Boiled potatoes in their skins served with gzik, a Greater Poland curd cheese mixed with soured cream, onion, chives and parsley, eaten with a glass of buttermilk.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Pyry is the Greater Poland dialect word for potatoes; in Poznań it carries enough cultural weight that 'pyrlandia' is a colloquial name for the city itself. Gzik is the regional curd-cheese preparation, related to but distinct from the eastern-Polish twaróg. The dish is the canonical Greater Poland everyday lunch, served in milk bars, regional bistros and at Pyra Bar at fast-casual prices. The combination predates the partitions and is the city's clearest culinary link to its peasant Piast past.
Common allergens: Dairy
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 PLN prices for the canonical Greater Poland plate.
Try: Pyry z gzikiem
Tip: The lunch set with soup, main and a glass of buttermilk lands under 30 PLN; it is the city's best value on a regional plate.
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.
Podkoziołek on Stary Rynek in Poznań is a Wielkopolska restaurant opposite the Koziołki, with handmade pierogi, plendze, czernina and golonka in a vaulted dining room with regular live music.
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.
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