Starka | Restaurant & Vodkas — Restaurant in Krakow

If I remember correctly, this is one of the rare times that I voted five stars. I’m 101% satisfied with the experience at Starka, it meets my own 300% standard (I was inspired the standard by a eminent interior designer Thai Cong in Vietnam): service, ambiance and gastronomy. Decor&Vibe: my friend and I sit outside, which is still warm in the beginning of May. It has its own elegant and sophisticated style, with black tables & chairs, fire and hand-drawting paintings. Service: always smile, fast, make the order process clear and easy for us. We didn’t wait too long to get our dishes, very brilliant in timing Gastronomy: It’s like a journey which is already perfect since the appetiser till the dessert. Firstly, the restaurant treated us with free bread and pate. I believed the pate is homemade as it taste light but very unique, I can chew some small pieces of ingredients inside but the base is smooth. There are two kinds of bread are served: white and brown. The brown one has some things like beans or nuts in side, both of them are very soft and match with the pate. Then we got the pierogi, sausage and red beet soup. You have to order the pierogi which is seasoned not too salty, and combine it with a bit Greek yogurt&sauce. The better is enough, not too think and the filling is full inside. The sausage dish has adequate portion with the combination of mushroom, bread and sauce. Finally, you should finish your first round with a bowl of red beer soup, the lightness of the sour taste is truly a key player in refreshing and balancing your tongue. For main dish, we ordered the pork tenderloin wraps with bacon. The pork is tender and juicy, it is really a party with different veggies, every time you combine the veggies in a different way, you found another aspect of the dish. So, my advice is taste and enjoy the dish slowly, with small bites to discover the treasure. For dessert, we had chocolate mousse and ice cream. Yep mousse is delish in a way out of my expectation, it has the strong bitterness, which I’ve never met in my life, I will never forget this taste and I think this plate set a higher standard of chocolate mousse in my personal perspective. Such a tough challenge for other places! The ice cream is also good but I was too impressed by the mousse for me to fully discover the essence of the ice cream. In the end, it’s worth every single second of my life in Starka. You have to come here, let your yatch off the shore with the spectacular dishes and dedicated...

The place is a somehow small restaurant in a secondary street that you might miss if you don't check properly, with an alternative look on the inside and at first sight looking like a somehow dark pub. A bit far from its whole reality! This place is a highly voted one, and it truly deserves it. People won't stop coming in and asking for a seat, and waitresses have to tell them there is no place or to book. They won't seem to have an empty table, and that was a great sign. The food was great (we had a red soup with pierogi inside which was sooooo delicious... Definitely try it!) and we had a great time there for around 25 zloty per person (one main course + one shared dessert was enough, plus a drink). Now let's talk about one of the things that it's the first time I see in a restaurant in Poland: their personnel. They were all women, and all of them were very very nice, with a simple in their face and very helpful with everything. It made me so comfortable that I really wanted to show my appreciation by speaking in my poor polish, but hopefully I will be able to do so in the future. My companions felt soooo comfortable as well... We were even offered a menu in our language! And as mentioned, always with a smile in their faces, even if we were foreigners. A 10 to that, Poland has to learn a lot about this people. If I had to mention something negative, would be the fact that they don't have craft beers, for example. It would be something really matching the look of the place. Bu nothing serious. This is the first really comfortable experience I have eating food in a restaurant in Poland, and one of the reasons I am actually considering moving to Krakow. I will definitely come back and keep tasting the food there. Thousand thank you's to the restaurant girls and their amazing job! We foreigners really appreciate that we are treated correctly even if our polish is bad or inexistent, and it encourages us to interact more with more typical places like this instead of with McDonald's and...

Had a lovely experience for lunch. Our waitress (English name was "Blueberry") was quite attentive, extremely friendly, and detailed in her explanations.

We had the pierogi mix as an appetizer, the spring asparagus appetizer, and the seasonal lentil and cauliflower patty lunch meal. The food was superb - the asparagus was seared to perfection with perfect amount of oil and salt and the roasted potato was divine.

We also tried the various homemade vodkas. We had the following at different portions of the meal:

Apple cinnamon and the honey herbal vodkas with the pre meal bread. Bread was served with a mild, soft cheese with dill, olives, and sunflower seeds. The vodka was fantastic. Apple cinnamon tasted like an apple pie and the honey herb was similar to a sweet and light Amaro.

the black pepper vodka with the pierogi mix. Not for the faint-hearted. This vodkas is strong and spicy and can overwhelm the drinker if not prepared. Blueberry, our waitress, said most people do not order this style and those who do never finish. We loved this vodka, though. It was powerful, but a great pairing with the beef cheek pierogi.

Half mango and half coconut. This was our dessert vodka. Tasted like an ice cream and a trip to a tropical island. Blueberry was kind enough to give us a half and half vodka. This combination should make its way onto the menu - it was that good.

Highlight of the lunch - our waitress Blueberry. She was the element of our experience that made it 5 stars. Warm, friendly, informative, attentive, and a great conversationalist. Highly recommend this spot...