The best take-away restaurants Krakow

Zapiekanka is one of the Cracow specialties, despite its origin in neighboring Czech Republic. Nevertheless, it is here that this street food has gained its credentials and has become a trend throughout Poland. The ground zero of this phenomenon is the former slaughterhouse-market that stands in the middle of Nowy Square. The vast majority of its stalls have been converted to making these bruschetta covered with melted oscypek cheese. Small rule: limit the ingredients to the maximum and beware of the sauce, it stains very quickly.

You won't find authentic Mleczny Bars on the city's main thoroughfares, for the simple reason that the proletariat and the workers who go there aren't present. The Mila is one of the rare exceptions, frequented as it is by local workers and students. You'll get the full immersion experience: the tiny room with its canteen-style tables is manned by impatient matrons who don't speak a word of English, amid the heavy fumes of potato pans. The menu, untranslated, is ridiculously low-priced.

A small, vaulted room not far from the Rynek, this milk bar is slightly more expensive than the others. Nonetheless, this is an excellent address, perfect for lunch. Simple, fast food.

An honest little restaurant/snack bar with a unique, well-designed and pleasant room where you can enjoy a range of Polish specialties. The menu includes, in addition to soups, pierogi, potato pancakes and classic grilled meats, a set of homemade pancakes, including one with oscypek cheese from Zakopane that we recommend. The dishes are unpretentious, copious and very good, for a price that is also appreciable. We recommend the pierogi, one of the most appreciated specialties of the regulars.

Joker-Food & Friends heralds the slow transformation of Nowa Huta, which was already playing out in the shadows before the Covid, but is now coming into the open. The opening of this modern American restaurant, with its subdued lighting, leather sofas and neon decor, is for the moment a small raindrop in a large pond, but it heralds the gentrification at full gallop ahead. The restaurant is nothing more and nothing less than a slightly average American-style bistro, but in this neighborhood it has the effect of a Michelin-starred restaurant. You won't regret it.

Sometimes you just want a kebab. Despite all our common sense and the nearby zapiekanka, it's the kebab we're after. In this situation, we might as well go to the best kebab in the neighborhood, certainly the best in town. This family-run bouiboui, where you can sit if you really feel like it, serves an excellent German-style doner. You choose your meat from the three skewers, then you choose your pita (the simplest being thick and covered with flour) and finally your sauce, which is very good and really strong: don't play the hero.

A milk bar frequented by locals, where you can eat like the Polish kings, well and plenty, at unbeatable prices. Go with your eyes closed and your mouth wide open!

Formerly located on Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, Meat & Go quickly found its place in Tytano. The idea is simple: this meat bar offers knockout sandwiches with high-quality products, including its Porchetta, an Italian-inspired roast pork sandwich served with caramelized onions and salad leaves. The atmosphere is trendy and relaxed, with large tables above which light globes float. A very nice place where you can take your time and have a break in your day.

It's a comfortable pied-à-terre for many travelers who happen to visit Krakow on a regular basis. Indeed, Koko combines authentic Polish cuisine, with a room set in a vaulted cellar with mismatched vintage furniture typical of Krakow, a warm and relaxed service staff and very reasonable prices that make you happy. You'll feel right at home back in Krakow in this friendly restaurant, with a pint of pivo in one hand and a plate of pierogi in the other!

A veritable institution in the city, the equivalent of our kebabs and fast-food outlets open at all hours to fill a sudden slump. Very few places in Krakow stay open until late at night, and Przypiecek is one of the Poles' favorites. On the menu: good pierogi and pierogi and more pierogi to kill hunger at all hours. It could hardly be more local, served in a dingy room by staff who don't speak a word of English, despite the dozens of generations of Erasmus students who have failed here.

The cultural center in Nowa Huta has been rehabilitated in recent years and, to ensure that locals make it their own, a Food Truck Park has been installed there. In the same spirit as those in Kazimierz and downtown, on Lekowka, Świętego Wawrzyńca and Krupnicza streets respectively (which did not have the honor of their own section in the guidebook), there are half a dozen good quality stalls serving street food. Tables set up at regular intervals allow for dining, or in the summer you can eat on the Łąki Nowohuckie park.