Baken on Filtrowa – The Gastronomic Evolution of One of Warsaw’s Best-Known Spots

The opening of the new Baken on Filtrowa is a great excuse to refresh our understanding of one of Warsaw’s best-known spots.

Jokes aside, they’ve done a hell of a lot for the development of the local food scene. Popularising the Danish breakfast format, setting a new quality standard for artisan bread, cementing the phrase «Koncept talerzykowy» in the public consciousness (and then following it up with a completely brilliant post-meta-ironic pop-up with the Concept Talerzykowy page) – these are just some of the fun things Baken has brought to Poland’s food scene.

In the best traditions of the genre, popularity has also brought Baken its fair share of hate. For the prices, the portion sizes, the limited space, and borrowing the concept from Atelier September – the list of complaints is pretty long. And today, we’re going to look at why most of them are, to put it mildly, rather questionable.

First of all, it would have been difficult to come up with a better location for the new Baken than Filtrowa. After the rather pompous «Browary» development, you can literally feel the place living its own life here – locals drop in for coffee, passing grandmothers pop in, people pick up loaves of fresh bread to take home, while someone else simply makes a pit stop for a glass of natural wine, sitting at one of the tables outside. And, honestly, it looks incredibly organic.

The concept itself has also changed slightly: all the Baken locations now differ from one another a little in terms of their approach and menus, while Michał Toczyłowski has become the executive chef of this small but self-assured mini-chain.

Each Baken now has its own dedicated chef, and the evening menu will differ from one location to another. The opening at Filtrowa also saw former Brut chef Jan Kilański among the cooking team – and something tells me this is only the beginning of a much bigger collaboration.

Inside, it’s the familiar Baken aesthetic – stylish, but with a slightly laid-back feel: colourful paintings, careless plasterwork, statue heads, flower arrangements – all of it instantly recognisable. The evening menu, however, is pleasantly surprising. And not just in terms of flavour, but also because these are dishes you could very easily – and should – eat every day.

The best proof of that is the shrimp on milk bread (46 PLN). Gorgeous shokupan that gives you both bread-like notes and the flavour of a freshly baked doughnut; excellent-quality shrimp, celery, apple, a creamy sour-cream sauce – all together, it makes for a very Scandinavian and incredibly comforting dish that is seriously addictive.

The beef tartare (39 PLN) is no less wonderful. Neatly dressed meat, a sweetish onion jam as a bright accent, potato crunch – a very comforting interplay of flavours and textures, executed with maximum logic. If the portion were slightly larger, this combination might eventually become a little tiring; at this size, it stays with you. Pretty great, right?

The burrata with pumpkin (47 PLN), on the other hand, is the most expensive starter on the menu and the dish I liked by far the least. Decent cheese – great; slightly charred pumpkin from the Mailerts farm – okay, perhaps. But all of it together (plus some leaves that seem to be fried sage) falls squarely into the «fine» category. And this is exactly the kind of combination of price and end result that makes people still think of Baken as an overpriced place.

Honestly, if I walked in off the street, ordered a glass of wine and just this starter for 47 PLN, I’d probably leave and never come back.

That said, for those who want a lot, everything, and all at once, Baken has always had the Chamski tost – a huge, monstrous sandwich weighing roughly 400 grams and costing less than that very same burrata.

There’s only one dessert here, apart from the pastries and cheeses – but what a dessert it is. The chocolate mousse (30 PLN) is pure, 100-percent, concentrated food porn. An incredibly dense cream, coffee praline, salt, olive oil, and a deep-fried slice of croissant – that’s the recipe for the kind of calorie bomb that makes you willing to stop counting your macros for at least one evening.

The service, however, is a complete mess. The guys are nice, they’re trying, but when you wait 15 minutes just to have your order taken and 25 minutes for the chance to pay, that’s really not great. And this wasn’t just my experience – I checked. For example, the guests at the table next to me did everything themselves. They wanted to order – they waited, then limped over to the bar counter. They decided they wanted another glass of wine – same thing again. And when they wanted to ask for the bill? Correct: another pointless wait just for the opportunity to do so, followed by yet another trip to the bar. I really hope they eventually left the tip for themselves.

Because when it comes to the food and the overall vibe, the new Baken turned out to be a genuinely great addition. And, essentially, that’s what matters most.

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