This is the English version of an article first published in Polish: read the Polish original.
Anyone walking from the palace toward the St. Anne's Collegiate Church passes a building that for years housed the restaurant Kuźnia Królewska. Today, at the same address, ul. Stanisława Kostki Potockiego 24, in the heart of Old Wilanów, you find Kuźnia Kulturalna. The venue went through a major renovation in 2017 and changed its name, while keeping its role as a place where food and culture meet.
The kitchen is run by chef Wiktor Stefaniak, and in the evenings guests are served at a bar pouring premium whisky and signature cocktails by Karol Sadcza. The venue has three halls and three gardens, where among other things it serves cultural dinners, meaning a meal paired with a concert or a recital. Kuźnia is open daily from 11:00 to 22:00. Reservations go through +48 500 200 200 or by email at rezerwacje@kuzniakulturalna.pl.
A 180-seat hall and a garden playground
The main concert hall at Kuźnia Kulturalna seats 180 people, which is rare for Wilanów. Large enough for a real concert or a cabaret evening, yet small enough to keep the atmosphere intimate. It hosts concerts, recitals and cabaret evenings, and during the day it also takes conferences and training sessions with a cultural touch.
For families with children, though, the real draw is the garden behind the building. On three hundred square meters, set well back from the street among the trees, stands a playground with wooden houses, slides, swings and a sandbox nearly a hundred meters long. No other restaurant in this part of the district has anything on this scale, so parents can eat in peace while the kids play a few steps away.
Kuźnia also hosts christenings, first communions, children's balls and weddings for several hundred guests, and its spot inside the historic palace and park complex of Jan III Sobieski makes a real difference. Wedding photos can be taken without leaving Old Wilanów at all. On weekdays the venue also takes business, from breakfast meetings to conferences and training days with lunch between sessions, so in the same week the same address can host a board meeting and a five year old's birthday party.
For someone who has lived in the district for years, Kuźnia Kulturalna is simply the address for every occasion, from a quick lunch to a whole family's wedding. For visitors to Wilanów seeing it for the first time, it is a good excuse to linger over coffee after touring the palace, instead of heading straight back to the city centre.
