Krakow Food Guide: Pierogi, Milk Bars and the Best Tables

Krakow is one of the easiest cities in Europe to eat well in without spending much. The food is hearty, the portions are large, and the cheapest meals are often the best ones. This Krakow food guide is built around how I actually ate there: a lot of pierogi, a few milk bar lunches, street food between sights, and the odd bigger dinner in Kazimierz when I felt like sitting down.

Pierogi first

Start with pierogi, because you will end with them too. These are filled dumplings, either boiled soft or pan fried until the edges crisp up. The classic is ruskie, potato and twaróg cheese, which tastes better than it sounds. Then there is meat, sauerkraut and mushroom, and sweet versions stuffed with fruit or sweet cheese for dessert.

A plate of a dozen is filling and cheap. Order them fried if you want a bit of texture, and do not skip the fried onion and sour cream that usually come on top. Some places do nothing but pierogi, and those are the ones to find.

The Krakow milk bar

If you only learn one Polish phrase, make it bar mleczny. A milk bar is a canteen that dates back to the communist years, when the state subsidised cheap meals. Many survived, and they are still the best value food in the city. You queue at a counter, point at what you want from a board that may only be in Polish, pay very little, and carry your tray to a shared table.

The food is plain and homemade: pierogi, soups, breaded cutlets, potato pancakes, stewed cabbage. Do not expect service or decor. Expect a full stomach for the price of a coffee back home. Lunchtime is busy, so go a little early or late if you want a seat.

Zurek and the other soups

Polish soups deserve a section of their own. Zurek is the one to seek out, a sour rye soup with sausage and egg, often served inside a hollowed out bread bowl so you eat the bowl at the end. It is tangy, warming and exactly what you want after a cold morning of walking. Barszcz, the beetroot broth, often comes as a clear cup with little dumplings, and in a milk bar a bowl of tomato or chicken soup costs almost nothing.

Street food: zapiekanka and obwarzanek

Krakow does street food properly. The obwarzanek is a ring of chewy, boiled then baked dough, somewhere between a bagel and a pretzel, sold from blue carts all over the old town for small change. It is the standard grab and go snack, best fresh in the morning.

Later in the day, head to Plac Nowy in the Kazimierz district for a zapiekanka. This is a long half baguette toasted with mushrooms and cheese, then loaded with whatever you like: ketchup, onion, garlic sauce, more cheese. It became the late night food of Kazimierz for a reason. One is big enough to be a meal.

What to eat in Krakow for a proper dinner

When you want a sit down meal, Polish comfort food delivers. Look for a plate of placki ziemniaczane, crisp potato pancakes, sometimes served under a rich goulash. Golabki are cabbage rolls stuffed with meat and rice in tomato sauce. A kotlet schabowy is the Polish breaded pork cutlet, usually with potatoes and a pile of surowka, the fresh grated salads. For dessert, sernik is the dense Polish cheesecake, and szarlotka is the apple cake you will see everywhere.

Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, has the most interesting places to sit, plus bars tucked into courtyards. The main square is beautiful but you pay for the address, so eat a street or two off it.

Budget and practical tips

Food in Krakow is cheap by Western European standards and it is hard to go wrong. Milk bars and street food will feed you for a few euros a meal, a sit down dinner with a Polish beer stays reasonable, and only the obvious tourist spots on the Rynek push prices up. Carry a bit of cash, since the smallest milk bars and street carts do not always take cards. Go hungry and order more than you think you need, because the portions are generous.

Planning the rest of the trip? My Poland guides cover the old town, Kazimierz and the day trips out of the city, and they pair well with a week of eating your way through Krakow. Browse all my Poland travel stories and tell me where you are headed next.