Downtown Restaurant and Steakhouse
Restaurant Review
Address: InterContinental Warszawa
Ul. Emilii Plater 49, 00-125 Warszawa.
Tel +48 22 328 8740, Fax + 48 22 328 8889
Email: downtown@ihg.com
Website: www.downtown.com.pl/
facebook: Click here
by Riley Leech
Life for me feels like Groundhog Day at times; the same questions from the same people, over and over again.
And really, if I had one little groszik for each time I was asked where the best steak in town was, I'd be there right now, drooling on the Charoluxe while glugging back the wine. The place? Downtown.
It’s easy to berate the steak in Warsaw, and it’s true, at times it feels the bad places thrive while the good go under: NoBo, Rodeo Drive, Villa Rossini, Argentina. All, at one time or other, have fenced for my affections as Warsaw’s top steak, and yet none have survived to this point in time. So get this, it appears Warsaw has finally discovered her appetite for meat. Now some would point to the launch of Butchery & Wine as evidence of this. Personally, however, I’m hailing Downtown as the definitive exhibit in the Great Steak Debate.
There’s a natural stigma attached to dining in hotel restaurants, and it’s easy to dismiss them as dry and antiseptic. To do so, though, is a clear indication you’ve not dined in Downtown. It helps, of course, that Downtown doesn’t feel like a hotel – too many hotel restaurants make the classic mistake of planting their diners next to the lobby, a red flag boo-boo that warrants instant reproach; ringside views of people checking out just doesn’t set the tone for a great meal ahead.
But that’s not a problem here. Set on level +1 of the InterContinental, Downtown doesn’t focus the diners eyes on shrieking groups scrumming around pyramids of luggage. No sir. Here the visuals are stunning, with grandstand views of the iconic landmark that defines modern Warsaw: the Palace of Culture. And woah, what a sight it is – towering into the winter mist, the Palace feels so close you can stretch out and touch it.
Aesthetically Downtown works brilliantly: the bling and bravado of Stalin’s cosmic monster offset beautifully by a metropolitan interior that’s both classy and cool while remaining muted and discreet. Embellished with curvy lines and clever mood lighting, the design succeeds and instantly seduces.
But what of the food? For starters, I ordered smoked cherry tomato soup while my partner (in crime) went for butterfly shrimps - within minutes of their arrival we were sniping and fighting over who had the best. To this day, I insist I won that round: topped with a toasted baguette, the soup was a firework of flavour that tasted too good for words.
Onto Round 2, the mains, and it’s at this stage of the meal that problems arose. I love steak, so to find so many on the menu sent my brain into meltdown. “I want everything,” was my instant recoil, and I imagine I’d be there to this day were it not for our server. The partner-in-crime (the PIC from here-on), instantly gunned for the US Longhorn, an Iowan-born cow with a legendary rep. Myself mind, I was stuck. And it’s here that Sebastien the waiter earned his spurs for the night. Having investigated my preferences, he launched into a description of the Charoluxe that left my tongue dangling out.
I’m used to waiters reeling off a mechanical spiel; Sebastien, on the other hand, could have been reciting poetry: “This is my favourite steak, tender and lean it’s a Burgundy-bred cow that grazes exclusively on herbs and grass.” I’ll have four then, I felt like saying. And now I look back on it, I really wish I had. This was, put simply, the best beast I’ve ever seen on a plate. Cooked perfectly to order (what else but medium rare), it was complimented excellently with a peppercorn sauce and a side of baked potatoes.
Silence reigned for the ten minutes it took to wolf down our mains, the ultimate tribute to a memorable meal. And we clearly weren’t the only ones bowled over by this culinary event; the next door table ooh-ed and ah-ed as one of the chefs cropped and chopped beef tartar in front of their eyes; another chap, meanwhile, was attacking his T-Bone with the look of a lion.
At this stage, I’d have been happy to call it a night. The PIC, clearly buoyed by the wine, was having none of it. We were staying for dessert and there was no arguing on that. Now so far Seb had scored two direct hits with his sage words of wisdom (the steak and the wine), so I thought okay, he gets one last chance to make a mistake – he didn’t. On his suggestion I opted for orange sorbet, a tart, fresh dessert elegantly topped with a splash of Champagne. As encores go, it was there with the best – much like the restaurant, in fact. Putting the haute into hotel cuisine, Downtown’s a winner that rolls double six.
Mon-Sat 18:00-23:00
Cuisine: steak
Food: 10/10
Service: 10/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value: 9/10
Overall: 10/10