To tray or not to tray
Campagnia del soleul. Zurawia 6/12Tel. 696-4460
Hours:
Mon.-Fri.: 8 a.m. - 11 p.m.
Weekends: 10 a.m. - 11 p.m.Credit cards and reservations accepted
A self-service restaurant is a bit like communism: It looks good on paper, but in practice, human nature tends to get in the way.
There's impatience: The "take-your-tray-and-wait-your-turn" concept goes out the window when there's a queue jumper nearby who's salivating over the chicken wings.
Greed think of the couple that always goes straight for the fresh oysters, taking a plateful big enough to feed a room of hungry Gdansk shipyard workers.
And hygiene: Do they really think that face-height glass panels over the salad bar will stop people from sticking their fingers in the Russian salad or sneezing into the borscht?
Obviously the Italian owners of Campagnia del Sole took these human foibles into consideration when they opened their pizza and pasta restaurant in March. Rather than being a self-service restaurant, they like to call it a "semi self-service restaurant." And what that means is you can experience all the thrills of a self-service restaurant, but without the ugly, half-chewed surprises, and best of all, there's waitstaff to clean up after you.
As far as locations go, Campagnia del Sole which means "friends of the sun" has hit the jackpot. Down the quiet end of ulica Zurawia, a quick two-minute walk from plac Trzech Krzyzy, this restaurant sits right next door to another fine Warsaw eatery, Cafe 6/12. A great big stone Socialist building, it has tall windows and a pillared portico with plenty of outdoor seating, and a rather nifty upstairs loft area.
Inside, it's got the feel of a chain restaurant: coordinated floor and wall tiles, smiling cravat-wearing staff, designated "workstations" (to use McDonald's speak), and in the midst of it all, a cashier. And yes indeed, I discovered the owners are hoping to expand soon, starting with a Campagnia del Sole in Krakow, then Poznan.
I think the concept has yet to catch on in this city: The night we ate there, people would come in, stand, and look around trying to figure out exactly how it works. "To tray or not to tray?" "Do I just begin, or do I take a seat first?" "Where's the cutlery?" "What about a drink?"
The protocol works something like this: Step one go to the cashier and get a special receipt sheet. Whenever you choose something to eat, the sheet will be stamped a la Chinese dim sum, and added up at the end of your meal. Step two just go for it. There is a pasta-and-salad station, a pizza station, a gelato bar and drinks. There is also a "children's corner" so kids can amuse themselves while you eat, and a produce shop that will open in a few weeks, selling all manner of Italian goodies made by Campagnia del Sole in Italy.
Every workstation has a staff member to take your order, answer any questions you may have, and of course, to cook your meal for you. The menus, which are written on glass panels, change daily.
To go with our carafe of house red which was actually quite nice we chose a pizza bread: a nice, thin base with just a smidgen of tomato sauce, fresh rosemary and cracked sea salt. There were a number of pizza choices, but we asked the chef to come up with his own creation for us, and it was really delicious: again, a thin, crisp base, topped with shaved ham, artichokes, olives, mushrooms, zucchini and just a small amount of cheese.
From the few pasta options, I chose the ragout. The chef boils the pasta fresh, and tops it with the sauce. The Italian city of Bologna has made the ragout its speciality a rich beef-and-tomato sauce that is simmered slowly for a few hours. But this version, like so many restaurant ragouts, was disappointing. While it tasted good, it was a pale relation of a ragout and what's more, it had been corrupted with a heavy slathering of cream.
"Is there any meat in this?" David asked. I was wondering myself.
Thankfully, our side order of vegetables made up for the disappointing pasta: slices of grilled eggplant, zucchini, onion, cherry tomatoes and capsicum and with only the merest brush of olive oil.
For pudding, I trotted back into the restaurant with my receipt sheet and, having had it stamped once more, I emerged with a scoop of lemon gelato. Made locally, it was sublime light, sweet and tangy with pieces of lemon zest in it.
So if you're in the mood for a quick bite that's light and nice and child friendly or if you want a quick morning espresso and roll, then you should think about becoming a friend of the sun at Compagnia del Sole. Dinner for two, including drinks, came to zl. 78.50 ($19.60).
On the menu:
Pasta with ragout zl.18
Spaghetti with tomato and basl zl.16
Riccioutelle with radicchio and cheese zl.21
Cannelloni with veal, vegetables and béchamel sauce zl.20
Pizza with prosciutto and mushrooms zl.22
Vegetable plate zl.12
Pizza bread wtih rosemary zl. 8
Gelato (per scoop) zl.2.50
