It's an opening we're pretty excited about, we admit, because Polish restaurants - and Eastern European restaurants more generally - aren't exactly legion in Paris, and that's a shame. This May, Polish chef Piotr Korzen will open his very first restaurant, christened Matka, with the aim of dusting off any preconceptions about Polish cuisine.
Poor cuisine? A little too traditional? Boiled potatoes and cabbage in all their forms? Perhaps, but not only! Polish gastronomy is also rustic, authentic and even downright gastronomic, provided it is executed by an experienced chef. And Piotr Korzen is just such a chef!
Arriving in France in 2015, the thirty-something has passed through some fine Maisons, such as the Sur-Mesure restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental, where he spent five years under the aegis of Thierry Marx before turning to bistro cooking at La Machine à Coudes in Boulogne-Billancourt, where he took charge of the kitchens.
This May, the chef jumps into the deep end with the opening of Matka (mother in Polish), a tribute to his culture and nationality. With its warm family-home decor (complete with fireplace!) and typical Eastern European motifs, the restaurant sends gourmets into the 20th century.
On the menu, Piotr Korzen offers a gastronomic version of the great classics of Polish cuisine: chlodnik (an iced borscht), buckwheat blinis with kohlrabi and smoked trout, salsecon (head cheese), pierogis, roladka (a turkey roll), stuffed cabbage with lamb... Enough to keep you salivating until the inauguration! And when it comes to desserts, you're bound to find the country's traditional cakes, such as sernik, a Polish version of cheesecake, and makowiec, a poppy seed, chocolate, walnut and meringue cake.
Location
Matka
78 Rue Quincampoix
75003 Paris 3
