Smaczne Środy: Polish Tatar at Before Bar, Stare Miasto, Warszawa

“I’m not sure if it ever works out right, but it’s OK, it’s alright” – Noel Gallagher.

On the narrowest street of Old Town Warszawa, I find myself in Before Bar. It’s not the first time I’ve been here – if you’ll excuse the pun, I’ve been here “Before”. Here’s the bar – https://www.facebook.com/Before-430725563687797/ I’m here for a few drinks with Adam, Artur and Rafal. But as the evening progresses, we become aware that not only is the food good, but they have the Polish traditional food Tatar, for the price of 19 zlotys. So we purchase a hat-trick and get stuck in. What exactly is Tatar though? (Not to be confused with the Tatra mountains of course).

What is Polish Tatar?
The thing about Polish Tatar is that although it is exclusive to Poland in the way it is spelt, how you eat it and how it arrives on the plate, it is not actually as unique as Poles claim. I have tried something similar in Ukraine, United States and even England, yes with the raw beef too. Wikipedia suggests Steak Tartare as an equivalent yet this can be confusing as the photos they use look like the meat is cooked. It isn’t – all the ingredients here are raw except for the bread. It looks like this:

1 pound finely ground Polish beef tenderloin 1 tablespoon brown mustard 1 tablespoon chopped onions

1 pinch salt, or to taste ground white pepper to taste 1 egg

Some good websites with Polish Tatar Recipes:
https://www.thespruce.com/steak-tartare-recipe-polish-befszytk-tatarski-1135636

What is TATAR?

Before Pub, Warsaw
Just off Zygmunt’s Column sits Bednarska Street, on the left hand side as you walk towards Nowy Swiat. Bednarska Street is the narrowest Street in Warsaw apparently (though that seems hard to believe when you are on it). Before Pub on Bednarska Street is a typical non commercial Polish style bar. Exactly the type of bar that I like. I have drank in here twice as well as the Tatar experience – friendly staff, not too busy, decent prices, cosy place. Some photos in and around Before Pub from the past week:

Other Food Articles I have Written
If I had more time in life, I would do a Smaczne Środy every Wednesday as I easily have the material for it, but life is busy. My favourite experiences of eating in Poland include my favourite Kebab Chain in Warsaw, a food tour in gorgeous Gdynia, Vegan Burgers in Warsaw, great Polish steak in Biskupiec and my night dining out in the Oldest Restaurant in Gdansk.

If you are keen on some of my crazy food adventures before I moved to Poland, check out these old school articles:

• Eating dog in South Korea
• Eating lamb in North Korea
• Eating wallaby in Tanzania
• Eating Horse Meat Noodles in Kyrgyzstan
• Eating Pan fried snails in China
• Eating Mantoo in Afghanistan
• Eating Wild Boar in Kazakhstan
• Eating Shabbatt Dinner in Jerusalem
• Eating Stuffed Partridge in England
• Eating kangarooney curry in Australia
• Eating Guinea Pig in Peru

With thanks to Rafal Kowalczyk, Artur Gorecki, Adam Topolski, Kuba Gruber, Before Bar and the Republic of Poland.

Here is a video of me getting ready for the Tatar experience in Before Pub: