Lodz – Szpulka

I visited this restaurant in Lodz’s Manufaktura retail park in February 2018 as it was well reviewed for its traditional Polish food. Many of the food options at Maufaktura serve international cuisine, and I had worked my way around most of them during the time I was in the city.

Although I hadn’t realised before I got to the restaurant, there was a fixed price lunch menu available, which was an interesting option. I arrived at 11:50, and the staff member said that I could either order breakfast or wait ten minutes for the lunch menu to start, so I went with the latter. It all felt rather friendly, although the downstairs area is relatively small, so it was fortunate to get a seat in a convenient place.

The fixed lunch menu cost 25zl (about £5) and included a drink, a starter and a main course. There wasn’t a choice of dishes, as they were specially made, but the staff member was keen to explain what the dishes were and the ingredients which were being used.

The starter was a soup, which had a pleasant flavour and the croutons added some texture to the dish.

The main course was similar to wiener schnitzel, which I think in Poland is known as Kotlet schabowy. It’s battered pork in breadcrumbs and in this case it was served with vegetables and on a bed of mash potatoes. It’s not something I’d normally order, but the meat was tender and the vegetables had a depth of flavour to them.

I decided against having a dessert, although a drink seemed a very good idea.

Overall, I felt that this was a friendly and welcoming restaurant. I liked how they had a set lunch menu where there weren’t any options, as that meant I didn’t really have to think about anything. The entire meal, including food and drink, came to under £7, which I thought was perfectly good value.