A feast of opulence found out in the Oliwa district. The new mixes with the old here, with figurines, print wallpaper and gilded bits and bobs standing amid plush padded seating and designer lights. The overall effect isn't unlike entering a Russian oligarchs private bar, and there's no shortage of [...]

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Riga Black Balsam is a Latvian liquer which will make your guts gargle and your legs jelly – and you’ll find it on sale here, both straight and mixed with various other drinks. If you’re not for getting utterly trollied, then stick to their teas and beer served inside a homey spac [...]

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A classic café and one regularly filled with prams dutifully guarded by red rinse grandmothers dressed in capes and berets. Back in the times of the Peoples Republic, a cocktail bar was a cut price venue for sweets and cakes – rather than a dazzly bar full of hourglass figures sipping on Gay Bombay – and it’s a function this place retains; find loads of desserts temptingly displayed behind a finger proof counter.
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Bit of a mouthful is this place, so forgive us instead for referring to it as Goldwasser. And gold it certainly is. Walk past the narrow room selling pralines and gift sets, and duck upstairs to find a posh space filled with dark woods and prim leather seats. Lining the walls are dozens of black and whites of Old Danzig, though the primary reason for visiting is the small list of old local liquers, the recipes for which were painstakingly researched and recreated by the owner.
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An absolutely tiny cafe bar with a permanent traffic jam shouting their orders at the counter; the people are here for a reason, namely the availability of a smashing beer known as Zywe. Do not confuse this for the rocket poison that is Zywiec, on the contrary Zywe is an unpasteurised local lager brewed ten kilometres from Gdansk. If your luck is in then find space in the back where a small room has been decorated to evoke the effect of a small alleyway; find pants and knickers dangling from open windows and posters advertising underground nights by Fexomat and Zombie.
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If they added a smoking area we’d happily award Indigo our custom for life. Even so we’ll keep coming back and that’s on account of a cool, cool, and very cool atmosphere. Sit on blue velvety armchairs, peruse their bookshelf or canoodle in the back area where couples whisper under the reddish glow of giant lamps. A great place, and one of few where the gals outnumber the guys.
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Upscale and expensive but oddly anonymous, this large café in the Hotel Szydłowski seems to host a permanent colony of portly businessmen in expensive suits. If you're lucky you might catch a glimpse of novelist and Nobel laureate Gunter Grass scurrying through - when he's in town he [...]

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A fine looking space on the ground floor of the hotel of the same name. There’s a sharp modern aesthetic here, with decor kept to cream and black colours, and an easy-listening soundtrack in the background. Expect a diverse crowd; everyone from fashion cats on laptops to hotel guests slamming [...]

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A decent new cafe chain, though one with absolutely zero design sense. ‘Welcome to anonymity’ it seems to say; with a good computer and a fast link to a factory outlet this place could have been built in three minutes, and it’s quite possible it was. Find a good selection of sandw [...]

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Another chain that’s attempting to conquer Poland, and these guys offer more than most. The coffee is decent, and there’s a full scale menu for those who want actually want lunch on their lunch break. The formula involves lots of bright, comfy chairs, the same black and white pics you find in every coffee shop and the sort of design you’d find while flicking through a lifestyle mag. And there’s the location, in this case one which ensures lots of business and plenty of eye totty.
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