Best of Warsaw: Newcomer

MOD
As extraordinary as it is eccentric, MOD is not your conventional restaurant. An odd meeting of ideas, it combines the work of three people (Kamila, Patrycja and Trisno) who between them have created a space that houses both a donut store and restaurant. It sounds a little dissonant, but lord it works. Chef Trisno’s menu sets his French culinary training (his bio includes serving time in Le Gavroche) against his Singaporean upbringing. The outcome is a card (actually, a printed sheet of paper) that makes for dangerously enjoyable reading: duck hearts with beetroot / soy emulsion and braised red cabbage; duck confit with pok choy, soy / red wine sauce and spicy cranberry chutney. On it goes. Our order – beef bourguignon dumplings, wasabi gel and creamed red wine jus – is all silky subtle flavors that are absolute bliss. It’s also only zł. 19. By setting such a price, either the management have lost their marbles or they’re extremely kind natured. If a fine dining restaurant charged three times as much you’d gladly pay and thank them after. But here’s the point: this isn’t a fine dining venue. It’s got a retro mirrored wall, plants hanging upside down from the ceiling and a concrete floor; people looking like they write for Vice wander in and out; it’s a place with a soul and a place with a heartbeat. It’s a place Warsaw needs more of. Best newcomer? By a long way.