Epoka Warsaw Poland

Epoka - 20 recipes

 · 10 mins read

I was planning to visit the Epoka restaurant already in March, but the pandemic prevented it. Finally, when @restauracjaepoka again opened its doors to guests I decided to achieve this goal. The Chef at the Epoka restaurant is @przybyszmarcin, who gained experience cooking alongside such famous Chefs as Massimo Bottura, Rasmus Kofoed or René Redzepi. No wonder the expectations were enormous.

The moment you enter the restaurant, you can see how every detail is thought out and refined. The decor is magical, in some places, dark and charming in others, but elegant and coherent all the time.

Together with other Degustujące Istoty , we decided on 20 recipes menu, but traditionally without wine pairing.

Degustation:

Bread/Butter

Delicious sourdough bread made of płaskurka grain, ground in the restaurant. A separate butter with buttermilk from Normandy was served for every person. 3 eggplants.

A loaf of bread is served on the marble counter and butter in a flat, small plate.


  

Recipes inspired by the cookbook from 1686

Stuffed wafers

Beautiful cumin wafer with pike roe. 4 eggplants.

On a black plate with white dots, on a white napkin lies a yellow disk with orange roe and a purple flower on top.


  

A toasted “Bigosek” from fish

Trout meat was arranged on crispy halves of tubes. Interestingly, these delicacies were served on freeze-dried sauerkraut, which we tried and it was really tasty. 4 eggplants.

In a white bowl filled with shavings of cabbage, two halves of tubes are arranged, filled with pink, frayed meat and decorated with green leaves.


  

Snail-shaped cake

Warm brioche snail with herring roe. 4 eggplants.

On the white, high base is a snail made of dough decorated with black roe.


  

Fish pate

Fish in piggy. The trout liver pate is hidden in apple slices. 3 eggplants.

In a glass bowl with ice placed two pigs composed of slices of apple between which is liver pate.


  

Recipes inspired by a cookbook from 1825

Asparagus with sauce

Beautifully composed both from a visual perspective and the taste one. An asparagus grid hid crab meat. The whole dish was decorated with crab sauce and topped with wonderful sturgeon caviar. We give the dish the Happy Eggplant badge with appreciation. 5 eggplants.

White large plate in the center of which the grid of slices of green asparagus on which there is a portion of caviar is located.


  

Same photo as above, only around the grid was poured a pink, foamed crab sauce.


  

Snails cooked and toasted

Crunchy and fluffy snails in black coating with snail caviar. They were so perfect that I couldn’t refuse myself and I awarded them with the Happy Eggplant order. 4 eggplants.

Snails lie on golden-white teaspoons in black tempura, decorated with white caviar balls.


  

Snails chopped for stuffing

Another version of snails. This time as a stuffing for dumplings floating in tomato consommé. 3 eggplants.

Three dumplings are arranged in a glass bowl dipped in broth and decorated with green basil leaves.


  

Recipes inspired by a cookbook from 1901

Sugar peas in pods

Tartlets with young peas. 4 eggplants.

Tartlets filled with green peas on white, ceramic base with irregular shapes.


  

Chopped chops/peas with cream

Tartare steak aged in bee wax lamb. Garnished with peas and creme fraiche on top. 4 eggplants.

On a flat white plate there is a tartare disk, which is decorated with green and white dots from above.


  

Fish sauce with dumplings

In addition to the dumplings, tapioca , Quinoa, sea trout roe and chives were also putted in the fish sauce. Perfectly balanced dish with various structures. 5 eggplants.

On a large, transparent glass plate, a portion of the sauce with various small balls is placed.


  

Potatoes in shell

This dish was served in the kitchen, where we could admire the work of the whole team and learn a little more about it. The kitchen looks amazing, it is something to admire. Each of us got a cone made of potato peel and filled with tasty white asparagus ice cream with a green strawberry flower. 4 eggplants.

Brown cones filled with white ice cream and decorated with a white flower cut from a strawberry. They were laid in ceramic grains of wheat, white bowl in the shape of folded hands.


  

Recipes inspired by a cookbook from 1926

Boiled turbot with sauces

Boiled turbot with excellent smoked white asparagus with asparagus sauce, wild asparagus and currant assiette. The currant brilliantly matched the turbot and asparagus, and everything was complemented with smoked taste. For this reason I need to award it with the Happy Eggplant badge. 5 eggplants.

Setted on a deep white plate there is a piece of white fish on which green and white asparagus are arranged, as well as currant leaves and fruit.


  

Pike with horseradish sauce

Japanese Hamachi fish served with Polish original wasabi sauce. With Kimchi from wasabi leaves and a shot of water from marinated wasabi. 4 eggplants.

On white ceramic plate fish slices were lying. On the next plate was a portion of white sauce surrounded by pickled, chopped wasabi leaves. A vodka glass of light brown liquid is placed in the glass with ice.


  

This recipe has been modified for one of our Degustujące Istoty who is not a fish fan.

Photo as above, only instead of slices of fish are two dark slices of goose fillet with skin.


  

Vol-au-vent from poultry

Patties with foie gras and guinea fowl meat garnished with chives. Interestingly, the corn on which the patties lay was edible and really good. 4 eggplants.

On a glass platter filled with freeze-dried two Patties in the shape of dumplings lay in the corn. Garnished with purple chives flowers.


  

Guinea fowl or pantarki

One more dish that deserved the order of Happy Eggplant. It was Perfect! Morchella, Mousseline with guinea fowl and wild garlic leaf. 5 eggplants.

On white, in a deep plate with irregular edges, a round portion of guinea fowl meat is applied. On its top there is morchella, which is covered by a garlic leaf. The whole dish is decorated with purple chives flowers.


  

The same dish as above in the picture, only around the meat is poured a bright green sauce.


  

Recipes inspired by a cookbook from 1682

Foam

I rarely appreciate desserts because they are generally too sweet. This one was excellent. The sweetness of white chocolate was broken with sour cream, lime pebbles and sorrel sorbet. I am happy to award the dessert the Happy Eggplant badge. 5 eggplants.

In a wide white bowl with a wavy edge lies a white portion of cream sprinkled with white chocolate. Next to it lies a dark green sorbet. White lime pebbles are crushed around.


  

Melchmus/Spinach cake

The rhubarb Melchmus(legumin) with pieces of rhubarb and a beautiful spinach cake from a siphon. Incredibly fluffy and decorated with flowers. To this dish yogurt sorbet was added. 4 eggplants.

Various white dishes arranged tightly. On the leaf-shaped plate lies white sorbet decorated with blue flowers. On the second platter there are 3 green waffles decorated with flowers. There is a red, thick compote in the small jug. Rhubarb rings with red balls are arranged in a hemisphere on the largest flat plate.


  

Wety

At the end of the dinner there are still small sweets. Polish macaroon, mini opera cake, fermented raspberry praline, raspberry jelly, cake with salty caramel. I liked the cake and the praline the most. Interestingly, Wety were served not all for every person. We needed to split them, as Chef Marcin said, to feel not fully satisfied and come back again for more. 3 eggplants.

On a white plate that looks like it larger plates are broken, small sweets lie. Flower-shaped cake with brown filling between layers of dough, pink jellies in sugar, white chocolate praline with red-orange pattern, brown Polish macaroon with a gold paint stripe on top and a layered mini opera.


  

Summary:

After assessing the dishes and the number of badges awarded to them, you can already guess that it was the best dinner we had the pleasure to test. Apart from the fact that it was delicious, beautiful and at a high level, it was simply a pleasant evening, nice and fun. We felt really welcome. It may be strange, but with a stiff classic Fine Dining it’s difficult to maintain professionalism and elegance, and at the same time be nice and free. In the Epoka it succeeded. It was indeed the Fun Dining, but it was no worse than the Fine Dining.

In addition, because I informed during booking that one person does not eat some products, other versions of the recipes have been prepared. What was very nice, they were not poorer versions, but equally laborious and of similar value as the original dishes on the menu. Of course, the Order of the Happy Eggplant is well deserved for this wonderful tasting dinner.

Happy Eggplant Badge

Chef Marcin Przybysz eagerly talked about dishes and how the restaurant was created, about the contribution to its creation, about his inspiration from the old recipes of Polish cuisine (to which the tasting menu referred that evening). Thanks to the kindness of the Chef, we were able to admire the work of the whole team and what is happening in the kitchen. Amazing experience. It was difficult to focus on food, seeing with what precision dishes are prepared, how efficiently and with commitment the whole team works.

The desserts made by sous-chef @rafpastrychef were like a fairy tale and even someone that is not a fan of sweets, could enjoy them. In addition, Chef Rafał Gajownik in a wonderful way told us about them.

I will just mention a very innovative approach to photos in @restauracjaepoka. As you can see, some photos are made in the so-called light box. This is a specially constructed box with the perfect light for taking photos of dishes. Just ask for them and you can freely professionally photograph these small works of art created by Epoka’s team.

Downsides? I have not found one. Maybe that we would like even more recipes, or that I don’t live in Warsaw.

Link to the restaurant Epoka

Address: ul. Ossolińskich 3, Warsaw

Title picture: Stuffed wafers

Restaurant: Epoka
Location: Poland Warsaw
Tags: Fine_dining Happy_eggplant_badge Lunch Luxury_restaurant Restaurant Tasting_menu