Reviews: PaństwoMiasto 59 / Plus:
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NIGHTLIFE
BARS & PUBS 59 / CLUBS 63 / GENTLEMAN’S CLUBS 64 / JAZZ CLUBS 64
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BOW 2012 Winner........... Food Served.................... Free wifi.............................. Live Music.......................... Map location pg. 78 ...... (A1) Romantic..........................
BARS & PUBS Bazar (F1) ul. Okrzei 22, tel. 508 321 264. Open 12:00-last guest. There’s Krusovice, Bernard and Staropramen on tap, and the Czech slant is lent added meat by a series of evenings held in cahoots with the Czech Cultural Centre – it’s during boozy disco nights the party spills into a shadowy cellar with light retro hints. On ground level its raw and industrial with asphalt colors and overhead pipes. You wouldn’t expect it, but the margaritas are smashing.
PaństwoMiasto ul. Andersa 29, tel. 22 400 9446, panstwomiasto.pl. Open 9:00-24:00.
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX WEBBER
T
raditionally speaking, Muranów has offered little in the social stakes. Those of an older vintage will recall fondly the days of Jaś i Małgosia, but aside from that nocturnal outings in the area were limited to the scraggy bars propping up the peep shows of JPII. In short, there hasn’t been much of note in an area seemingly cut off from progress. With that considered, it’s no surprise PaństwoMiasto has landed on a cloud of local hype. But does it live up to it? First impressions are not kind. Found in one of those colossal communist blocks emblematic of the district, you’ll know you’ve reached Państwo by the fairy lights cobwebbed around the skeletal trees. Summer can’t come soon enough, because right now this pot-holed street looks like Minsk under curfew. Neither do attitudes soften on entry: the overall design appears cold and cavernous, with stone floors, echoing acoustics and blank, boring color schemes. You might want to turn back and leave. But to do so would be a mistake. That’s because for all of its latent failings, the people at Państwo have stumbled on a secret ingredient that makes it all work. Maybe it’s the beer selection, a mixed bag of approximately ten beers from Poland’s lesser known regions. There’s decent food as well, a selection of sandwiches and cold cuts that are far better than they sound. And then there’s the chef’s corgi, a friendly little chap often found snuffling for hand-outs under the raised communal tables. Mostly though, it’s the people that make the place. Scholastic in spirit, events here are seriously highbrow, and include political discussions, art sales and book readings. Now that’s not my usual cup of tea, least not on a Friday night, but there is a plus to all that – the fact that there’s a genuine academic spirit keeps it free of the faux intellectuals in hipster battlegrounds like Powiśle and pl. Zbawiciela – that lot of pretenders wouldn’t last a minute in here, which is just one more point that falls in Państwo’s favour. (AW)
Beirut (D5) ul. Poznańska 12. Open 12:00-last guest. One of the hits of 2012, Beirut has walls dusted with cult album covers, documentary film posters and some token pics of military hardware (pointing at Tel Aviv Cafe across the road). Androgynous staff deal out Lithuanian beer and Lebanese starters from behind a sandbag bar in this standout café-bar. The British Bulldog (D4) ul. Krucza 51, tel. 22 827 0020, www.bbpub.pl. How fickle this city can be. The big fail of 2012. Forget that it’s the most accurate replica of a traditional British pub around, and consider instead the heinous service, fried aromas and a deserved ex-pat boycott traced to the dismissal of the original British manager. Browarmia (C3) ul. Królewska 1, tel. 22 826 5455, www.browarmia.pl. Open daily 12:00-last guest. An industrial looking microbrewery filled with mysterious pipes, valves and gauges. The summer terrace is great, making it one of the best places around for a brew with a view.
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