Olsztyn – Browar Warmia

It is my last night in Olsztyn as I’m getting a bus (well, hoping to get a bus, I have no knowledge about this transportation service I’m intending to get) tomorrow to another part of Poland. So, it seemed sensible to visit the local brewery which has a large restaurant attached and is well reviewed.

The opening hours of this place are though a mystery to me. There’s a pub section and a restaurant section, the times of which are both clearly listed on the web-site. But then there’s a general opening time, which doesn’t correspond with the opening times of either the bar or the restaurant. It was too complex for me, I just came when I knew that both the pub and restaurant were open….

The building has a pleasant riverside location near to the centre of Olsztyn.

There were a couple of interesting options, but I thought that I might as well get the tasting set so that I could try all of them. All of the beers are brewed on site, so I had high expectations of the quality.

And here they are. The staff member laid the beers out for me in exactly the order they were shown on the menu. She did well to remember which beer was which and I liked how the beers were presented. All of the beers were at the appropriate temperature and they all tasted well-kept. My favourites were the wheat beer, the Baltic porter and the APA, but they all had an enjoyable taste.

The riverside view from the lower terrace of the restaurant. The interior of the building is large, and there were numerous groups of various size dining and drinking in the internal rooms.

This was listed on the menu as “cod in a beer pancake” which sounded rather appetising. The presentation was exceptional, the fish neatly laid on the asparagus and there was a generous use of micro-herbs. The potatoes were cooked through nicely and the cod flaked apart, although there were a few bones in it. The asparagus was quite chunky in size and the light batter on the fish had a rich flavour which went well with the cod.

The menu mentioned a mint sauce, but this wasn’t evident to me, although there was an orange tasting sauce on the plate. As a meal, I thought that this was excellent as it was well-presented, at the appropriate temperature and the ingredients were of a good quality.

The dessert, listed as being small, was a plum cake with a mirror glaze. Again, beautifully presented, and the sauce was rich and fruity. The cake itself was light, moist and full of flavour.

The meal was rather expensive by Polish terms, coming in at around £14 for the six tasting size beers, the cod and the dessert. However, it certainly seemed worth that to me, as the service was perfectly attentive and the environment was relaxed and comfortable.