Long way from Homer
Taverna u Greka
ul. Nowogrodzka 22
Telephone 624-9479
Hours: Daily, Noon-last guest
Credit cards accepted
If there's anything to be gleaned from the Peruvian buskers who blast passersby with amplified panpipes in every European city center, it's that ethnic music, like ethnic cuisine, often doesn't travel well.
Wherever chefs or musicians land, be it Adelaide, Athens or Abu Dhabi, influences and compromises are stirred into the pot and what comes out may not always resemble the original.
Taverna u Greka, with its Greek owner and fast growing reputation, seemed to offer a genuine leaf out of the global cookbook. To be sure of its authenticity, I invited along George a Greek Cypriot longing to keep in touch with his Hellenic culinary heritage and Joanna, a fellow devotee of Mediterranean cuisine. Hidden behind the Forum Hotel, the taverna is squeezed into a small shopping arcade wrapped in aluminum and glass. In August, when Warsaw's streets are silenced by the holiday exodus, the spot is a feasible dining venue, but out of season, when the traffic swells to its normal levels, this won't rank high on anyone's list of lunchtime or evening retreats.
We arrived in the early evening, but for some inexplicable reason the restaurant's outdoor tables and umbrellas had already been folded up. Nevertheless, a tiny table was whipped out when we arrived. Our polite but rather inhibited waiter, who appeared nervous at all times, had a patchy knowledge of the menu, which contained most classic Greek dishes but lacked a serious choice of fish.
Our Cypriot companion spelled out the virtues of a good bottle of retsina and we chose a boutari, known as a light, fruity, subtly resonated wine. Traditionally, the ancient retsina was brewed in pine casks, permeating it with a slight hint of resin, but modern brewers find it quicker to simply add a piece of resin as flavoring. We found the boutari as dry as a Plato dialog and a single bottle lasted us the whole meal.
George greeted our starters with open arms, enthusing about the feta Ladorigani, a rich, fragrant feta in fine olive oil and oregano. The thick and stodgy looking dzadziki (or tsatsiki) belied a pleasantly light concoction with a socially acceptable measure of garlic. The meal was marred by our waiter, however, who decided to bombard us with as many plates as the kitchen could churn out at once. As we struggled to clear room for the steady stream of dishes the elies, or olives in olive oil and oregano, were quickly cast aside as we hastened to make room for everything else on the table.
The horiatiki, or Greek salad, was filled with a bland, faintly bitter feta that George refused to accept as Greek. The eggplant dishes a cold, garlicky melindzanosalata and a baked melindzana psiti both passed for authentic, but as Joanna remarked: "No fireworks." Our feta Ladogriani, golden-fried in breadcrumbs, was well received by the choosy Greek palate, but I found it rather orthodox, having rather tired of goat cheese at this point.
The arrival of the main course was accompanied by the first drops of rain, a dramatic opening to a disappointing second act. My sardela tiganiti was a Greek tragedy: three sardines and a few leaves of lettuce. The fish, though brown and crispy on the outside, was a meager bony mush beneath quite an expensive disappointment at zl. 50. Meanwhile, the retsina, which should have complemented the fish, lacked body and played a poor supporting role. Although George's gyros came in a heartier serving, it was a mixed performance. The pork was deliciously seasoned but dry while the pita bread was soggy enough to have been fished out along with my sardines.
The rain drove us into the taverna's stuffy interior, where we sat beneath a ceiling of fake vines and dosed ourselves with thick Greek coffee and a succulent, nutty slice of baklava cake. I had to forgive the place for being so new and could appreciate the effort made in instilling a fairly bland white room with a bit of atmosphere. But on remembering my nights of uproarious bacchanalian revelry on the shores of the Aegean Sea, I was surprised to find a subdued atmosphere and hushed conversation passing among the few diners. It seems that a plate dropped in the taverna is more likely to be apologetically swept away by a nervous waiter than signal all to lay waste to the owner's china.
Taverna u Greka offers a reasonable selection of authentically cooked Greek dishes, but could use warmer, more confident staff. Bearing in mind the nature of restaurants in Greece, it seems that its high prices are keeping away the customers who give it life and atmosphere. Our meal for three with wine, two main courses and one dessert came to zl. 276 ($69).
On the menu:
Dzadziki zl.12
Melidzanosalata zl.18
Elies zl.10
Horiatiki zl.10
Feta Ladorigani zl.12
Feta Saganaki zl.18
Gyros zl.37
Sardela tiganiti zl.50
Retsina zl.60
Baklava zl.15
Coffee zl.9
