Ognisko: A menu of history and intricacy

How could you not love a chap who opens a restaurant called Wodka? Jan Woroniecki, whose father Krzysztof was a soldier in the Polish forces who stayed in Britain after the Second World War, went on to open Baltic in Blackfriars Road. With Wodka now closed (sob) I suspect his heart is in Ognisko in the Polish Hearth Club, where he has stripped back what was a fusty room with musty food to reveal elegance in the lineaments of the space and a canopied terrace overlooking the lawn at the back. The menu exhibits the history, intricacy and dumpling comfort of a cuisine often written off as sausages. It is close to the South Ken’s “Museum Quarter” and also The Albert Hall, so I find many opportunities to visit Ognisko to order what I nearly always do — smoked eel with Salat Olivier, blinis or pierogi or pelmeni or placki (potato pancakes) with the great combo of chicken livers and dried cherries. Vodka obvs, but also careful study of the wine bin ends.