El Koktel in Warsaw is the basement cocktail bar with emerald walls and filament bulbs, established 2014. Buzz-to-enter door, a 50-Best Discovery listing and a rotating menu of bartender-made spirits and bitters.
Why locals love it: A buzz-to-enter basement bar with emerald walls and bartender-made gin, a 50-Best Discovery listing barely a block off Mazowiecka but invisible from the street.
Tip: Ring the buzzer on the street to be let in. No reservations Tuesday-Thursday.
Address: ul. Wojciecha Gorskiego 9, 00-031 Warszawa, Warsaw
Why locals love it: The Praga pyzy room serves dumplings in jam jars under fluorescent strips for under 20 zl, the kind of working-class Polish meal Old Town tourists rarely cross the Vistula river to find.
Tip: Cash works fine. The flaki tripe soup is the second-order if pyzy is not enough.
Why locals love it: On the surviving pre-war fragment of Prozna street between Plac Grzybowski and Marszalkowska, a Michelin-Guide wine bar with a 200-plus list almost no tourist reaches.
Tip: Book the bar seat; the sommelier pours from glass, half-bottle and full at your pace.
Why locals love it: An ex-Noma, ex-El Bulli chef cooks one set Polish menu, three nights a week, in a Powisle room locals book three weeks ahead and tourists never find.
Tip: Bookings open Wednesday morning for three weeks out, online only.
Why locals love it: Hidden inside Beyer Park between Powisle and Smolna with a chalkboard menu of foraged-mushroom and game plates from a small kitchen.
Tip: Walk in from the Smolna side; the car entrance from Kruczkowskiego is for deliveries.
Why locals love it: A wine shop and bar inside the old Lace Factory courtyard on Burakowska, far enough off the Srodmiescie grid that only sommeliers and regulars find it.
Tip: Pick a bottle off the shelves and pay corkage; cheaper than ordering from a list.
