A short taxi ride provides refreshing repast
Joey was flipping through a stack of papers when I arrived.
"What's for dinner?" he queried.
"Italian or French," I countered.
"It's been a long day, I don't feel like pizza and pasta," he said.
I rang the French restaurant and booked a table for 20 minutes later. We took the back route on foot and a few minutes later - downtown Sopot is not a big place - we walked up the steps to Balzac (ul. 3 Maja 7, tel. (058) 551 7700) and were greeted and seated immediately.
The dining room added to Sopot's "small town" ambiance. The room seated 30 or so at seven tables draped in white linen overlaid with soft brown and burgundy cloth. Place settings were proper: silver; serving and bread-n-butter plates, rimmed with green malachite and amber designs, respectively. Hardly Baghdad on the Baltic.
The waiter brought menus and a wine list. We ordered two small Czech pilsners, sudsy little "sorbets" to wash away the day. The wine menu was a pleasant surprise. Prices typically ran zl. 60 to zl. 250, champagne excluded, for an exclusively French selection. A 1996 J. Moreau Cablis was at the top end and I don't remember the bottom. We ordered the zl. 90 bottle of George Duboeuf Julienas 1996, which my tongue never regretted.
The five-page food menu featured the gamut of appetizers, soups and salads and mains of fish, foul, game and beef. Beef, duck and salmon carpaccios (zl. 35) dominated the cold starters.
Among the hot starters were frog legs in garlic and parsley (zl. 40), mussels, roasted or steamed (zl. 45), prawns in herbs (zl. 70). My choice was relatively simple, snails (zl. 40), but I wasn't sure what "roasted" meant. In fact, I was becoming a little piqued at the glib descriptions of the food items.
Joey had set his sights on seafood.
"What's in the seafood soup?" he asked the waiter, who never seemed far away. "A town like this should have a chowder," he added in a lowered tone.
"The French name is Bouillabaisse," the waiter said, adding that it was a mixture of red snapper, salmon and trout. So, why not print that and take the guessing out of the game?
The same kind of language applied to the meat offerings - "Balzac steak" and roasted veal filet (each zl. 50)? I'd eliminated some items like the roasted veal leg (zl. 50), rabbit Alsatian (zl. 45), veal ribs in honey sauce (zl. 40) and stag filet (zl. 40). I ventured toward the waiter, again: "What's your favorite meat dish?" He was clear and concise, again: First, the Balzac, second, the roasted veal. He gave a nod to the Beef Wellington. I ordered the Balzac, which he described as grilled with a Roquefort sauce, although the baked (not roasted, as written) veal wrapped around leeks and mushrooms sounded good, too.
Upon questioning, Joey learned that the salmon in orange or a wine sauce was the only non-frozen fish available. He took the one with orange sauce, which also came recommended from the waiter.
The starters came soon after: A small, round souffle dish of snails au gratin and a bowl of soup a la seafood minestrone which buoyed a wedge of garlic toast.
The snail dish caught me off guard but left me not displeased: a steamy mixture of carrots julienne, spinach, radishes and sharp cheese - yes, there was parmesan and Roquefort - and I picked up some leek. Oh yes, and the snails were tender, too.
"I'm jealous," Joey said, as the waiter set a thick filet in front of me.
The meat was surrounded with spokes of carrots, mushroom stocks and broccoli flowers. Joey's salmon appeared rococo, pink strips of meat center stage topped with orange slices bordered by a chorus of pink rose petals. "Something sweet?" the waiter reappeared as I polished off the steak.
On offer: profita rolls with chocolate sauce, crepe suzettes, baked mango and, of course, mousse au chocolate (all at zl. 20, I think).
Dinner for two came to zl. 303 ($88), tip excluded. Compared to Warsaw, you can't beat the food, prices and attentive, informed service. In fact, my only complaint was the lack of description on the menu. But then that spelled opportunity for the waiter, who proved more than up to the task.
"What's for dinner?" he queried.
"Italian or French," I countered.
"It's been a long day, I don't feel like pizza and pasta," he said.
I rang the French restaurant and booked a table for 20 minutes later. We took the back route on foot and a few minutes later - downtown Sopot is not a big place - we walked up the steps to Balzac (ul. 3 Maja 7, tel. (058) 551 7700) and were greeted and seated immediately.
The dining room added to Sopot's "small town" ambiance. The room seated 30 or so at seven tables draped in white linen overlaid with soft brown and burgundy cloth. Place settings were proper: silver; serving and bread-n-butter plates, rimmed with green malachite and amber designs, respectively. Hardly Baghdad on the Baltic.
The waiter brought menus and a wine list. We ordered two small Czech pilsners, sudsy little "sorbets" to wash away the day. The wine menu was a pleasant surprise. Prices typically ran zl. 60 to zl. 250, champagne excluded, for an exclusively French selection. A 1996 J. Moreau Cablis was at the top end and I don't remember the bottom. We ordered the zl. 90 bottle of George Duboeuf Julienas 1996, which my tongue never regretted.
The five-page food menu featured the gamut of appetizers, soups and salads and mains of fish, foul, game and beef. Beef, duck and salmon carpaccios (zl. 35) dominated the cold starters.
Among the hot starters were frog legs in garlic and parsley (zl. 40), mussels, roasted or steamed (zl. 45), prawns in herbs (zl. 70). My choice was relatively simple, snails (zl. 40), but I wasn't sure what "roasted" meant. In fact, I was becoming a little piqued at the glib descriptions of the food items.
Joey had set his sights on seafood.
"What's in the seafood soup?" he asked the waiter, who never seemed far away. "A town like this should have a chowder," he added in a lowered tone.
"The French name is Bouillabaisse," the waiter said, adding that it was a mixture of red snapper, salmon and trout. So, why not print that and take the guessing out of the game?
The same kind of language applied to the meat offerings - "Balzac steak" and roasted veal filet (each zl. 50)? I'd eliminated some items like the roasted veal leg (zl. 50), rabbit Alsatian (zl. 45), veal ribs in honey sauce (zl. 40) and stag filet (zl. 40). I ventured toward the waiter, again: "What's your favorite meat dish?" He was clear and concise, again: First, the Balzac, second, the roasted veal. He gave a nod to the Beef Wellington. I ordered the Balzac, which he described as grilled with a Roquefort sauce, although the baked (not roasted, as written) veal wrapped around leeks and mushrooms sounded good, too.
Upon questioning, Joey learned that the salmon in orange or a wine sauce was the only non-frozen fish available. He took the one with orange sauce, which also came recommended from the waiter.
The starters came soon after: A small, round souffle dish of snails au gratin and a bowl of soup a la seafood minestrone which buoyed a wedge of garlic toast.
The snail dish caught me off guard but left me not displeased: a steamy mixture of carrots julienne, spinach, radishes and sharp cheese - yes, there was parmesan and Roquefort - and I picked up some leek. Oh yes, and the snails were tender, too.
"I'm jealous," Joey said, as the waiter set a thick filet in front of me.
The meat was surrounded with spokes of carrots, mushroom stocks and broccoli flowers. Joey's salmon appeared rococo, pink strips of meat center stage topped with orange slices bordered by a chorus of pink rose petals. "Something sweet?" the waiter reappeared as I polished off the steak.
On offer: profita rolls with chocolate sauce, crepe suzettes, baked mango and, of course, mousse au chocolate (all at zl. 20, I think).
Dinner for two came to zl. 303 ($88), tip excluded. Compared to Warsaw, you can't beat the food, prices and attentive, informed service. In fact, my only complaint was the lack of description on the menu. But then that spelled opportunity for the waiter, who proved more than up to the task.
