This was my third trip to Gdansk and it’s not often I return to the same place time after time, but to me Gdansk is one of a few destinations that I could return to countless times. I love Gdansk not only for its amazing architecture and beautiful city centre, but also for its delicious cuisine. One of my favourite foods in a Gdansk is Pierogi. Pierogi are a small polish dumpling, which visually are a cross between Japanese gyoza and a small Cornish pasty. Pierogi can have many different fillings, and the texture and look of the Pierogi can vary massively. On my most recent trip to Gdansk I set out to find the best Pierogi in Gdansk. 

The Best Pierogi in Gdansk

After visiting Gdansk twice before and having had fantastic pierogi on both trips, I set out on this trip to find the best Pierogi in Gdansk. My first port of call in these situations is to find seek out someone I know who has been to the destination and ask them for recommendations, but as I don’t know anyone who has visited Gdansk apart from myself I resorted to looking online, in particular TripAdvisor. 

Whilst searching on TripAdvisor I came across a restaurant called Pierogarnia Mandu Centrum, that specialises in just  Pierogi. I saw online that Pierogarnia Mandu have two locations within Gdansk, with Pierogarnia Mandu Centrum being their flagship location so I decided that during my trip I would visit this restaurant and sample their Pierogi.

I looked into this restaurant only a couple of days before my trip and when I did I found out that they advised booking a table at least a week in advance to avoid disappointment. As I was a tad late in discovering this place online I thought that I would just turn up and hope that a table would be available. 

I arrived at Pierogarnia Mandu Centrum and after waiting about 15 minutes a large party left  and the staff quickly split the table into a few separate tables, and hence a handful of tables became available all at once. When I arrived there were three other parties also waiting to be seated, and once I was given my table there were ten or more parties also waiting to be seated. This tells me that this place must be very good!

Once I was seated my drinks order was taken and then they returned for my food order. When taking my order for Pierogi I was recommended to try a side order of the sauerkraut salad, and also their specialty soup. I love to try new and exciting foods wherever I am in the world so I welcomed the waitress’s recommendations and ordered both. First of all the pierogi were absolutely stunning, and I can state for the record they were in fact the best I’ve ever had in Gdansk. The dumplings were cooked to perfection and the fillings were delicious. I had a serving of wild boar pierogi as well as their special pierogi of the day, which were larger than usual and used a different kind of dough. These were filled with onions, peppers, spicy sausage and a spicy sauce. Both were absolutely delicious. The sauerkraut salad was a refreshingly light side to accompany the pierogi, and the soup to start was absolutely to die for. The soup was a sour rye flour soup with two kinds of sausage, fried bacon, potatoes and a hint of horseradish, and all I can say is that I absolutely need to get hold of the recipe for this soup.

The layout of the restaurant was very modern and incorporated various different types of seating areas from benching and individual tables to booths and even a kids play area. Upon leaving I noticed that next to the main drinks bar was a window looking into the kitchen where you could see many chefs freshly preparing all the delicious Pierogi.

I can’t lay claim to have eaten Pierogi in every restaurant in Poland, or Gdansk for that matter, but out of the three places where I have, Pierogarnia Mandu Centrum was by far the best I’ve sampled to date. So for me these pierogi are the best pierogi in Gdansk and I highly recommend a meal here while visiting Gdansk.