Pickled Baltic herring fillets dressed with sour cream, raw red onion, diced apple and hard-boiled egg, the canonical Kashubian starter at every Pomeranian table from Gdańsk to Hel.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Pomeranian fishing villages have salted and pickled Baltic herring since the medieval Hanseatic period; the cream-apple-onion version belongs to the Kashubian ethnographic region and entered Gdańsk restaurants alongside Polish migration after 1945. The dish appears on the menu at Restauracja Kubicki (open since 1918) in a form close to the interwar Free City of Danzig version.
Common allergens: Fish, Egg, Dairy
Tip from the editors. Use the fattiest matjes-cured herring you can find; the lean Atlantic varieties are too sharp.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Restauracja Kubicki in Gdańsk has run since 1918 on Wartka Street, the oldest surviving room in town. Fresh fish priced by weight, the famous eisbein and a pianist Wednesday through Sunday.
Signature: Eisbein (pork knuckle), Marinated matias herring
Order: The eisbein, the kitchen's century-old never-altered dish.
Tip: Book the window tables for the Motława view at sunset.
Why locals love it: On Ołowianka Island opposite the Old Town, reached by a footbridge most visitors skip; the most committed Kashubian kitchen in the centre.
Tip: Cross from Długie Pobrzeże; the dining-room view back to the Old Town is the trip.
Why locals love it: Twenty seats in a Długa cellar; the most committed Kashubian menu in the city is hiding under the main pedestrian tourist street.
Tip: Order the Kashubian fish soup first; the loaf-bread mains come slowly.
Cała Naprzód in Gdańsk crowns the Maritime Culture Centre on Tokarska with a fourth-floor terrace beside the medieval Crane. Kashubian herring, Baltic salmon, pike-perch pierogi and the best Motława view in town.
Signature: Kashubian herring, Pike-perch and smoked-trout pierogi
Order: Pike-perch fillet with spinach and cauliflower, or the pike-perch and smoked-trout pierogi.
Tip: Take the museum's central glass lift directly to the fourth floor.
More cities are in research. Want śledź po kaszubsku (kashubian herring) covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.