Eat Like Ushi

Fish is abundant along the northern coast of Poland and so it makes sense to try a well reputed restaurant built from the original Gdansk fishmarket. Targ Rybny (restaurant name the same as the road it is located upon) is a well-reputed seafood place and has made itself to #2 on Tripadvisor for Gdansk. The staff did inform me that Poland has no local shellfish, whether that affects your dish selections or not.

The setting is nicely located near the riverside so sitting outside on a sunny day is a perfect idea.

For variety I selected the Tapas Plate with specialties of Fishmarkt. Although clearly designed to be shared between a few, I had it all to myself. Two steamed clams topped with cheese & diced tomato, a crispy pancake from potato & zucchini with wheat seeds topped with caviar, smoked salmon, smoked herring, smoked cod and a smoked salmon mayonnaise mix. In the end a little too much smoked flavour for my liking; I was hoping for a bit more fresh ingredients.

Despite not being local, I tried the Refined Lobster-Cream Soup with Lobster Dumpling served with a nice G (or am I seeing imaginary things in my soup?). The flavour was rich to match the orange brilliance. Thick luscious and lovely with the lobster essence seemingly stronger the deeper I went into the bowl.

I asked them to recommend me a local fish for my main and so ended up with Cod Fillet Baked (with dried tomatoes & mozzarella, served on spinach with lemon sauce). I have to admit I wasn't particularly taken with the dish. The fish quality was a bit tough and reminded me why I extremely rarely order fish dishes as a main course at any restaurant.

Prices are expensive for Poland but with most main courses costing $12-15 (with the odd one being $18 or $30) it really isn't that much in the scheme of world restaurant life.

Next time I would order the Lobster Soup again. Bouillabaise could be promising too. The Tapas Plate I'd only consider if there were a group to share it with all whom liked smoked items. I'm not sure which main to choose - one was served in a fry pan which looked ok.

Polish food become an unexpected victory surrounded by the (as I found at least) boring productions of Germany and Czech Republic.

The basic soups and dumplings concept is taken a step further into the future at Metamorfoza. Perhaps location is the enemy of this place (which I was the only diner on a Thursday evening and there are currently only 4 TA reviews) as it isn't along the main nightspots near the river and main pedestrian roads. Additionally the food is expensive by Polish standards, but I wouldn't have expected that would deter overseas visitors.

Metamorfoza prides itself on quality ingredients, minimal additives to natural flavours and a scientific molecular base to its productions. It is somewhere to go when the food around you seems to blend into each other.

An aperitif of Molecular Goldwasser Jelly (with orange powder, lemon foam) ended up being a not liquid at all - a jelly of very potent Gdansk vodka that made my headspin and would be in the dreams of gourmet alcohol parties.

Complementary starter of Smoked Pork with crunchy crumbs made from bread (I am very reluctant to call them simply breadcrumbs) came with a few drops of citrus and raspberry (I think) sauce. Beef Tartare PLN40 (with molecular yolk, pine cone flavour) looked classic, with good quality finely chopped (not minced) beef served at room temperature, but with a "yolk" which was actually made of mustard locked in a thin film. Impressive skills. Raw onions, pickles and small mushrooms added to impressive presentation and allowed a variety of flavour combinations each mouthful. I didn't taste any pine cone flavour so I'm unsure what I missed.

Next came the masterpiece of the evening - Zurek PLN24 (Gdansk spherical malt rye soup) served in a method similar to soup at The Fat Duck and Martin Berasategui where the ingredients are presented in the bowl before boiling hot broth is delicately added. I tried zurek in a more traditional Polish milk bar and this was of another planet. Delicious slightly sour soup with a mild sweetness surrounded a nice selection of sausage, soft tender pork belly and mildly flavoured roe. Fantastic.

The main dish of Veal Shank PLN54 (with beef fond, pierogi with wild mushroom's, wild garlic) was slightly disappointing unfortunately. The veal was cooked too much for my liking and thus lacked the tender fall-off-the-bone qualities. The pierogi (ie. Polish dumplings) were decent but I couldn't taste enough mushroom flavour. The beef fond have the whole dish a standard beef gravy flavour that didn't stand out from what you'd get elsewhere.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Spherical Apple Pie PLN19 (with cinnamon sand) but I'm a sucker for any kind of apple crumble/pie/tart dessert. It ended up as a sand-textured base of cinnamon with crumbs, layered under chopped apricots, soft cooked apple both with and without a brown sugar coat, and topped with an apple foam. Interesting concept with the standard flavour from an apple crumble.

Next time I would order the Zurek - my goodness. Hopefully the other soups may be of the same creativity. The other four dishes were decent but not necessary to try again. Pick whatever interests you - I do find it odd that none of the dishes on the set course menu are available a la carte. They didn't sound as interesting to me as the others, but you may think differently.