Greater Poland potato pancakes made from grated raw potato bound with egg and flour, fried in lard and served with mushroom sauce, soured cream or apple sauce.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Plendze are the Greater Poland answer to the eastern placki ziemniaczane; the dialect word reflects the German-influenced Prussian-partition vocabulary that survived in Poznań kitchens. The dish is plainer than the eastern versions, focused on the texture of the grated potato, with mushroom sauce as the canonical accompaniment. Every regional Wielkopolska room in the city lists plendze alongside pyry z gzikiem as the two everyday plates.
Common allergens: Gluten, Eggs
Tip from the editors. Lard makes the plendze. Sunflower oil works in a pinch but the flavour is flatter and the crust less crisp.
Podkoziołek on Stary Rynek in Poznań is a Wielkopolska restaurant opposite the Koziołki, with handmade pierogi, plendze, czernina and golonka in a vaulted.
Signature: Plendze, Pierogi, Golonka
Order: Plendze (Greater Poland potato pancakes) with mushroom sauce.
Tip: Time your visit to 12:00 to catch the Koziołki, the mechanical goats above the town hall, butting heads.
Srodka kitchen on Rynek Srodecki since 2014 from Sadowski couple; Wielkopolska classics: czernina, szare kluchy, namesake elderflower cordial.
Why locals love it: On the Śródka side of the river, this Wielkopolska room is the city's most local regional kitchen but tourists rarely cross from Stary Rynek to find it.
Tip: Book by phone a day ahead and ask for the small room upstairs.
Pyra Bar on Strzelecka 13 in Poznań is the city's potato-bar canteen since 2009, with pyry z gzikiem, plendze and pyzy at sub-25 $ prices for the canonical.
Try: Pyry z gzikiem
Tip: The lunch set with soup, main and a glass of buttermilk lands under 30 $; it is the city's best value on a regional plate.
More cities are in research. Want plendze covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.