Motto – an entry in the guest book at Opałkowa Chata
“Tomuś, here’s some information for you: have the pork neck and don’t forget the garlic sauce. Good food, great atmosphere, and life has become beautiful. Zbyszek.”
Complimentary bread with lard with every order
This is the restaurant I return to from every trip. I have my own place here. And when I tell the waitress, “I’ll have what I always have,” I get my favorite dish. After all, I’m a regular customer. One of the family. I come in, say hello, look around the familiar interior, admire the original decorations, and take a thick slice of Opałkowa bread with a crisp crust. It smells of grain and good health. I spread it generously with homemade lard and start choosing delicacies from the menu.
Menu: pork specialties, gnieciuchy dumplings, kvass and the lovestruck neighbor’s compote
What do I recommend, knowing the menu by heart? First and foremost, the pork specialties! The pork dishes are prepared according to the old, good recipes of Polish housewives who know that the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. And that route smells of cured pork tenderloins, crispy pork loin with bacon, pork knuckle with horseradish that brings tears of delight, and tender grilled pork neck.
Yet what will captivate a food lover and make them unable to forget Opałkowa cuisine are the pierogi, called gnieciuchy here. The restaurant employs a special cook dedicated solely to pierogi, who kneads them by hand and fills them generously with potato and cheese, cabbage and mushroom, or meat filling.
And to drink? Kvass made from rye and barley malt, with the taste and aroma of freshly baked rye bread, perfectly quenching thirst and aiding digestion. Energizing and natural. Recommended for drivers and athletes, regardless of their discipline. And the neighbor’s most delicious homemade compote. I was told that the compote recipe came from a very lonely neighbor, who prepared the drink for a very thirsty neighbor—and today they both live happily together.
Christenings, weddings, name-day celebrations
Opałkowa Chata has more exceptional customers. This is probably the only place where regular customers ask for jobs. Waitress Agnieszka first organized a family party here. Now she specializes in organizing events for groups and catering. She has arranged numerous christenings, First Communions, business meetings, birthdays and class reunions—very fashionable this year.
A haven for parents
A place where no one smokes. Mom can relax and eat a meal prepared, for a change, by someone else. Dad can stay with the children in the garden and feel proud when his son or daughter shows him a wonderful sandcastle made in the large sandbox, or performs an impressive somersault using several sturdy ropes securely mounted on a special frame.
Mothers who have had enough of their apartment’s four walls can bring their little one here and rest for more than just a moment. The child can wander into the beds of strawberries and wild strawberries planted especially with children in mind. During this blissful time, the waitresses will offer Mom strong, aromatic coffee and a piece of chocolate cheesecake or homemade apple pie.
Children are loved at Opałkowa in general. That is why grandmothers, aunts, uncles and everyone entrusted with a little one feel so comfortable here when they do not know how to make the child’s time more enjoyable. The child can have an ice cream or a nutritious meal served so attractively that even the pickiest eater will eat it. There is a changing table in the restroom and a high chair for small children in the dining room. Sometimes, to allow parents to eat their meal, a waitress picks up a little wriggler.
Upstairs: Pub Mleczarnia
Before we become parents, we fall in love and make friends. The upstairs area is for lovers and friends. Pub Mleczarnia is a new addition to Opałkowa. A pub with drinks, sofas, intimate corners and atmospheric music. At your request, you can stay all night, in the company of a guard who diligently watches over the property. Mleczarnia offers Mad Cow Drinks. For an intimate evening with a friend, based on experience I recommend: Rogate Myśli (vodka, Campari, orange juice, grenadine, ice) and Chwyć Byka Za Rogi (vodka, curaçao, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, ice).
Concerts and revelry
There are also evenings when the inn resounds with singing and music and is full of artists. Concerts of folk, popular and blues music, as well as artistic happenings, are additional flavors of Opałkowa Chata.
A restaurant for travelers with four-legged friends
Opałkowa Chata extends an open, warm welcome to travelers and tourists, people on the road who dream of stretching their legs, taking a short rest and eating well before continuing their journey. It is a smoke-free haven with a large garden and a monitored parking lot. If you travel with your four-legged friend, there will be a bowl for them too. No one will look at either of you disapprovingly.
Gifts for the road
And when you leave the country, you say goodbye to it with bigos, pierogi and real Polish pork cutlet, wipe away a tear and take gifts for foreigners who do not know what it means to eat well: homemade lard or Polish mead. If you are not going too far, you can take frozen pierogi with you.
As I finish my meal, I listen to the customers. Next to me, a young mother with a baby on her lap chooses tea and marvels at the variety, saying to her husband: “It’s hard to find such a good restaurant even in the biggest cities, isn’t it, darling?” Then she nurses her little daughter and smiles blissfully.
Opałkowa Chata:
- Polish cuisine restaurant
- Pub Mleczarnia
- catering
- event organization
- receiving tourist groups
- concerts and other artistic activities
- child-friendly:
- large green area
- play area
- children’s menu
- changing table in the restroom and high chair for a small child
- large monitored enclosed parking lot
- pets welcome
Opałkowa Chata 1 – Bolesławiec
ul. Cieszkowskiego 17
59-700 Bolesławiec
tel. +48 75 644 62 62
www.opalkowachata.pl
Opałkowa Chata 2 - Jelenia Góra
ul. Sudecka 72
58-500 Jelenia Góra
tel. +48 782 250 000
www.opalkowachata.pl
(commissioned information)