For my first ever trip to Polan I would visit something as unusual as a Spanish restaurant, by an Italian chef that now cooks a mix of Spanish, Italian and Polish food.
In Gdansk tallet building Paco Perez opend his first restaurant outside Spain. As the building was being built the owners wanted an ambitious restaurant at the top. On a trip to Spain they fell in love with Estimar by Paco Perez. A few discussions later they agreed to partner up.
Italian born Antonios Arcieri was installed as head chef and the restaurant like so many other had horrible timing and opened right before covid. Luckily they survived and in the first Michelin guide in Gdansk in 2024 they were awarded with a Michelin star.
As a customer you have different menu options and I would have the season 24 course menu. The menu is divided in a series of sections: the garden, the sea, the mountains and desserts.
The first series of snacks would naturally be from the garden. The head chef used to work in Spain for more than 8 year with Paco Perez so the techniques were naturally on point.
Following this a more classic Spanish dish was served in the form of a very technical strawberry gazpacho. A beautiful presentation and use of lot of ingredients so if you though it would be all Polish flavors you would be wrong.
We would continue in the technical Spanish cuisine with a dish of pure spherification of both fennel and olives. A dish that was more about technique than flavor.
The fist Italian inspired dish was next. Pasta and potato it was called. A Pasta dish completely without. Another technical dish but with flavor on point as well with lots of parmesan and garlic for simple and delicious flavors.
To break conventions the first couple of seafood dishes would be snacks sized and served 4 at the same time. The oyster with a “borscht” sauce was a clear favorite.
Polan is actually home to one of the best and biggest caviar producers (Antonious) which also means that they have a lot of sturgeon. However usually it’s just the caviar that finds the way to the table and not the fish it self. Here it would be both with a nice buttery sauce with lots of lemon and naturally caviar. Simply just delicious. The pairing with a sherry was for me also the best of the evening.
For another visit to Italy we would have sea cucumber tagliatelle and lamb bolognese. The sea cucumber had nice texture to match the bolognese. I was however surprised that the dish was called bolognese as that dish doesn’t exist in Italy where it is simply called ragu.
For a last surf and turf a piece of prawn was served with wild boar as a nigiri. An interesting concept but for me it didn’t really work.
Goose would be treated as Spanish ham and served together with a piece of bread soaked in a rich demiglace and topped with the ham. An obvious delicious dish.
3 niece pieces of veal was served with a rich sauce with lots of hoisin and Italian n’duja. Again another rich and delicious dish focusing on local products and flavors rather than Spanish techniques.
We would return to Italy a last time but bringing a rich Polish cheese. An aged cheese with lots of power and the natural center of this delicious risotto dish.
A final savory dish in the form of duck with a seabuckthorn “spaghetti” as a final nod to the Italian heritage of the chef as well as his Spanish training where he learned the technique. A great match of unexpected flavors.
The menu does consist of 24 dishes which meant that there was room for 3 desserts on the menu consisting of rhubarb, honeycomb and a traditional Polish dessert in the form of cremowka. My clear favorite was the refreshing rhubarb sorbet while the local dessert lacked a bit of the finish that had characterized the rest of the meal.
Before going to Arco I was curious what kind of experience Arco would be. After all it is called Arco by Paco Perez so how Spanish would it be? Would they primarily use Spanish ingredients? Would you be able to taste that you were in Poland ? Naturally you can feel the Spanish influence but it is by no means a Spanish restaurant. It is actually a very personal restaurant which perfectly reflects the head chef. He serves a few Italian dishes, but he is trained in Spain so a lot of the techniques are classic Spanish and finally local Polish flavors are incorporated as well. The mix makes it personal and interesting.
With white tablecloths and waiters in suits it lives up to all the classic Michelin definitions and well worth their newly awarded Michelin star. Being the only Michelin star in Gdansk its an obvious place to visit if you find your self in beautiful city of Gdansk.
Practical information
Location: Gdansk, Polan
Head chef: Antonio Arcieri
Menu: 24 course tasting menu €150
Website: https://www.oliviastar.pl/en/restaurants/arco-by-paco-perez/
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