Batida: "Not my recommendation but..." Top 5 Page for this destination Warsaw Restaurant Tip by matcrazy1

If you are in good company, like I was in Batida restaurant, it's less important what you eat and how much you pay when time passes very fast... :-)

Well, we, a group of 11 VT-ers, ended up in Batida restaurant when we didn't accept eating in close "Domowy okruszek" restaurant or better to say shop due to lack of space and beer there :-) We followed suggestion of random young woman who suggested us this place round the corner as more expensive but with not bad food.

Batida reminded me all those "western" style restaurants which started to be fastly set up one by one all over Poland in early 1990' when the nation after years of grey, state-owned restaurants usually reserved for groups wanted to try mainly Chinese, Asian, American, Greek, Spanish and Italian food, never Polish. Hmm... I was told that it was very difficult to find any Polish food in Warsaw that time. And Batida was set up in 1991. Years passed by but unfortunatelly the restaurant (probably its management as well) didn't change and may have serious problems soon or... must totally change.

I didn't like the cold, pseudo-modern, no-character interior design of the restaurant. In this selfservice restaurant the food is displayed in large trays. When you make a choice the food is put on your plate and... transferred to the back to warm it up out off your sight in a microwave. I don't like it... Additionally despite fast food character of the place it's not cheap.
Fortunatelly they offered beer, limited choice of Polish beer (Tyskie, Lech - 8 zl) and some foreign as well (Dutch Heineken as I remember).

Favorite Dish: I had Spanish paella (25 zl; 6.5 euros) which surprisingly was not that bad, although not as good as the original one I had many times in Spain. Less or better olive oil and more lemons next time please. Next time I'd also try simple roasted potatoes (ziemniaki zasmazane) and green beans (fasolka szparagowa).

Urszula had a meal called shortly "szpinak" (spinach; 23 zl) which was baked spinach with cheese... hmm... I didn't like it. She also ordered "poledwica wieprzowa" (pork sirloin; 22 zl), a large piece of meat boiled in thick flour sauce ----> shortly do NOT order it. I think the staff of the restaurant should eat it by themselves. Good appetite :-). I do hope that other dishes like salmon (losos 30 zl; hmm... in sour cream?), chicken breasts (piers z kurczaka; 20 zl)roasted turkey (indyk pieczony 20 zl) tasted better.

There was one typically Polish meal called "bigos" (45 zl/12 euros per kilo) offered. It's a mix of sauerkraut, small pieces of meat, forest mushrooms and some herbs boiled long time (longer better, 24 hours for example). Well, it's a risky meal in unknown restaurants but you can prder a bit and try (no worries it should taste much better than it looks :-).

Address: Ul. Nowogrodzka 1/3; 00-513 Warszawa; Poland
Comparison: more expensive than average
Directions: In downtown/centre. On southern side of the street corner of Bracka Street. Map here.
othercontact: batida@batida.com.pl
Phone: +48 (22) 621 45 34
Price: US$11-20
Rating: 2
Theme: Eclectic/International