Chew on this: In 2019, Kraków - a city increasingly accustomed to being feted with lofty titles by international organisations (UNESCO World Heritage Site, City of Literature) - was bestowed yet another: European Capital of Gastronomic Culture 2019. The title was divined by the newly established European Gastronomic Academy, and 2019 was the first time that said award had ever been awarded. As such, Kraków - much like a communist-era mother holding a crying baby - had essentially skipped to the front of the queue of gastronomic prestige, straight past perhaps more obvious or deserving contenders like San Sebastian, Lyon, Florence, Copenhagen, Lisbon (who it apparently beat in the final by unanimous decision)...heck, Warsaw, and...well, much of western Europe. Nonetheless, and hardly surprisingly, the unexpected honour was loudly cheered locally, where hundreds of pierogi-pinching babcias paused their work to take a bow....

But we kid. In all sincerity, while this is a seemingly curious, and we would presume controversial to many, accolade indeed, it underlines the distance that Kraków has come since 1989: from the old-fashioned former capital of a country with state-run restaurants, no sense of customer service, no culture of dining out, and a paucity of green vegetables, to the inaugural winner of a prestigious gastronomy award from a seemingly legit organisation. The European Gastronomic Academy has essentially staked their reputation on the idea that Kraków is one of the very best, most underrated cities for foodies in Europe. Do they know what they’re talking about?

We would argue that...yeah, they do. From our unique perspective of observing the hospitality, gastronomy and tourism markets of Kraków for the past 20+ years, the city has certainly undergone a remarkable transformation. Just take a look at our guide for the evidence. Our first edition of Kraków In Your Pocket, published in 1999, while largely a love letter to the city (which it remains to this day), was also a catalogue of complaints about service and warnings to our western readers when it came to the Restaurants section. There were only a handful of decent restaurants in town, and those top venues certainly weren't anything you could call ‘trendsetting.’ Today we don’t have room in print for all of the worthy restaurants in town, let alone snarky reviews of which eateries to avoid (those you can find online), despite the fact that this section has only grown in length over the years. Quite simply, Kraków is is one of the top travel destinations in the world today, and it has the restaurants to reflect that; we’re proud to recommend so many of them.
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What makes Kraków a 'City of Gastronomy'?

1. The city’s restaurant industry is experiencing its Renaissance

Kraków is a late, late bloomer. Not until after the collapse of communism in 1989 did the city reestablish any sort of international profile, but its reputation as a beautiful and exciting tourist destination has steadily risen since, with tourist numbers increasing significantly each year over the past decade to the point that a record 14 million tourists were reported in 2019 before the pandemic, and again in 2024 (we're all the way back, baby!). In concert with the city’s growing tourist volume, Kraków’s restaurant sector has gradually expanded, creating more space in the market for an ever-expanding diversity of ethnic cuisines, inspiring innovative kitchen concepts and keeping the city at the forefront of contemporary trends in not only gastronomy, but also interior design. More restaurants means more competition and a steady increase in standards, to the point that in 2018 (when the 'City of Gastronomy' title was awarded) the city had 26 restaurants with Michelin recommendations (whatever those are actually worth). Today (2025) there are 23 Kraków restaurants in the Michelin Guide - less than 2018, but still the most in Poland, including Bottiglieria 1881: Poland's only 2-star Michelin restaurant. More and more high profile chefs are coming to Kraków and the city is becoming a proving ground for the industry’s best restaurateurs.

2. Polish chefs are rediscovering and re-imagining local cuisine