Snack and go
Cafe Contact on ul. Foksal 21.
Lunchtime is always fraught with endless decisions and revisions; when to eat, what to eat and above all where to eat. But when the morning's over and the weather's fine, getting out of the office for a quick bite is essential.
My first stop was the new java shop, Coffee Heaven , which is a beacon of bright modernity amid the gray concrete catacombs of Warsaw's central station. By Western standards it's an average drink-and-go coffee shop on the concourse of an average city railway station, but for the capital it exudes color, comfort and relative safety from the winos and pickpockets that prowl the station.
A long mahogany-colored counter wraps around the loud orange decor and clearly Coffee Heaven was designed primarily as a takeaway outlet. There are only a handful of seats, but I was lucky enough to find two.
The two salads on offer, the Mexican with chicken and sweet corn and the tortellini with basil, were frankly disappointing. Both were drowned in oil and covered with colorless, tasteless tomatoes. The tortellini looked stodgy and was probably cooked up the day before.
So after this initial disappointment, I checked out the sandwiches. Coffee Heaven sells seven different varieties on rye and multigrain bread. My coronation chicken sandwich with bhuna sweet curry sauce was appetizing, although the sauce was either an off-the-shelf affair or a concoction of various bottled sauces it had a slickness that belied a host of additives. The Marie Rose sauce in my Frutti di Mare sandwich pretty much overwhelmed the prawns and crabsticks. Overall, Coffee Heaven is OK for a bite and go, but the attempt for the culinary-challenged commuter is far from heavenly.
For a tasty lunchtime snack this place has a long way to go before challenging the likes of Starbucks or Pret a Manger. But one thing the place does do is good coffee. My companion, the effusive Robert, drooled over the different varieties of decaf while I had no complaints about the espresso.
A world away from the din of Central Station is Cafe Contact, a breezy little establishment dishing out coffee, salads and sandwiches. Fairly limited in space, a single room houses the counter and the staff, while another offers a surprisingly elegant and airy dining space with a double door opening onto the street. The cafe's best table in good weather is inside this doorway, while a couple of other tables are out on the street, though two espressos and an ashtray would probably stretch their capacity.
My Greek salad came equipped with a small tub of tzatziki dressing, which Jeff, my other dining companion, said was large enough to be a meal in itself. My trout salad came with a light honey-mustard vinaigrette, but the serving was too small to have an impact on the palate.
Jeff, however, was disappointed with his Ciabatta wloska, or Italian ciabatta. He complained that the bread had gone soggy in its shrink-wrapping, then realized that rather than brie and salami, he was eating a combination of Parma ham and what resembled provolone cheese. Nevertheless, he was happy enough with the flavor. My salmon ciabatta was stuffed with slices of boiled egg and fresh vegetables, and was the best sandwich I had eaten that week. To finish off on a sweet note, I then ordered a slice of apple-and-rhubarb pie and some fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. Both got top marks. With its hardy sandwiches and small-town atmosphere, Contact is certainly a recommendation for a good lunch break.
In stark contrast to Contact, Bistro Panini is a hurried, harried little subway cafe. At first sight it appears to be a slightly larger version of an Oskar sandwich shop with added seats, but the bustle of the place won't keep anyone in their seats for long. The interior typical of franchise operations mixes lively colors and utilitarian furniture, although the painted polystyrene tiles with shredded edges adorning the walls are clearly a do-it-yourself touch.
Freshly made hot sandwiches are the main item here, with a choice of fillings and serving options that could prove confusing if your Polish isn't up to snuff. However, service is polite if not rushed. While Bistro Panini offers some of the best sandwich prices I've seen in Warsaw, only basic ingredients such as cheese, ham and roast chicken are available.
With a plastic tray in hand I squeezed into the only seat left, which looks out onto the gridlocked traffic of ulica Marszalkowska. The vegetable filling of the mozzarella sandwich was fresh and crisp, but few of the tomato-based sauces were particularly tasty, evidently based on bottled ketchup. My Cesar salad was small and basic. The chunky serving of lasagna Panini's effort to break out of the Oskar mold could have served two and the mush of flavors in the meat sauce pointed unmistakably to its origin: a cheap and cheery catering wholesaler.
Although Bistro Panini is obviously geared toward fast turnover, the air conditioning makes it a better choice than the average sweltering subway sandwich shop. If only the owner was less inclined toward low-quality shortcuts; the food could also be more edible.
Bistro Panini, ul. Wilcza 3, Mon.-Fri: 9 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Cafe Contact, ul. Foksal 21, Mon.-Fri: 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Sat: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Sat: 10:00 a.m.-4 p.m.
Coffee Heaven, Central Station, Mon.-Fri: 5 a.m. - midnight, Weekends: 8 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
