Riverside strip below the escarpment, the Saturday-morning brunch district. BUW library, Vistula boulevards, and modern Polish kitchens including Bez Gwiazdek and Kafe Zielony Niedzwiedz.
Robert Trzopek's Bez Gwiazdek in Warsaw rebuilds regional Polish cooking the way you wish your grandmother had cooked it. The name (no stars) is a joke; the room earns them.
Signature: Regional Polish tasting, Pierogi reinterpretation
Order: Whatever regional set the kitchen is running this month. The chef plates one menu, no choice.
Tip: Open Wed-Fri evenings and Saturday from 16:00. Book three to four weeks ahead, it is a small room.
Kafe Zielony Niedzwiedz in Warsaw, the Green Bear, hides in Beyer Park between Powisle and the centre. Small dining room, chalkboard menu, foraged-vegetable kitchen.
Signature: Beef cheek, Foraged-vegetable plates
Order: Whatever foraged-mushroom dish is on, with a glass of Hungarian Furmint.
Tip: Entry by car from Kruczkowskiego on the Powisle side. Walk-up from Smolna through the park.