There are several trendy food spots in Warsaw. Some are open during the summer, others all year round. We’ve already written about the Night Market located at an abandoned train station, as well as a hipster mecca – Hala Koszyki. This time we checked the newest foodie spot in town – Hala Gwardii.
Hala Gwardii food market opened recently in an industrial building located at Plac Mirowski. The building has been there for many years and served many different purposes. Just last year we went there to take a glimpse at trendy clothes at one of the fashion pop-up events. Now the building has been renovated and was given a new function – to feed the people of Warsaw. It’a place where you can hang out, meet up with your friends, eat something at one of the pop up restaurants or buy something to take home.
What will you find there?
Main purpose of the place is to create a space for aspiring middle class foodies. But don’t worry, the owners mader sure that there’s plenty more things to do once you get there. The most important thing being actually getting to know the history of the historical building. It used to be space where boxing matches were held. And you can definitely fell the atmosphere of the past. There’s a boxing ring in the main hall that’s going to be used a a stage for concerts and events that are going to take place here in the future. There’s also a boxing museum in a separate room, where you can take a look at various boxing exhibits.
Get some goodies!
Still, Hala Gwardii is primarily about food. And there’s an abundance of it! There are both food stalls where you can get fresh produce or ready-to-make dishes that you can take home with you, as well as several different restaurants. Some of the restaurants already exist in Warsaw, others are brand new. Most of them are in a pop-up form, meaning, you order from a stall, find yourself a seat at a common table and then get back for your food once it’s ready.
As far as the shopping goes, you can get everything from fresh fruit and veg (we’re not into organic stuff, so we prefer cheaper versions sold next door on Mirowska market), amazing bread, fit and healthy cakes and desserts, to a huge selection of cheese, wine, beer and tapas.
You can find both, local products as well as delicacies from all over the world. We tried snails, oyesters and greek olives, to give you just a few examples. We really like the look of a small Portuguese shop and will definitely come back for some pastel de nata, canned sardines and delicious wine. Fruit infused balsamic oils from the shop called Shakshuka also looked promising, we were able to try a bit of them and we have to admit they not only look good but taste amazing as well. We’re likely to be regular customers at a little shop specializing in craft beer as well.
Hungry?
We purpously visited Hala Gwardii on an empty stomach, to be able to try as many restaurants as possible. Here’s our run down. There are restaurants serving cuisine from all over the world. You’ll get some Spanish and Portuguese tapas, some Israeli mezze, dishes from different Asian countries and even Colombian cuisine (which we never tried before). Those who are looking for something more local will be pleased as well. We tried a herring and traditional Polish kartacze in ‘Bar (nie tylko) mleczny’ and we really enjoyed both of those.
In the future we’d like to try something from the only restaurant that is a separate entity – Brasserie Smak. It’s located upstairs, so the view is the best. The interior design blew us away and we took many photos to steal ideas when renovating our own homes. The menu looked really good as well, so we’ll be sure to check it out in the future.
It’s impossible to try all of the restaurants and bars at once, but we did try some. First we ordered thin ‘pizza-like’ tarte flambée with blue cheese and beetroot slices from Flamm food stall. We can definitely recommend it a lunch option. Next we ordered calamari from Madeira stall specializing in Portuguese cuisine. We did not like those as much. Mostly becuase there was way too much of greasy batter and all together it was rather bland. As always we enjoyed the set of meze from Tel Aviv. After all that we still couldn’t resist a dessert. So we headed to Deseo for some of their beautiful magical cakes. We tried a matcha cake that looked like a stone covered with moss. MAriposa and herbo cakes were crazy and delicious as well. They do cost a bit, but are definitely worth the price!
Europe in Warsaw, Warsaw in Europe
I have to admmit that from the moment I entered Hala Gwardii I had a thought that it resembles me of something. Finally when we ordered our food and sat at one of commune tables I realised – Mercado da Ribeira! A really similar food market that I visited in Lisboa a few years back. The tables, the white restaurant names on black background, the industrial building, the stalls with local products. Everything was exactly the same! Of course that’s not a bad thing. I really enjoyed my visit in Portuguese food market, and likewise I really liked Hala Gwardii.
Unfortunatelly for us Hala Gwardii is European not only in design, food trends and overall style. The prices are European as well. I guess that’s something we can’t escape. It’s another ‘wishful thinking’ kind of places, after Koszyki. Restaurateurs would like customers from Warsaw to pay as much as in other European countries. We’d like to be able to afford that lifestyle as well. Unfortunatelly we’re a few years if not decades from that. So after few weeks of being a popular novelty and attracting customers, Hala Gwardii is now mostly empty.
