Michelin awards two stars to restaurant in Poland for first time

A restaurant in Kraków, Bottiglieria 1881, has been awarded two Michelin stars, making it the first in Poland to receive the honour.

“We are thrilled to announce Poland’s first ever two Michelin Star restaurant, as we continue to follow the exciting gastronomic developments in Kraków and Warsaw,” said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides, unveiling this year’s guide for Poland today.

Under Michelin’s system, the highest rating, of three stars, is for restaurants “worth a special journey”. Only 142 restaurants in the whole world received that distinction last year. Two stars are awarded to restaurants “worth a detour” and one to those “worth a stop”.

Bottiglieria 1881, located in the city’s Kazimierz district, received its first Michelin star in 2020. According to the guide, it was awarded its second star for its “refined” and “unique” dishes, whose understated menu descriptions “belie the artistry and layers of flavour which underpin each dish.”

The restaurant’s current tasting menu, priced at 550 zloty (€124), lists 12 items, including black pudding, beef and caviar, fish and peas, and the enigmatically named “childhood memory”.

Bottiglieria 1881 was also among the five restaurants shortlisted as the best in Poland for this year’s World Culinary Awards. However, it lost out to the eventual winner Fiorentina, also located in Kraków.

In the new Michelin guide, two restaurants were awarded their first Michelin stars: NUTA in Warsaw, whose menu incorporates flavours from Polish, Italian and Asian cuisine, and Muga in Poznań, for the “depth, elegance, and finesse” of its dishes.

Poznań – which was included in the guide for the first time – received praise from Poullennec as an emerging culinary destination. Michelin inspectors were “impressed by its vibrant and fast developing restaurant scene and have found many appealing restaurants to recommend to our readers”.

This year’s guide contains a total of 49 restaurants in Poland, including seven that received the Bib Gourmand award, which highlights eateries that are deemed to serve good food at reasonable prices.

The recipients of this award included MOLÁM in Kraków, Fromażeria and TU.REStAURANT in Poznań, and Warsaw’s Koneser Grill, Le Braci, Kieliszki na Próżnej and alewino.

Main image credit: Bottiglieria 1881/Facebook 

Anna Hackett

Anna Hackett is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a recent graduate of European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has had previous journalistic experience with the Irish Independent News & Media group.