Israeli cuisine is still having its moment, its sunny influence on the global palate enhanced by the likes of the recently opened Nadzieja in Poznań.
Set on the lower ground floor of an early 20th-century office and printing house in the city’s centre, the restaurant is saved from gloominess by slender tall windows framed by handsome dark bricks. That and designer Agnieszka Owsiany’s deft hand with colours and textures.
On that front, visual cues come from Tel Aviv’s horde of Bauhaus architecture which explains the restaurant’s sense of casual restraint characterised by clean white tiles, slender legged furniture constructed of oak and granite, low key marble slabs and chrome white glass lamps made by Chors.
The restaurant really comes into its own in the evenings as soft light bathes the room, casting cosy ambient shadows that pick out the textures of wall hangings made by Owsiany of linen and wool. An appropriately relaxed setting, in other words, for executive chef Michal Ratajczak’s plant-based menu of local organic produce spiked with wild plants. The breakfast challah with summer fruits have been crowd-pleasers, but favourites have, predictably, been the mezzes of grilled vegetables and oven-warm breads paired with brightly hued and spiced dips.§
