Artesse restaurant in July 2024, encouraged by the recommendation of the Michelin guide, good opinions and beautiful photos of the dishes served. We also learned that in Krakow it was said that Artesse was one of the favorites to receive another star, next to the famous Bottiglieria 1881.
The restaurant is located on the ground floor of the H15 boutique hotel, located in the beautifully restored Lubomirski Palace near the Main Market Square in the Old Town of Krakow. In the immediate vicinity there is the Princes Czartoryski Museum with a collection of unique works of art, including the famous painting Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci. A visit to the restaurant can be combined with a visit to the Museum or a walk around the streets of the Old Town, which will be a perfect prelude to a dinner inspired by women who influenced Polish culinary art.

The interior of the restaurant is elegant, decorated in subdued colors. A lot of light is provided by the glass roof over part of the restaurant room. Inside you will find palm trees that give the interior the atmosphere of an orangery. The decoration is complemented by a bust of Princess Anna Czartoryska, as well as elegantly set tables covered with long linen tablecloths.
The menu was handed to us in a black envelope with a wax seal, which is a nice surprise that puts guests in a historical atmosphere. There are two versions of the menu to choose from: Novel ( Short Story) and Novel ( Long Story). Each of these versions is divided into chapters – 6 chapters in the Novel and 9 chapters in the Novel. Of course, we decided on this extended version, but you have to be really hungry for such an experience. Optionally, you can order caviar, oysters and wine pairing .

An extremely interesting concept is to base the entire story on women who influenced Polish culinary art. Each chapter is devoted to one of them. Interestingly, you can listen to an interesting story about each of them, which may be of interest not only to Poles, but also to guests from abroad.
The first chapter was inspired by Queen Hedwig of Anjou, considered a saint in the Catholic Church, hence the title of the chapter: Patroness Saint. Queen Jadwiga was said to have had a passion for eating fish, hence the first dishes consisted of fish and seafood. We were served snacks in the form of a trout croquette with asparagus mayonnaise and trout caviar, a cone with sea trout, mango and caviar, an oyster with a cottage cheese pearl, date vinegar, strawberry and gold. The croquet and oyster were exceptional, and we would give them 10 out of 10 for the presentation of these snacks. However, we were not impressed with the trout and caviar cone because it was not crispy, and the intense mango overwhelmed the delicate flavor of the fish and caviar. The wine served with these dishes was a unique addition. Due to the fact that the grapes were grown in Wieliczka, above the salt deposits, the wine left a slight salty aftertaste on the finish, somewhat reminiscent of the coastal Albariño from Rias Baixas .

The second chapter began with the story of Lucyna Ćwierciakiewiczowa, who in the 19th century published a cookbook titled 365 dinners for five zlotys, in which she provided recipes for inexpensive dishes. Hence, this section of the menu included snacks prepared from offal and cheaper cuts of meat. So we were served beef tongue with horseradish and wasabi, baked potato with beef brisket and mayonnaise in smoked potato skins, as well as beef tartare with low-salt cucumber, black chanterelle, pearl onion macerated in angelica vinegar. These snacks were accompanied by three types of bread: savory Krakow małdrzyki, Krakow challah and a donut (a bit too fatty), plus butter with beef heart. The snacks were full of various flavors, we especially liked the beef tongue with a strong horseradish accent. It’s a great pity that the remaining bread was taken away with our plates, because we would have gladly used it for another dish. Perversely, white wine was served with the red meat, but I think we would have preferred a milder pinot noir.

The next chapter was devoted to voivode Helena Tekla Lubomirska, to whom Stanisław Czarniecki dedicated the Compendium Ferculorum , which is the oldest preserved cookbook, published in Krakow in the second half of the 17th century. The dish we were served was sorrel foam served with yolk marinated in citrus, decorated with a colorful tuille , and morels in Hollandaise sauce served in a separate dish. It might seem to be almost a sorrel soup, slightly sour, slightly creamy thanks to the yolk, but in this form it allowed us to rediscover this traditional dish. A slight grating was the tuille , which was too soft, but it should have been light and crispy. This is just a little thing to improve.

The next installment of the novel was inspired by Catherine de Medici, thanks to whom the fork came to Poland. The plate featured Ojcowski trout between layers of pike mousse with zucchini, yellow carrot mousse and snail caviar, with wild garlic sauce. The fish was very delicate in taste and slightly covered with the aroma of wild garlic and very dry wine, and a more aromatic sturgeon would probably have worked better here, but this is a matter of taste.
The next heroine of the novel was a princess from the eastern borderlands, who wrote down medieval recipes dating back to before the Compendium. Ferculorum . The main ingredients of the dishes at that time were cabbage and apples, which were included in the dish served to us. The basis of the dish was guinea fowl placed on cabbage in meat stock wrapped in bacon, and served with goose stomachs and citrus mustard with apple vinegar. The guinea fowl was perfectly tender, and the whole dish was full of umamic (perhaps a bit too salty and intense for some) flavors thanks to the sauce. We rate the entire dish very positively.
We liked the last chapter the least, devoted to Countess Krystyna Potocka, to whom the cookbook titled Polish-French Cuisine was dedicated. The veal on the plate was perfectly prepared and was the highlight of this dish. Unfortunately, we were not impressed with the brooch with mushrooms and truffle, sea buckthorn mousse and capers, because there was definitely too much going on there, and the particularly intense aroma of sea buckthorn covered the noble taste of the truffles. We definitely like sea buckthorn more when it is an accent, not the dominant ingredient. Foie was served alongside gras , which unfortunately was practically undetectable due to the excess of ingredients.

This slight disappointment was more than made up for by a board of Italian cheeses, inspired by Queen Bona Sforza, who is credited with bringing these ingredients to Poland. Cheeses, including blue cheese, matured in whiskey barrels, matured in grapes after the production of grappa, or matured in hay, were served with fruit additions. Definitely worth trying.

Chapter VIII, i.e. dessert, was inspired by the chef’s mother. It was a dessert based on whipped cream with strawberries and rhubarb, a sauce based on orange vodka and violet sugar. Strawberries and halva were also served, arranged on a layer of dry ice and moss. A bit of water caused the entire table to be covered with a mysterious mist. Such simple things, but they always make an impression. The whole thing was supposed to resemble a meadow, both visually and with the aroma of flowers and fruit. Unfortunately, we didn’t detect much orange and violets, but we consider the dessert to be very successful.
At the end, we were served petit fours , including cherry jelly, calissons , inspired by French sweets from Aix-en-Provence, cheesecake with truffle, praline and cardamom with vanilla cream. We can consider this a successful proposition.

To sum up, we were charmed by the idea on which the entire menu was based – that is, women, historical figures with whom the chef linked individual chapters of his story. The presentation of the dishes was also beautiful. We also appreciate the opportunity to try various harder-to-find, underappreciated or, on the contrary, luxurious ingredients, both from the region, from Poland and from around the world. We liked the proposals for Polish wines, and we will especially remember the white wine from Wieliczka. The service, as we have already mentioned, is professional and friendly. It is certainly a place worth visiting.