rev:text
| - Word has gotten around that Café Polonez serves the best polish food in the GTA. Since I had never actually tried polish cuisine (frozen Walmart perogies aren't really counted), I wanted my first try to be from the best. So we drove all the way to Toronto just for dinner to this place. To find a parking was difficult, since there's only street parking available, but we luckily found one not too far away.
We arrived just in time. A few minutes later and we would have not got any table. The restaurant is casual, but for some reason I felt obligated to behave like its a high end place. The server immediately served us a bread basket with 4 slices of bread (i assume was rye), which honestly wasn't very good and tasted stale. All the servers were ladies, and ours was friendly despite not really smiling much.
I decided to get the cabbage roll and asked to substitute the potatoes for the mushroom and sauerkraut perogies. This substitution did come with an additional cost but I was determined to try authentic perogies. My brother got the potato pancakes with a side of mushroom perogies.
The food was served within 10ish minutes and my platter looked amazing. My first bite was of the cabbage roll, which was stuffed with rice and pork. It was extremely delicious and left me speechless. The side vegetables (sauerkraut, beets, carrots) were delicious too. The perogies were boiled and not fried unless you ask. They were served with a side of sour cream and fried onions. They were good, but nothing amazing, which is just my personal preference and has nothing to do with the restaurants recipe.
My brother enjoyed his pancakes. I was intrigued by the beet soup, which I'll definitely order next time. But...wow, I really enjoyed my meal. By the end I was completely satisfied by the portion size, as I was not too full and had enough room for dessert, which I already decided was saved for Ed's ice cream next door.
What sets this place apart from every other polish restaurant I've noticed around is that they make their food fresh to order, while majority of the other ones have those trays at the counter with pre-made meals already ready to serve.
The restaurant was on the pricey side, but I think it was well worth it. Since this experience, I've been craving for that meal almost everyday. I'll definitely be going back!
|