This is the English version of an article first published in Polish: read the Polish original. It refers to source material: cowwilanowie.pl. The text is our own commentary, not a translation or copy of that source.
At Aleja Wilanowska 43c, a short walk from the tram loop, there is a place that has stuck to one rule for a decade. Only fish ends up on the plate. Smażalnia Okoń is the third location of a family chain that started in 1998 in Zielony Grąd near Pasłęk, where Iwona, the mother of today's owner Nina Kaszubska, opened the first place under this name. The Warsaw address in Wilanów opened in 2016 and has since been one of the few places in the district where the menu fits in one sentence. Fish fried, baked, or, on request, boiled, plus fish soups.
This summer the restaurant refreshed its interior, and on June 21 it held an official grand reopening with a tasting of house specialties. The dining room seats 120 people, and in season there is also a garden, so on warm days you can eat outside.
Where the fish comes from
The owners deliver the goods themselves, without middlemen. Cod, flounder, and turbot come straight from the Polish sea, while pike, tench, and trout come from lakes. The menu also includes species from outside Poland, such as halibut and kergulena. The most frequently ordered dish, though, is perch, okoń in Polish, the same fish the place is named after, supplied by a small vendor from the Szczecin Lagoon.
It is a rare model in Wilanów, a restaurant that does not try to do everything at once, sticking instead to one specialty for almost three decades, counting from the first location near Pasłęk.
Smażalnia Okoń at Aleja Wilanowska 43c is open daily from 11am to 10pm. For reservations or questions about the current menu, call +48 22 642 42 44.
