Sometime over easter holiday, there appeared a new restaurant around the corner on Gloucester Road. EasyJet orange chairs, paintings of the Beatles on the wall, and a sign that beckons you to come in and enjoy “Delicions Fresh Polish Food.” The delightful misspellings and half-translations don’t stop there. Really, it is part of the appeal that not everything has been translated properly into english. It adds a new dimension of authenticity of the experience. As I have learned, it is fun to go into a restaurant in a foreign country where you don’t know anything on the menu. In your home country (or at least one which shares its language with you) you would expect to be able to read menus clearly. Chopin provides the perfect balance of the experiences.
This is, by the way, a review. As far as I can tell, this is the second review of Chopin to hit the interwebs. A not so thorough search on the googles indicates that a Mark Taylor beat me to it.
So. My first experience was probably within a few weeks of the restaurant being opened. M and I headed there for a cheeky “Beef Stroganow” before dinner. We got it takeaway and it took about 10 minutes, what one might expect for a takeaway. Nothing to be surprised about here. We got home and opened the box, delighted to find a massive load of meat and gravy. This was definitely the hearty fare that we expected. The two of us split the tab, which was £4. Very cheap for a large main course, even if it didn’t have any vegetables with it – though, if we had sat down to eat it, it would have come with bread.
The next visit had ulterior motives. We had just booked tickets to Poland and needed a hostel to stay in. The only hostel in Rzeszow required phone booking. M, A and I headed to Chopin for lunch. We dined on massive baked potatoes and hearty soups before lectures. The waitress/hostess/lady who works there, was very sweet and tended to the table probably the perfect amount – she made sure that we had everything we needed without being pesky. This is when we learned that she doesn’t speak much english. Generally fine as the menu is numbered, but when we asked if she could make a phone call for us, she stalled. She got the chef out to handle us. Very nice chap as far as we can tell, was amused to fine we were going to Rzeszow, and said we should go to Warsaw instead.
I came to frequent the restaurant more, hitting it three days in a row at one point. The food is hearty, fresh and served in large portions. The prices are pretty much as low as possible. Side dishes are all 99p, but these can easily be a starter for their size. I personally love the fried beetroot and the cabbage. Every day has a special deal on, which I have taken advantage of twice. Once was a free starter of bread, pate and lard, which is surprisingly nice. Not a big fan of pate, but this one was nice, and the lard mixed in was an interesting substitute to butter on bread. Sunday is pork chop schabowy day, and their fried pork chop (comes with cabbage and chips) is only £5.20, a decent discount from the usual. At one point, there were six of us having dinner there. each of us had two or three courses and a pint. The total was less than £60. At least two of us eked out three courses on a tenner.
This is my review of the pork chop. One review (yes, that only other review), doesn’t rate it highly, claiming that the flattened pork chop schabowy could have been anything, chicken, veal, pork, cork or a shoe insole. The author is certainly right, it could have been anything, but for those who would prefer to ignore skepticism, this is not a relevant point. I would like to add that while it could have been anything, it tasted like a fried pork chop. People are less likely to confuse tastes, such as pork, chicken, and insoles, if they know how to tell the difference between the items. So, if one thinks that the pork chop schabowy it could have been chicken or veal, it is probably an indication that all of the chicken, veal and insoles they have had actually taste of pork. I have been fortunate to have good quality and diverse foods in my life, and I am inclined to say that it tasted of pork. I am not an authority on how insoles taste, so I do not speak with the authority Mr. Taylor has. One housemate even gave a good rating to their burger, not what I would have thought to have at a Polish restaurant, but well done nonetheless. Bigos, which is described on the menu simply as “Bigos” is delicious, various smoked meats in cabbage. Potato thug pie was enthusiastically recommended by the waitress, and it turned out to be some sort of large potato pancake folded over a meaty gravy-y filling. For £7.20, this is a cracking deal for hungry people who don’t want to be hungry anymore. Or even for those who just like the rich taste of good meat in a tasty gravy. You cannot lose.
I have eaten many other things there, and sampled off other peoples plates as well. These things I found to be good. My main complaint was that the chicken soup with noodles was very hot, and the layer of oil on top (its the same in Poland, I found) keeps the soup from cooling off. So, it was a bit hot. There are times (about half the time I have been) when they run out of things in the kitchen. They always come up with an acceptable substitute, as far as I can tell.
So, to summarize:
Large portions.
Hearty food.
Meat.
Very cheap.
Really, really cheap – £10 for three courses and a pint.
They find it jokes when you tip in Zloty.
Excellent rail links: walking distance of Redland station and Montpelier station.
This is where it is.
Really, cracking resteraunt. I don’t think they know anything about profit margins, and seem to be having a hard time drawing in customers. It is very nice inside and the staff are about as lovely as they come. The ad hoc substitutions and minimal english make the experience exciting and authentic in a whole new way. Go there. Its delicions.
This is the part where I load the post with keywords in the hopes that it will be picked up by the great algorithm by which we search the interweaves: Chopin Bristol Gloucester road arches fresh Polish food takeaway take away eat cheap good Chopin restaurant.
Ah, and here is the address/phone number:
217 Cheltenham Road
Bristol BS6 5QP
0117 904 3573
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 2:13 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
good Polish Portions at good Polish Prices
Sometime over easter holiday, there appeared a new restaurant around the corner on Gloucester Road. EasyJet orange chairs, paintings of the Beatles on the wall, and a sign that beckons you to come in and enjoy “Delicions Fresh Polish Food.” The delightful misspellings and half-translations don’t stop there. Really, it is part of the appeal that not everything has been translated properly into english. It adds a new dimension of authenticity of the experience. As I have learned, it is fun to go into a restaurant in a foreign country where you don’t know anything on the menu. In your home country (or at least one which shares its language with you) you would expect to be able to read menus clearly. Chopin provides the perfect balance of the experiences.
This is, by the way, a review. As far as I can tell, this is the second review of Chopin to hit the interwebs. A not so thorough search on the googles indicates that a Mark Taylor beat me to it.
So. My first experience was probably within a few weeks of the restaurant being opened. M and I headed there for a cheeky “Beef Stroganow” before dinner. We got it takeaway and it took about 10 minutes, what one might expect for a takeaway. Nothing to be surprised about here. We got home and opened the box, delighted to find a massive load of meat and gravy. This was definitely the hearty fare that we expected. The two of us split the tab, which was £4. Very cheap for a large main course, even if it didn’t have any vegetables with it – though, if we had sat down to eat it, it would have come with bread.
The next visit had ulterior motives. We had just booked tickets to Poland and needed a hostel to stay in. The only hostel in Rzeszow required phone booking. M, A and I headed to Chopin for lunch. We dined on massive baked potatoes and hearty soups before lectures. The waitress/hostess/lady who works there, was very sweet and tended to the table probably the perfect amount – she made sure that we had everything we needed without being pesky. This is when we learned that she doesn’t speak much english. Generally fine as the menu is numbered, but when we asked if she could make a phone call for us, she stalled. She got the chef out to handle us. Very nice chap as far as we can tell, was amused to fine we were going to Rzeszow, and said we should go to Warsaw instead.
I came to frequent the restaurant more, hitting it three days in a row at one point. The food is hearty, fresh and served in large portions. The prices are pretty much as low as possible. Side dishes are all 99p, but these can easily be a starter for their size. I personally love the fried beetroot and the cabbage. Every day has a special deal on, which I have taken advantage of twice. Once was a free starter of bread, pate and lard, which is surprisingly nice. Not a big fan of pate, but this one was nice, and the lard mixed in was an interesting substitute to butter on bread. Sunday is pork chop schabowy day, and their fried pork chop (comes with cabbage and chips) is only £5.20, a decent discount from the usual. At one point, there were six of us having dinner there. each of us had two or three courses and a pint. The total was less than £60. At least two of us eked out three courses on a tenner.
This is my review of the pork chop. One review (yes, that only other review), doesn’t rate it highly, claiming that the flattened pork chop schabowy could have been anything, chicken, veal, pork, cork or a shoe insole. The author is certainly right, it could have been anything, but for those who would prefer to ignore skepticism, this is not a relevant point. I would like to add that while it could have been anything, it tasted like a fried pork chop. People are less likely to confuse tastes, such as pork, chicken, and insoles, if they know how to tell the difference between the items. So, if one thinks that the pork chop schabowy it could have been chicken or veal, it is probably an indication that all of the chicken, veal and insoles they have had actually taste of pork. I have been fortunate to have good quality and diverse foods in my life, and I am inclined to say that it tasted of pork. I am not an authority on how insoles taste, so I do not speak with the authority Mr. Taylor has. One housemate even gave a good rating to their burger, not what I would have thought to have at a Polish restaurant, but well done nonetheless. Bigos, which is described on the menu simply as “Bigos” is delicious, various smoked meats in cabbage. Potato thug pie was enthusiastically recommended by the waitress, and it turned out to be some sort of large potato pancake folded over a meaty gravy-y filling. For £7.20, this is a cracking deal for hungry people who don’t want to be hungry anymore. Or even for those who just like the rich taste of good meat in a tasty gravy. You cannot lose.
I have eaten many other things there, and sampled off other peoples plates as well. These things I found to be good. My main complaint was that the chicken soup with noodles was very hot, and the layer of oil on top (its the same in Poland, I found) keeps the soup from cooling off. So, it was a bit hot. There are times (about half the time I have been) when they run out of things in the kitchen. They always come up with an acceptable substitute, as far as I can tell.
So, to summarize:
Large portions.
Hearty food.
Meat.
Very cheap.
Really, really cheap – £10 for three courses and a pint.
They find it jokes when you tip in Zloty.
Excellent rail links: walking distance of Redland station and Montpelier station.
This is where it is.
Really, cracking resteraunt. I don’t think they know anything about profit margins, and seem to be having a hard time drawing in customers. It is very nice inside and the staff are about as lovely as they come. The ad hoc substitutions and minimal english make the experience exciting and authentic in a whole new way. Go there. Its delicions.
This is the part where I load the post with keywords in the hopes that it will be picked up by the great algorithm by which we search the interweaves: Chopin Bristol Gloucester road arches fresh Polish food takeaway take away eat cheap good Chopin restaurant.
Ah, and here is the address/phone number:
217 Cheltenham Road
Bristol BS6 5QP
0117 904 3573
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 at 2:13 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.