue-collar foursome by the wall sipped tall beers, and two painters smoked and drank beers at the sidewalk table. Not artsy-fartsy painters, I mean real painters, wearing dirty white overalls and caps splattered with gray and brown paint. While we looked over the menu, one painter came in looking to light his cigarette, and with a gruff "przepraszam!" grabbed a candle off our table, lit up and went back outside. The waiter raised an eyebrow at me as if to ask "is he bothering you?" I smiled and shook my head. The incident added to the place's informal, neighborhood atmosphere. The day's Rzeczpospolita hung on a hook by the door, another homey touch I appreciated.
The two-page menu starts off with some soups for zl. 8-zl. 12, including gulash, mushroom, lurek and cream of broccoli. I decided to test out their lurek, because I love that soup and I'm always looking for one that compares to the exceptional lurek they serve at the Pod Aniolami restaurant in Krakow. Chloe was in the mood for a salad, of which the menu listed six or seven in the zl. 12-zl. 22 range. She chose the Greek salad (zl. 14). There are some other interesting starters like chilli (zl. 29), white sausage (zl. 26) and buffalo wings in three, six or nine-portion servings (zl. 9-zl. 27). The mains run zl. 33-zl. 44. Beef predominates, but they also have some pastas, spaghetti for zl. 18 and lasagna for zl. 23. All that interested me was the T-bone steak (zl. 44). They also have a page of pizzas, small ones running zl. 10-zl. 19 and larges zl. 14-zl. 24. Chloe chose a small pizza called Alla Bascailo, topped with bacon, onion, red peppers, capers, olives and black pepper (zl. 19).
There is a short wine list, with some French, Spanish and Italian bottles as well as a Californian for zl. 200 at the top end. We took a Bordeaux from the other end of the list, a Chateau Grand Renom '97 for zl. 65. I don't know what the chateau is reknown for, but it can't be the wine. Welch's grape juice has more body. The restaurant furthered the comparison by serving the wine in juice glasses - dirty juice glasses at that. Now, I've been known to gulp Sophia at home out of empty Nuttella jars, but in a restaurant?
But after a few glasses, we just laughed about it, and chalked it up to that "casual, neighborhood" atmosphere again. Cafe Kredens was even starting to remind me of a favorite little hole-in-the-wall we go to in Montmartre in Paris where the wine glasses are dirty, the dog under the table is dirty, the owner's little kids who climb up on my lap and ask for chewing gum are dirty - and we love the place. Chloe's eyes bugged out when her Greek salad came. No complaints for once about the amount of feta and olives - there were more than plenty of both. I was just as happy with my lurek, which was chock full of bacon and mushrooms and had a bit of that elusive rye flavor I crave in lurek, and only too rarely find.
Chloe was less pleased with her pizza. It looked like your normal, decent but unexciting pizza to me, with a reasonable amount of toppings. Chloe's standards may be a bit higher than mine, though: "It's missing garlic, it's missing oil, it's missing sauces, it's missing the … the … saveurs d'Italie!" That's asking a little much for zl. 19 if you ask me, but anyway, if you're looking for great pizza, this might not be the place (try Ti Amo across the street from the Warsaw Financial Center if you want awesome pizza).
My T-bone steak came, as advertised, still bleeding on a big wooden platter. No sauces were provided, but for my taste, none were needed. The wide, lean steak had plenty of its own juices to wash it down.
Chloe chose a baked apple (zl. 15) for dessert. The apple itself was cooked superbly and was delicous by itself, but Chloe thought the strawberry sauce was unnecessary and made the dish too sweet. I on the other hand had one of the best tiramisus (zl. 15) ever. It was the cake-style tiramisu, as opposed to the mousse kind they do so well at Verona, and was like a rich, chocolate-covered cheesecake, and so big that I couldn't finish it.
Our bill came to zl. 223 ($57). The only problems we had with Cafe Kredens related to the fact that there was only one harried waiter handling all seven tables: taking orders, bringing food, clearing tables and calculating the bills. Details were neglected, understandably. The place was still full when we left around 10 p.m. I'd think that a place doing such brisk business could afford to put another waiter on duty. The Grand Kredens on Aleje Jerezolimskie might be easier to find, but for good food in a relaxed atmosphere, it's worth trying the Cafe Kredens.
