New In Town – Newtown

The ever-changing face of King Street south has a relative newcomer. One that has replaced a long running Mexican night time eatery formerly known as Chocolate Dog. To be honest I never pulled my digit out to sample the Mexican fare at this 549 King Street address, maybe the lack of customers or paying upwards of $15 for a burrito put me off, and only ever decided to go when they went Eastern European. There is a similarity between what we have today and what there was yesterday: during the day the venue runs as a café and pm it becomes a Polish restaurant, rather than Mexican. New owners, new cuisine. New In Town. 

The first time we came here was with The Girls and only just the other day with Mr K’s mum, over from New Zealand. I’m all up for supporting a new local business and my suggestion of Polish came with a little surprise. Polish in Newtown? Yup, it appears so. Beats another drab Thai place. You can get that two doors down. Polish food comes a little scant in this city as far as I know. I’ve had it in Ashfield and I’ve had it in Glebe, both experiences were bordering on ordinary and anywhere else I’m yet to discover. On the first visit the four of us sat down scanning the menu for pre-main nibbles and settled on the Pierogi. The first time I had these dumplings was in Glebe with Mr K and was instantly enamoured by them. Here at New In Town we had the option of having them mixed: meat & onion, sauerkraut & mushroom and cheese & potato. I wasn’t overly impressed by any of them. Not bad, just not ‘how’s it going’.

On our more recent visit we started with the Smalec, a very peasant-styled spread made from pork lard spiced with fried sausage, onion, garlic and marjoram. The content of lard in this dish is alarmingly high and not for the faint-hearted and thank god for those gherkins to literally cut through the fat. It’s rich and strong in fatty pork flavour. Mr K’s mum & I loved it yet he could only watch in horror as we ate a weeks-worth of fat intake in one small dish.

The main meals are all hearty and generous in size and a great one to try is the Placek po zbójnicku -  a thick pancake made from finely grated potato, pan-fried and topped with beef goulash and sour cream. Or try the Bigos – a hunter’s stew of smoked meats mixed with sauerkraut, red wine and spices. It’s quite dry compared to many stews you’ve probably had and the sauerkraut flavour is quite prominant. The boiled dill potatoes on the side will weigh you down even further.

The selection of side dishes is a little limited, coming as just four choices at $3.90 : Mizera – fresh sliced cucumber with dill and sour cream; Surówka z kapusty – sauerkraut with apple & onion drizzled with olive oil; Polish salad of tomato, onion and sour cucumber; Spinach & strawberries with tri-coloured pepper and balsamic vinegar.

The house speciality seems to be the Golonka w piwie – a gigantic pork knuckle baked in Polish beer. The meat is beautifully tender and falls from the bone and the horseradish relish it comes with will give your sinuses a run for their money. Bread and sauerkraut also come with.

Mr K chooses the Schabowy – two on-the-bone pork schnitzels served with dill potatoes and mizera. They’re done very ‘home-style’ and are quite average in his books. They look a little over-done to me.

Desserts come in four choices. There’s a Polish style cheesecake, an apple pie and two others we just had to share. Nalesniki z serem is a crêpe stuffed with white cheese and cinnamon, drizzled with hot chocolate sauce and with a scoop of melting icecream it’s still quite light. The Pierogi z wisniami are dessert dumplings filled with sour cherries and icecream and liberally dusted with chocolate powder. I found the pastry a little too firm but I loved the sour cherry filling.

I did question the seasonality of the menu and was told that come the warmer weather, there would be more grilled meats on offer rather than heavy delicious stodge currently gracing the menu. I’ve got to come back and try that slow-roasted duck.

Tagged as: Dumplings, Inner West, Newtown, Polish