Atelier Amaro, Agrykola 1, Warszawa, Poland.

I have returned to Atelier Amaro after a long absence to see if anything has changed after my last not-so-favorable review.

I have been introduced to the molecular cuisine 6 years ago by great Marc Veyrat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc_Veyrat) at his restaurant at Veyrier du Lac in France.  Clearly, since then, this cuisine has evolved.  Wojciech Amaro’s restaurant is a good example of that.  I have encountered a number of people who told me they don’t like that molecular gastronomy, which to me is a bit like saying that you don’t like food in general.  It basically presents the ingredients we know in the new and interesting ways. Some combinations may be shocking at first, but the key is to approach it with an open mind.  Amaro’s restaurant is one of 2 or 3 molecular cuisine restaurants in Warsaw, and claims to be the best (it also claims to be the best restaurant in Warsaw, period; it’s definitely one of the most expensive).  Wojciech Amaro uses the local, Polish ingredients for his experiments in taste.  He really tries to be inventive, and actually sold a best-selling book.  This time around he started us off with two servings of l’amuse bouche (one of which was a rather tasteless combination of a walnut “baked for 7 nights and 7 days” with yoghurt).  Both rather unimpressive.  The starter was really good though – a combination of smelt with scallops on an interesting sweet sauce.

The main courses (a fish and a fowl) seem to focus less on the molecular cuisine, and more on making sure the food tastes good.  Both were truly excellent.

The dessert was OK, but I don’t understand his fascination with putting soil into everything that's chocolate dessert…

Overall, I continue to  find his work to be rather uneven.  Some of the things he does are truly inventive (the menu gives you only the list of ingredients, and the outcome is only to be guessed), while the others are mainly prepared to shock, with taste clearly taking a back seat.  It is an interesting and a bit snotty place, good for a formal dinner and a business lunch.

http://atelieramaro.pl/