Street food / Reviews
Zapiekanki – street food review
A blast of thanks in Polish comes from the customer as his open sandwich the size of a small canoe is passed through a hatch on the corner of Stokes Croft and Nine Tree Hill.
The customer and his partner, both dressed in matching bomber jackets, sit on a metal bench outside to tuck into their lunch as two friends ponder their choices – a salami or Greek option?
Talking to the woman serving (the cook is hidden somewhere within Rodak, the shop this takeaway-cum-street food outlet is within) – they settle on the Greek with olives, tomatoes, cucumber and feta cheese.
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A photograph of Krakow’s Wawel Cathedral and a horse drawn carriage takes up one side of the building with almost lifelike-size photos of these giant sandwiches on the sign above.
A Zapiekanka Country with sausage, bacon and sour cucumber costs £2.99 for a small and £3.99 for a regular. Nothing here costs more than £4.49 and that’s the Mix Meat with bacon, sausage and salami, and the Dragon’s Tongue with bacon and green and red jalapenos.
If you want you can choose to slaver sauces on top for no extra charge, each contained in big squeezy bottles on the counter: ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, garlic sauce and ‘spicy Arabic’.
My Country option came in a takeaway cardboard box that I carried up Nine Tree Hill feeling like I had a snooker cue under my arm.
A baguette had been sliced open and lightly toasted, with the fillings then piled on top. Gloopy cheese, juicy mushrooms, thick streaks of bacon and sausage meat topped with a dusting of chives.
As with most Polish food, it was a hearty meal and puts soggy supermarket sandwiches, some around the same price, to shame.
The short queue remained as I returned back from where I had scoffed my baguette sitting on Fremantle Square with a panoramic view of Stokes Croft and the countryside beyond.
This is one of the best sandwiches to be found in Bristol. If there’s any justice, the queue will soon be stretching halfway up Nine Tree Hill.
Zapiekanki, 121 Stokes Croft, Bristol, BS1 3RW
0117 279 1612
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