If a waft of tarragon and marjoram ever beckons when you’re out in Deansgate, it’s probably coming from Platzki. The modern Polish restaurant has been serving Manchester diners for several years across different venues, originally launching in Spinningfields. Owners Przemek (from Gorzow Wielkopolski) and Lukasz (from Katowice) are passionate about the food they serve. They are also behind the restaurant’s design, melding the traditional and the contemporary also reflected in their menu.
We went on Sunday morning to try their new breakfast menu and were treated to a seamless blend of Polish, Ukrainian, and Georgian cuisine. Although it is popular in both Poland and Ukraine, Georgian food is criminally underrated, so I was pleasantly surprised to find khachapuri, the south Caucasian country’s national dish, on the Platzki menu.
Manchester, despite all its gastronomic glory, doesn’t have a single Georgian restaurant (as far as I’m aware). Yet, Platzki’s take on khachapuri almost makes up for it. Khachapuri, essentially a cheese bread, is an instant crowd pleaser – who doesn’t love cheese and carbs? There’s a reason why pizza is so popular.
The dough is leavened and moulded into various shapes (commonly a boat shape), and filled with cheese, eggs, and other savoury ingredients. We shared one, tearing off chunks of the bread along the sides and dipping it into the cheese and egg mixture.
Alongside the khachapuri, we had kielbasa, and syrniki as a sweetener. Kielbasa is a Polish sausage stew with tomatoes and gherkins and is the perfect comfort dish for an overcast morning.
Syrniki is a new addition to Platzki’s culinary repertoire, fried quark pancakes popular in Slavic countries. Platzki’s take on Syrniki is the brainchild of the owners alongside new Ukrainian chef Alona, who came to Manchester with her fifteen-year-old son a few months ago as a refugee. Served with fresh fruit, it was the perfect sweet accompaniment to the khachapuri and kielbasa.
The Platzki brekkie also features krokiety (crispy fried pancakes stuffed with Polish black pudding, served with fried eggs), gryzby (fried oyster mushrooms with onions and apple served on sourdough toast and crispy halloumi cheese), omelets with tomatoes and spinach, schabowy baps (pork schnitzel with mayo vegetable salad), and karkowka baps (roasted pork neck with horseradish and sauerkraut).
Otherwise, if you visit on a lunchtime or evening, try the Polish and Georgian dumplings – pierogi and khinkali.
