Tatra

Tatra is a Polish/Eastern European restaurant nestled on the slightly dodgy side of Shepherds Bush. Quite a trek from our North London home and it was a Sunday, but we battled through the rain, sleet and snow because dammit,  I had a Wowcher voucher to redeem. £24 for a three course Polish meal with flavoured vodka? I was sold. Tomasz is Polish so I thought he could show me a thing or two.

The restaurant was a bit empty... was it something we said?? 

We each started with our choice of flavoured vodka. I opted for a very sweet and tasty cherry and Tomasz went for black pepper. (I personally thought his one was disgusting, but he loved it. Not sure if that's the Polish in him...)

Bread and lard is a very popular combination apparently. I wasn't a fan, it was just like greasy butter with little bits of fat and meat in it, but it was flavoursome. 

My starter of "Pierogi", I loved. Sort of like those Gyoza dumpings you get in a Japanese place, these were crisp little parcels filled with wild mushrooms and sauerkraut (they love their wild mushrooms in Poland). 

Tomasz had Barszcz, the famous beetroot soup (which I had a little slurp of and liked very much). It came with its own little pancake rolled up and deep fried as a crisp little dunking tool. 

We then rather greedily had another couple of starters each before our mains came. Seared king prawns with garlic, chilli and coriander (not sure how typically Polish that is...) and a plate of warm garlic sausage and hot hot mustard. 

 

We both (rather boringly) had the same main course, 'Schabowy ' - breaded pork escallops with mashed potatoes and 'Mizeria'. Having been cooked Polish food by Tomasz's mother a few times, I know this is a very typical meal for families in Poland to eat, and for good reason - it's great. 

'Mizeria' is a simple salad made of the sliced fresh cucumber and soured cream with added salt and pepper. It's very refreshing, sort of like Polski Tzatziki. 

We had to pay more for these extra dishes and the wine so it ended up not being £24 at all... but was a great evening. I would recommend, but go on a Friday or Saturday when it's a bit more busy.