Idolized one moment, forgotten the next, few streets encapsulate the boom and bust nature of Warsaw’s after dark scene better than Mazowiecka. Having represented the very pinnacle of the city’s social life for much of the Naughty Noughties, the last few years saw numerous pioneering venues fall between the cracks and consigned to oblivion.

Could Mazowiecka recover, or would it become a desperate wasteland clasping sadly onto yesterday’s glories?
That question has been answered by a string of high profile openings, each one doing their bit to attract a crowd that’s brighter and better than anything that came before.

Yet nowhere is this more visible than at Fat Buddha. Immense in size, there’s a confident feeling of decadent ostentation: with light kept at bay by vast mulberry-colored drapes, what would otherwise appear as an over-sized hall feels intimate and sensual, dark and delicious. From the end, a giant, glimmering Buddha smiles down on a crowd studded with supermodels-in-waiting.

Drinks are a forte and the cocktails exquisite and sophisticated. Yet before the evening vamps up in earnest, the Fat Buddha lures in custom on account of its menu: Japanese in spirit, it pitches a refined selection of exceptional dishes – elaborate dragon rolls; delicate gyoza; and sticky beef skewers.

There are, of course, other hits as well: the beef tataki, lightly seared and thinly sliced, are to be admired and applauded in equal measure. Next, soft shell crab tempura, a beautiful composition that’s so right for now. Neither do the mains disappoint: slow-cooked ribs fall off the bone, while the lamb chops are all that they should be: dainty but with that correct note of meaty oomph – all of a sudden, it’s not just the Buddha that’s smiling.

Fat Buddha
ul. Mazowiecka 2/4, fatbuddha.pl