Butchery & Wine — Restaurant in Warsaw

June 17th, 2023

This was a long anticipated experience. I was assigned to a work trip in a small Polish town several hundred kilometers away from Warsaw and only had one day to plan the trip. I reviewed the Michelin Guide for a restaurant to enjoy the night before flying back home. Butchery and Wine caught my eye so I looked at the pictures on Google Maps; another contributor posted a picture of the bone marrow appetizer and I was instantly hooked. I've never had bone marrow, so it was time to change that.

I worked a grueling 60 hour week, all the meanwhile looking forward to my experience at Butchery and Wine. My resolve was shaken several times, for I thought I'd have to work late on Friday and I wouldn't make it to Warsaw in time to partake in such fine cuisine. So when I did get there, a wave of relief passed over me as I slumped in the chair and celebrated with a cocktail.

The cucumber and mint spritz was very refreshing after a trying week and the cucumber flavor came in nicely at the end of the taste. It's a drink that you can have all night without getting tired of it.

The long anticipated bone marrow arrived with a rustic, yet elegant plating. As the fool that I am, I ate an entire morsel of marrow on its own. I judged the taste to be bland and with a peculiar aftertaste. I was not impressed. Then my colleague informed me that I was supposed to eat it on toast with the caper and parsley salad. I slapped my forehead and cursed myself for missing an opportunity that I'll never get back. Once properly assembled, the marrow synergized with the salad and toast to create a rich flavor. Several elements existed, from the charred toast to the vinegar tartness of the capers. The experience left me digging in the bone with my tiny spoon as if in search of gold.

My colleague commented that the burrata appetizer was fresh and delicious. I apologize for not tasting it myself or taking a picture.

As we waited for the main meals I decided that my hard work deserved a second drink to celebrate with. The Old Cuban was my second choice. This was a uniquely flavored cocktail, the prosecco provided a dryness not often seen. The rum seemed hidden, the taste of alcohol was practically absent. I quite like a bit of a bite to my cocktails. In the end, I concluded that it tasted like a hard cider. It was worth a try, but not a second.

The main meals arrived, I ordered the Polish 90 day dry aged steak and my colleague had the lamb. The steak was perfectly tender and juicy, even the outer edges. After my first bite I said, "that's really good." Then I said it again. I can't stress enough how consistently excellent it was throughout the entire cut. I tried the lamb, and it was great… but beside the steak there was no competition. The color of the steak looked a bit gray, but don't let that deter you. It's just part of the aging process.

The bearnaise sauce was the wrong selection. While it was excellent, it was too overpowering for the steak and would be better with a different dish. Also, the spinach was under seasoned.

Despite me having skipped lunch, I was certainly full. I told myself that I'd be a responsible adult and finish the spinach before ordering dessert, my delusions only lasted a couple minutes. While I love spinach, I'd take dessert any time.

The lava cake (chocolate fondant) was very good without that chalky taste that I don't enjoy and that many lava cakes have. My gluttonous personality wished it was a bit bigger though. The raspberry puree was absolutely exquisite and induced plate scraping, however, the ice creams require stronger flavor profiles.

Butchery and Wine was exactly the venue I needed to decompress. The last words I uttered as I stepped into the taxi were, "that was decadent." My final rating is, "I would highly recommend Butchery and Wine to anyone looking for superior cuts of beef that are...

A little tiny and tight space, other than that everything was just perfect.

Edit: 18/11/22

The food was great as always but the service was a far cry from what it used to be. The new wait men all have very poor customer service skills. If there's two of us and we're going to spend three or perhaps four people's dinner money then why can't we sit where the he!l we want! The other time they did the exact same thing, and so we ended up having to squeeze our bottles and dinner onto this tiny weeny table, and the waiter even had to clear the table over my friends head. All the while the table we had asked for remained EMPTY! I said I'll give them two more chances and again, every time the same thing happens. What on earth are you hoarding seats for! The guy at the door already took our jackets and agreed that I could take the seat on the left if I wanted. Tell me why I'm then being bombarded by two or perhaps three more waiters as to why I can't take a seat on a table that was clearly empty. And it's such a tiny place so why do you need so many of them. I remember when you had just the one or was it two waiters, and people would literally get turned back at the entrance as you were really packed, however things used to run so smoothly cause those guys were good, at least from my perspective which is why I kept coming back. After the inane conversation that I cut short as I did not want to ruin my mood further, I told one of the waiters who had come to our table very politely that I did not want him to serve us and that I would be happy with the gentleman that took our jacket. He said okay but ignored my request and came back to bring us towels and some other silly things he could've clearly asked the gentleman I requested for to bring. How can you have so much disregard for someone that's at your establishment to spend money. I've worked in the service industry myself too and so to say the recent service was horrendous is an understatement. The gentleman that took our jacket and finally served us, and the older gentleman with glasses were quite pleasant but the rest get a negative zero if it were possible. By the way, if we were allowed to take the seat we wanted then the only three groups of people that came after us would've still been able to grab one of the other available seats for themselves. Such despicable service can never be accepted for such amount of money, it's just not possible. Moving forward I will be taking my coin to where I won't be treated with so...

We had high expectations for this place, but it ended up being a huge letdown - by far the most disappointing and overpriced meal of our trip. We ordered a 350g New York Strip steak, advertised as being dry-aged for 90 days, for 311 PLN (about $75). When you order a steak with that kind of pedigree, you expect bold, complex flavors that are hallmarks of proper long dry-aging - notes of umami, nuttiness, and even a slight blue cheese-like funk. Instead, what we got was a steak that tasted incredibly average. It lacked all the depth, richness, and funkiness that should define a 90-day dry-aged steak, leaving us questioning whether it had been aged as claimed.

When we voiced our disappointment to our waiter, his response was a dismissive shrug, with no attempt to address or resolve the issue. Feeling unsure if it was just our steak, we even talked with the table next to us. They had ordered several cuts, including the same NY Strip, and completely agreed with our assessment—it tasted plain and ordinary. Interestingly, they mentioned their Australian Wagyu Ribeye was the only steak on the table that delivered the bold, dry-aged flavors they were expecting. They were kind enough to share a small taste with us, which confirmed our suspicions that the NY Strip was nowhere near the standard it should have been.

We brought this up again with our waiter, who still couldn’t care less. For a restaurant that positions itself as a high-end steakhouse with premium prices, this kind of indifference to customer feedback is unacceptable.

Butchery & Wine is clearly riding on its reputation, but based on our experience, the quality and service don’t live up to it. A 90-day dry-aged steak should be a unique and exciting culinary experience, but here it was an expensive disappointment. With such high prices, you expect excellence - not mediocrity. We left deeply disappointed and can’t recommend it to anyone looking for a standout dining...