Review: Papaya

After doing a lot of research to pick Dom Polski, Y and I decided that we wanted to try something different that was not necessarily Polish. Both of us enjoy fusion food, so, after reading around online and picking through many Polish-only websites, we found that Papaya seemed to be generally accepted as one of the best fusion restaurants in Warsaw.

We had a late reservation - arriving at 10 pm - we were probably the last table of the night to be seated. Unfortunately, the table we were given was relatively dark and as a result, the pictures did not turn out as well as we hoped (they are rather blurry).

Taking a quick look at the menu, we realized that the restaurant was more of a Japanese/Thai restaurant than anything that resembled fusion. However, this did not phase us as we were hungry. We decided to order three appetizers to split: the deep-fried calamari, the crab cakes, and the salmon tataki. After much thought, Y decided on a safe favorite - pad thai; and I had the Kobe beef steak, hoping that Kobe beef in Poland was of the same quality as everywhere else in the world.

Salmon Tataki

Deep Fried Calamari

Crab Cakes (started eating them already!)

Y's Pad Thai

Kobe Beef Steak

Verdict:
Overall, we thought that the restaurant was a relatively safe choice - the food was what we expected but did not blow us away. We found both the Calamari and the Crab Cakes to be good (but again, not amazing), but the Salmon Tataki seemed to be lacking a bit in the flavor department. Our main courses again were both very generic, the Pad Thai was sub-par (way too sweet) and the Kobe beef was tender, but was not up to the same quality of Kobe (Wagyu) beef that you could find in Toronto. We did not order dessert as we were stuffed after appetizer and main course. To conclude, Papaya is a place to go to if you want Asian food. However, we feel that there would probably be cheaper places with the same quality of food - we would recommend that those visiting Warsaw for only a few days look elsewhere.

Rating: 2.5/5
Price: $$

Papaya

Foksal 16
00-372 Warszawa
Polska‎
22 826 11 99‎