2 top places to eat this autumn in Warsaw

Lately, there’s a new trend in Warsaw and it looks like its gaining popularity among young people. Like many other big cities, where historic buildings downtown are turned into luxury hotels, shopping centers or bars and restaurants, Warsaw now has its own old spots that have been brought to life and quickly became the center of city life. Looks like first-rate bars and restaurants in classy old buildings is a winning formula as history being all authentic adds value and creates a feeling you can’t get in a brand new place.

There are two such places in Warsaw – Hala Koszyki and Hala Gwardii that combine the past and the present. Both are built around a very similar concept – bars, restaurants and a marketplace, and both are incredibly crowded at lunchtime and in the evenings and it’s almost impossible to get a table in your favorite place as it’s amazingly popular with the young and the beautiful.

Hala Koszyki offers 18 different restaurants and shops as well as well-known bars and shops. Unfortunately, the market area is placed in the back of the building and even though it offers some brilliant and hard to find elsewhere products, it’s just a background to the dining area. My favorite restaurants here are definitely  Italian Semolino (as well as great Italian ice cream at Magia D’Italia) and Spanish Sombra Tapas Bar, but also Warszawski Sen with polish specialties. And of course, Bar Koszyki where you can have a really nice aperitivo and a glass of prosecco or you can try a beer Koszyki that is brewed at the Hala.

To escape the hustle and bustle of the ground floor, check the Modern Art Gallery upstairs, as well as the exhibition regarding the restoration of the Hala Koszyki.

A couple of days ago Koszyki celebrated its first birthday and shared some statistics with us. Apparently, 3 mln people visited Koszyki last year. They had 860 040 drinks and 623 100 glasses of prosecco, ate and 2 622 970 dishes and 160 632 ice creams. Quite impressive, huh? 

Hala Gwardii was opened about a month ago and it’s named after a sports club Gwardia that used to have its headquarters there. It also has a boxing ring that refers to the place’s history as it was used to be a training spot for Polish Olympic Champions in boxing. Inside you can find an interesting marketplace with regional products, many of them with an eco prefix that of course makes them 4 times more expensive. Like in Koszyki, restaurants that offer not only polish but also gluten-free, lactose-free, taste-free food from around the world. My favorite is definitely Bar nie tylko mleczny  (all kinds of Polish specialties) as well as Kiełba w Gębie or Warburger that offer nice street food. You can find there also a small shop with polish wine (yes, we do produce wine in Poland).  

In three years Hala Gwardii is supposed to be redecorated which I’m very glad about because such a huge space have a great potential and can be arranged in so many ways. For now, it is just a less sophisticated version of Hala Koszyki and I definitely prefer the second one. Some may say that not knowing them both is a social faux pas so make sure you visit them on your next visit to Warsaw.