Restaurant Review: Senses - Warsaw, Poland

Restaurant Review: Senses - Warsaw, Poland

 

Picture: Senses Fanpage

Restaurant: Senses
Address: ul.Bielańska 12, Warsaw, Poland
Webpage: http://sensesrestaurant.pl/en/
Price: $$$
Good for: Foodies, Special Occasions, Trying something new, Molecular Gastronomy



Last night my husband and I joined his boss and his wife for a nice dinner out on the town. We had originally wanted to go to a place called The Harvest - which we had heard rave reviews about, but fortunately for us they were closed when we got there (The sign was in Polish so we were not able to read exactly why it was closed). I had seen a review for Senses though the International Womens group I am a part of, and recommended we try that instead.

Thank god we did!


I can not say enough good things about Senses. We were greeted by the most lovely staff. They were well informed and friendly (which can sometimes be hard to come by in Warsaw unfortunately). Their customer service was probably the best I've had in Europe.

And the food - oh the food!

My husbands boss and I had the 6 course tasting menu, and my husband and his bosses wife had the 3 course tasting menu. I coupled mine with the suggested wine to go with every meal and it was amazing. I tasted all of the food, and there was not one thing that I didn't love. Each dish was better than the last! The portions were small - but enough where we didn't leave the restaurant hungry.

After dinner the Chef, Andrea Camastra, joined our table and gave us a lengthily discussion of the dishes and how Senses came to be. He does not call his food "molecular gastronomy" but "the chemistry of food" because at the center of his meal he wants subsistence - meat or the like. He says "foam is not food", which I absolutely have to agree with.

After talking with our table, he invited us into the kitchen to see where the magic is made. He explained to us that they do not use open flames - only convention ovens and stoves because they are way more precise on temperature than open flame. He also showed us the "lab" where they create smelling liquid to accompany every meal. His theory is that 50 percent of your eating experience is smelling. For example, if you were to hold your nose while eating your dinner - you wouldn't taste much, would you? So that is where his idea to create smells to increase the taste of the food. He also cooks in a way where he tries to not have a lot of smell coming from the food because he says that if a food smells delicious - that is taste going into the air. So he tries to make his food not smell but will add the smelling liquid he creates to the meal so that the customer can get the whole experience (I hope that made sense - heh - its a pretty complex thing to try to explain).

I took many pictures - which I will share on here. Please excuse if they get a little fuzzy. By meal 4 I had drank quite a bit of wine, so I wasn't as steady as I thought I was.

I would put the explanation of all the plates on here - but like I said - I had a bit of wine last night and I now cannot remember everything. The menu is different every day so they do not have it online. So just look at the pictures and enjoy! If you live/ever come to Warsaw I highly recommend this restaurant. 

 The atmosphere here is very elegant. Very good for a romantic anniversary dinner!

 They start your meal off with homemade bread and homemade butter. It was so good - we ended up eating most of it!

 They start you off with two amuse bouche. This was the first.

 The second amuse bouche. It was a mustard ice cream - which sounds disgusting, but was actually delicious! My husband said he wanted to make a call to Ben and Jerry's to let them know they need to make this.

 The first course was a smoked sea trout. Think salmon - but a little tastier.

 The second course was foie gras - which was the first time I had ever eaten it. So good -  at this point I was pretty much in love.

 My husbands first course was scallops in a bone marrow vinaigrette. Pretty much anything with bone marrow is going to be delicious.

 My second course was so good I forgot to take a picture of it! It tasted like scallops in a very delicate white wine sauce - but I'm not sure it actually was scallops. It was served on top of a bowl with burning oak chips. When you removed the plate the aroma was delightful.

 Pallet cleanser. I loved it - tasted like flash frozen plain greek yogurt. The table wasn't a fan though.

And yes, it was on a rock.

 No idea what this is - I think it was fish. By this point the wine had started to kick in.

 Part of the "senses" experience. They set this on our table before serving the next meal. Bert and his boss liked it so much, they had the waiter bring out another bowl!

 Kobe ribs. Wasn't my favorite, but still delicious!

 Karina and Ricardo playing with the dry ice! Everyone really loved that experience!

 My husband's dessert. It was chocolate. So good.

 My dessert - strawberry. I wasn't a huge fan of this - but I'm not a tart dessert fan. My husband loved it, so we ended up switching desserts because I am way more of a chocolate lover.

 Dessert number 2 (sorry its a little blurry). Beetroot combined with chocolate. I expected to hate it, but it was SO yummy. Great plate to finish the meal off with!

 Inside of the kitchen.

 The men behind the scenes closing up for the night.

 This is the convection stove they use. These are also the "baths" that help cook the food at a very precise temperature.

 Karina and the chef, Andrea Camastra.

 They blinded me with science!

 The ingredients used to make the "senses water".

The plan for tonights meal. They come in every day and have a basic idea of what ingredient they want the plate to be based around - and then try out different things until something works.