Gdansk isn’t the place for a culinary adventure, but there are some top-class restaurants alongside the rock-bottom milk bars. For the most part, expect meat and potatoes served against a backdrop of stuffed falcons and suits of armour. But what Polish food lacks in flair, it does at least make up for in size and quality.

Pod Lososiem (ulica Szeroka 52/54, 301 76 52) is the grand lady of Gdansk restaurants; the grilled salmon is the chef’s signature dish, and the guest book is a who’s who of Polish celebrities. Tawerna (ulica Powroznicza 19/20, 301 41 14),is the town’s best fish restaurant, complete with rigging and nautical charts. Ratskeller (Dlugi Targ 44, 300 02 80) is an upscale cellar with an encyclopaedic menu of expertly executed fish and game. Equally upmarket, Salonik (ulica Dluga 18/21, 322 00 44) offers modern Polish dishes, while Turbot (ulica Korzenna 33/35, 307 51 48) is an eccentric venture that uses all the recipes ever mentioned in the works of Gdansk-born author Günter Grass. Czerwone Drzwi (ulica Piwna 52/53, 301 57 64) offers a limited but excellent menu. Serving dishes from the nearby province of Kashubia, Mestwin (ulica Straganiarska 21/22, 301 78 82) specialises in heavy helpings of meat and lard.

Of Gdansk’s drinking options, Kamiennica (ulica Mariacka 37/39, 301 12 30) is perhaps the most picturesque, while Absinth (ulica Sw Ducha 2, 302 37 84) is a basic room that attracts an unconventional crowd of local characters. Occupying a busy spot on Gdansk’s main pedestrian thoroughfare, Ferber (ulica Dluga 77/78, 301 55 66) is considered the hottest spot in town, with an atmosphere and interior that would not be out of place in the capital.

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