Kraków is home to the country's only 2-Michelin-starred restaurant, Bottiglieria 1881, which was awarded high praise in 2023. Here, chef Przemysław Klima draws deeply on Poland's culinary soul and childhood memories of perfect summers in the countryside to offer dishes such as pickled beetroot, applewood-smoked trout and a sauce made from walnut milk, bison grass and seaweed oil. While Bottiglieria 1881 is a gastronomic bar, there is a good selection of restaurants in the city where visitors can enjoy simple classics such as chlodnika delicious pink, chilled summer soup with beets and yoghurt or a bowl Russian Pierogi white cheese and potato dumplings, fried crispy and served with bacon cubes and sour cream.
For more Krakow inspiration, check out our guides to the best hotels, bars and activities.
Find a restaurant by area
Old City
Filipa 18
This small restaurant in the recently arrived Hotel Indigo is a real gem. Chef Marcin Sołtys offers a menu inspired by Kraków's oldest farmers' market, Stary Kleparz, which is located nearby. Think venison with juniper and trout roe or crayfish and mushroom dumplings, beautifully presented in a casual setting. The walls are covered in bright artwork from the Polish Poster School, the kitchen is open and the benches are powder blue. Bread is baked on site, followed by seriously good dishes that offer a whole new, contemporary take on Polish cuisine.
Chimera Salad Bar
Polish food is more carnivorous than vegetarian, but this restaurant does its best to balance things out with a wide range of vegetable-based salads. Set in a pretty, enclosed, leafy courtyard with ivy and endless potted plants under a canopy ceiling, a long, 30-metre-long bar offers a huge buffet of dishes such as Greek salad, red cabbage salad, lettuce and avocado salad, chickpea salad and beetroot salad alongside a smaller selection of meat and fish salads, such as chicken curry rice, smoked fish salad and herring salad.
Three Rybki
This acclaimed restaurant is housed in the Hotel Stary, which has won numerous awards for the way it so expertly incorporates 21st-century luxury into a 14th-century setting. Trzy Rybki's dishes are modern and nod to Poland's culinary heritage. Try the beef tartare with shallot, kohlrabi, chicory, black pepper and potato chips or the Polish dumplings with a twist, filled with goat's cheese and kimchi with colourful beets and a thyme emulsion. The restaurant's Gothic windows with ribbed, vaulted ceilings add to the elegance of the experience, making this a restaurant for a special occasion.
If you are an Aniołami
The restaurant, whose name means 'among the angels', is housed in Gothic cellars, complete with original 13th-century features and thick stone walls. Above it is an 18th-century house that served for many years as a workshop for Kraków's goldsmiths; as a nod to the past, some dishes are decorated with gold. The menu draws on the rich traditions of old Polish court cuisine. Try the goose breast carpaccio with plum alcohol, the soup of wild boletus picked in the local mountains or the wild boar in a juniper marinade. But leave room for their famous apple pie with cinnamon.
Marble
On the long, winding street leading from the Market Square to the Wawel, dominated by the white-stone tower of the Romanesque Church of St. Andrew, lies Marmolada. It offers affordable and delicious regional specialties in a narrow, long restaurant decorated with flowers, folk art and lots of wood under canopies. Try the potato pancakes with beef goulash, typical of Małopolska, this region of Poland; or the excellent pickles soup, a mixture of sour rye broth with white sausage and hard-boiled egg, followed by a Krakow burger made from pork neck, seasoned with caraway seeds.
L Concept: Bar & Restaurant 13
Two old townhouses on the market square have been transformed into a stylish shopping centre, Pasaż 13, with a range of designer concept stores. On the lower floor is L Concept, which serves contemporary international cuisine with an Italian accent in a sleek setting inspired by the adjoining delicatessen and wine shop. An open kitchen sits at the end of the vaulted, exposed stone walls, offering minimalist cooking. Try the classic beef tartare, the tagliatelle with prawns or the sirloin steak with peppercorn sauce before trying the Polish lemon tart, Babka Cytrynowa, served here with milk ice cream and fresh strawberries.
Wierzynek
With its impeccable antique furniture, coffered wooden ceilings, antique tapestries and oil paintings, Wierzynek is a fascinating place to visit when in Krakow for the sheer amount of history that comes with its food. The restaurant traces its origins back to 1364, when the wealthy merchant Wierzynek hosted European monarchs on behalf of the Polish King Casimir the Great. The restaurant serves dishes fit for royalty, such as a delicious cream of crayfish soup or pheasant consommé, followed by duck breast with gingerbread sauce or venison loin with blackberry flavour.
Kazimierz
Bottiglieria 1881
The first - and currently only - 2-star Michelin restaurant in Poland, this is a must-book if you want to understand the depth of Polish cuisine. Ravaged by wars and border changes, this country guards its culinary heritage with passion and Klima is definitely one of its guardians. Chef Klima manages to capture the essence of Polish cuisine in his rural-focused menu that transports you to another time and place, but go with the flow and you might just understand the strength of a nation that has had to fight time and time again to survive.
Miodova restaurant
Miodova is located on a popular restaurant street in the old Jewish district of Kazimierz, made famous by Schindler's List. The restaurant consistently receives praise for its rediscovered classics with a modern twist, inspired by a 19th century cookbook where the influences of the era from Austro-Hungarian to Jewish to Russian are all visible in the menu. Try the traditional Kraków pasta between the exposed red brick walls, barszcz - the Polish beetroot soup - or a typical cucumber salad with dill and sour cream. Or take a pike-perch fillet with pickled cucumber and a white wine sauce followed by a cheesecake.
Szeroka 12 Restaurant, Rubinstein Hotel
Named after Helena Rubinstein, the international cosmetics queen who was born in the building next door, this hotel restaurant offers modern dining in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, with a large outdoor area for the summer months. The house specialty is duck with spinach in blackcurrant sauce, but also try their dill cream soup and their oscipek sheep's cheese with pear mustard and raspberry first. There is a good selection of wines by the glass, including some Polish options. Start the evening with a drink in the hotel's sky bar, which offers views over Krakow to the Wawel.
How we choose
Every restaurant in this curated list has been tried and tested by our destination expert, who has visited to give you an insider's perspective. We cover a range of budgets, from local favorites to Michelin-starred restaurants - to best suit the tastes of every type of traveler - and consider food, service, best tables, atmosphere and price point in our recommendations. We update this list regularly to stay on top of the latest openings and provide up-to-date recommendations.
