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Recently
I had the opportunity to visit Gdansk and must admit
that I expected the worst. The new modern station
was a good sign, but it was not until I began to
trundle through the old town area that I realised
how wrong my pre-conception had been. I was enjoying
the town, which included few good bars. However
I became particularly impressed when I found the
main ul. Dluga. This is fine wide thoroughfare on
which vehicles are banned and the historic buildings
rear up on either side to provide a street to savour.
This street is very much part of the city life so
the constant stream of uprights is not, by any means,
confined to tourists. |
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| I was gently catterpillering up this
street looking for a suitable spot for a lunch when
I came across the Major (Gdansk, ul Dluga 18. Tel:
(58) 31 10 69). Somebody somewhere had suggested this
might be the place to lunch, but in any event I was
attracted by the outside seating that allowed me to
sit on the pavement (sidewalk if you must) and watch
the action on the street. |
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| A helpful waiter delivered the menus
and a swift vodka and orange, which I had to return
to adjust the measurement to more orange than vodka.
The menu was biased towards fish with eight out of
thirteen main courses being fishy. The unusual item
in this section was chicken in coffee wine sauce.
However since I was in a seaport, for a change, I
decided that I would concentrate on the fish options. |
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The train to waft me, perspiring and
cooked far more than á point, back to Warsaw
was not for a couple of hours, so I decided on an
extra course. I started with herring in wine marinade
with dill. A single herring fillet was not really
adequate but the marinade was subtle enough not to
mask the herring, so from that point it was good.
The next course was awful. I ordered mussels in tomato
and garlic and I suppose that is what I got. It was
a pile of very overcooked mussels, cooked to the point
when they become sandy, covered with a sludge of tomato,
with a hint of garlic. When I finally got to the sludge
it did not taste to bad, but over the heap of broken
mussel shells it looked yach!
At this point a complimentary salad was produced.
This is a nice touch and given to all diners. It was
not a bad fresh salad but they obviously make these
salads up before the session and then put them in
the fridge. The result is a very cold salad. This
is a common problem with items like tomatoes since
few chefs risk wastage by leaving fresh fruit and
vegetables out in the kitchen to reach an edible room
temperature. |
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| For a main I had sole Milanese with
wermouth (their spelling), having revolted at the
idea of baked halibut with paprika sauce. The sole
was fried and served with lyonnaise potatoes and broccoli,
which was not over cooked. I enjoyed the sole but
would have preferred the cooking to have been gentler. |
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| The final course was fruit salad with
orange liqueur. This was an impressive offering with
a good fresh fruit salad presented in half a pineapple.
They had not been economical with the fruit, or the
pineapple, but they could have been a touch more generous
with the liqueur. |
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There was a good wine list and I had
a bottle of French house wine at Zl.60. The normal
range of wines was around Zl.90 and there were options
from Spain, Portugal, Italy, Chile, Australia and
the US. A fourth cru Paulliac would have cost Zl.330.
I summoned my bill and hoped I could find my way back
to the station. I had told the waiter to add 10% to
the faktura and when he presented it was for Zl.190.
I was surprised at the amount and started looking
at the items. They had been added up on an adding
machine and seemingly had to be right. However I went
to school when calculators were not allowed and I
have the ability, even after a good lunch, to add.
Somehow the calculator had added in an additional
Zl.22. I paid the adjusted amount to the apologetic
waiter. But I wondered! |
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| Fine Dining in:
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