Polish Restaurants in Warsaw
Restauracja AleGloria
Address: 3 Trzech Krzyży Square
Tel: +48 (22) 5847080
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In the very heart of the city, strawberry trees are in bloom and white geese have flown in. Magda Gessler - a well-known creator of tastes and interior designer - has opened AleGoria. The new restaurant is located in the basement of the so called Dom Dochodowy at Trzech Krzyży Square. The new venture shows Polish cuisine in a new dimension. Recipes of Polish manor cuisine combined with more or less known traditional dishes, present a new image of our culinary art.
AleGoria is more than a restaurant. It is an invitation to meet Polish art and Polish cuisine - fine, intelligent, drawing on tradition, and at the same time served in a contemporary setting. AleGoria may be called an embassy of Polish art in a modern version. The art in harmony with the universe, the art that might impress contemporary Europe - Magda Gessler points out.
It is a 'Polish culinary fusion'. If you want borsch, it has got to be prepared with raspberry syrup and beets marinated in balsamic vinegar. Tomato soup requires dill and a fresh pickled cucumber. Faworki (deep-fried pastry ribbons)? Yes, but ... made of carp on kogel mogel (egg yolk stirred with sugar). 'Polish fusion' is also expressed by the interior design. Kuprie paper cuttings decorating ... a modern elevator. Stags antlers of .... wooden branches and doll beads. Easter palms at the entrance all year round. Traditional embroideries made by Polish highlanders (the so called parzenica) and lace tablecloths.
While designing the interior, Magda Gessler was inspired by Jacek Malczewski. His Symbolist allegories were the inspiration for both the name of the restaurant and for certain elements of the decor. It is not, however, the gloomy Malczewski as we know him; Malczewski dedicating his paintings to the passing century. His dramatic reflections on the century of bondage, lost uprisings and exiles are not be presented. On the contrary, what can be seen is the gentle and considerate Malczewski, Malczewski full of love for people, praising life, expressing hope in his paintings and presenting the beauty of landscape and of human being as an element of nature. His 'Polonia', 'Pytia' or 'Landscape with Tobias. Spring' are symbols, which Magda Gessler treats in a controversial, even provocative, way. Malczewski as presented in AleGoria, appears to be the creator of his own world, the world full of fantastic characters and symbolic landscapes. His originality, manifesting itself in extravagant composition ideas and bold use of colours, looks really impressive in the spacious interiors of the restaurant.
Magda Gessler managed to create an optimistic feeling in the basement interiors, which are commonly associated with seriousness, chill and lack of light. AleGoria basement is cheerful. The sunny feeling is there. Large mirrors in beech frames, bright wooden floor, lace tablecloths, soft and comfortable armchairs, in which one may leisurely read the menu and the wine list. At the very entrance one's attention is drawn by a huge tree with red strawberries and the strawberry motif is repeated a number of times.
- Let the whole world learn that Polish strawberries are the best - says Magda Gessler.
- It is the Poland we want to show off, one might say. Poland smiling playfully to the whole world.
This restaurant is a joke in a Young Poland movement fashion, it is a symbol of the best in our folk and culinary art. Tables laden with food, decorated with lace and flowers, covered with newly starched tablecloths ... Frenchman or Italian, Spaniard or Japanese - all guests, not only foreigners, will get to know Polish hospitality once they cross the threshold of the restaurant at Trzech Krzyży Square in Warsaw. AleGoria regulars will surely come across Polish culinary tradition at its best and feel the magnificence and panache of Polish dishes. They will witness the preparation of dumplings, the making of Polish soups and of traditional bigos (dish made of cabbage, meat and mushrooms and wine). They will see whole fish roasted.