What to Eat in Krakow: Food Guide and Local Specialities

Polish food is hearty, satisfying and cheap, and Kraków is a fine place to eat it — from no-frills milk bars to the street-food stalls of Kazimierz and a lively modern restaurant scene. Here’s what to try, where to find it, and the local specialities you won’t want to miss. For the bigger picture, see our Kraków travel guide.

The dishes to try

• Pierogi — the famous filled dumplings, boiled or fried. The classic fillings are ruskie (potato and cheese), meat, and cabbage with mushrooms; sweet versions come with fruit or sweet cheese.
• Żurek — a tangy sour-rye soup, often with sausage and a boiled egg, sometimes served in a hollowed-out bread loaf.
• Bigos — “hunter’s stew” of sauerkraut, fresh cabbage and several kinds of meat, slow-cooked for days; the ultimate cold-weather dish.
• Kotlet schabowy — a breaded pork cutlet, usually with potatoes and cabbage salad; the Polish Sunday lunch.
• Gołąbki — cabbage leaves rolled around meat and rice in tomato sauce.
• Placki ziemniaczane — crisp potato pancakes, served savoury or with a goulash topping.
• Soups — alongside żurek, try rosół (clear chicken soup) and barszcz (beetroot soup).

Kraków street food and snacks

Some of the best things to eat are the cheapest, and a few are particular to Kraków:

• Obwarzanek krakowski — the ring-shaped braided bread sold from blue carts across the Old Town. It’s a genuine Kraków icon, protected under EU geographical status, and the perfect thing to eat on the move.
• Zapiekanka — a long toasted baguette with mushrooms, cheese and toppings; the legendary ones come from the round hall on Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, best late at night.
• Maczanka krakowska — a Kraków speciality: slow-braised pork in a caraway gravy, piled into a soft roll. Look for it at markets and specialist stalls.
• Oscypek — smoked highlander sheep’s cheese from the mountains, grilled and served with cranberry; a winter-market favourite.

Where to eat

Milk bars (bar mleczny) are the budget classic: plain, cafeteria-style places serving home cooking at very low prices, a tradition worth trying at least once — see our guide to Kraków on a budget. For a sit-down meal, traditional Polish restaurants and inns (karczma) do the hearty staples in a cosy setting, while Kazimierz has the city’s densest run of restaurants, from Jewish-Polish cooking to everything modern. Kraków also has a growing contemporary and fine-dining scene for a bigger night out.

Something sweet

Save room for sernik (Polish cheesecake), szarlotka (warm apple pie), makowiec (poppy-seed roll) and pączki — jam-filled doughnuts, eaten by the million on Fat Thursday but sold year-round. Kraków’s cafés are also serious about coffee and cake, especially in Kazimierz and around the Old Town.

What to drink

Poland is vodka country, usually drunk neat and cold, and the craft-beer scene has taken off, with specialist pubs across the centre. In winter the markets pour grzane wino (mulled wine) and hot mead — see our guide to the Kraków Christmas markets. For something non-alcoholic, kompot is a homely fruit drink you’ll find in milk bars.

Tips

• Milk bars and street food keep costs low; many restaurants also do a cheap weekday lunch set.
• Tap water is safe to drink, so you needn’t buy bottled.
• Tipping around 10% in restaurants is normal and appreciated.
• Try at least one milk bar, one zapiekanka and one obwarzanek — the trio that sums up how Kraków eats.

Frequently asked questions