Exploring the citys communist era cafes. Its cold look at this place this is awesome. Visiting a farm thats over 100 years old. I mean, its not bad. And learning the secrets behind the worlds only legally protected croissant. Mm come with me as we discover the Worlds Table together in poland. Polands sprawling Capital City Warsaw sits on the banks of the mighty vistula river. Shiny skyscrapers juxtapose the old town, creating a skyline symbolic of the spirit of reinvention that so defines polands capital. Once a city in decline, decimated by World War ii and the subsequent communist rule, the last 20 years have seen warsaw quite literally rise from the ashes. Today, an attractive job market, a youthful energy and a growing economy are transforming this citys Food Scene. This is actually my first proper time to warsaw, and i think its fair to say that Polish Cuisine usually conjures up visions of big chunks of meat, Hearty Stews and stodgy dumplings. And whilst i do love a good sausage, im excited to sink my teeth into its cuisine and find out if theres more to it than just pierogi. And what better place to start than the old town, which is not actually as old as it looks. Almost all of the city was rebuilt after the second World War. This resilience earned warsaw the nickname phoenix city. The following a0 years of soviet rule further left its mark on poland and its cuisine. And to understand this history better, im meeting olga badowska, a local food journalist. Shes taking me to one of warsaws relics of the soviet era, a Milk Bar. Olga hi. Great to see you. How are you doing . Oh, great to see you. Welcome to warsaw. Thanks for having me. Youre going to show me around, right . Yeah. Ready to eat . Absolutely. Right, come on. This way. Lets go. Oh, check this place out what is this place . Its a Milk Bar. And, well, it looks quite modern, but its actually the oldest open Milk Bar in warsaw. Whats good here . You want to do traditional, right . Yeah. So, well, the Milk Bar, as the name indicates, it used to be all about milk. The very first Milk Bar was established in the 19th Century by a Dairy Farmer peddling his goods. But it was during the communist rule that they took hold, serving government subsidised food to the masses. This one may be the oldest, but its embracing the future. Im surprised by how popular it is, though, because, you know, sometimes old recipes or traditional food or meals kind of get a bit staid or out of fashion. If you think traditional, like, what is traditional food . Are we looking back into 19th Century or 17th century . The flavours changed and the ones that we call traditional now, they were kind of, like, established, like, fully probably during communist time. And it kind of became our, like, new tradition. I think thats the secret of those places, not only because theyre cheap. Yeah. This Food Kind of connects you to your identity. This is the flavour, you know, from home. And it doesnt really matter who you are and what you do, you want something that is a Comfort Food and a Milk Bar gives you that. Fantastic. Dun Dun Dun Dun coming wow, look at that chilled soup and pierogi. Thats so pink yeah, its a pink chilled soup. And two eggy eyeballs. Mm hm. Should i give it a go . Yeah, you have to. Oh, im looking forward to tasting this soup. Its cold its very nice and light and refreshing and tangy. Is it . Mm. Yeah, it should be. It should be. Sometimes the beetroot are slightly fermented, sometimes not. Sometimes its with broth and sour milk or kefir. Ooh, yeah. Its really wakening up my Taste Buds already, you know . The dwindling number of Milk Bars are a sign of changing times. The end of communism sparked rapid changes in poland. And here on the outskirts of the city, im visiting a farm thats managed to survive it all. Hi, hanna how are you . Im fine. Good to meet you. Im nick. Hows it going . Oh, its ok, but its raining. Hanna majiert runs this Family Farm with herfather, which has been serving produce to warsaw for over a century. Its april, so its not so many vegetables now. Mostly they are in the tunnels. Uhhuh. But here you can see some of them survived winter and grow up. I cant believe were in warsaw right now. As warsaw grows and changes, this farm must too to survive. It was tough times during the first war, during the second war. The land was, like, pshh, everything. A lot of mines, a lot of bombs. We find it every year. Oh, you can still find the remains of the war . They are everywhere. Then, the � 70s, when they built the road, they took hundreds of hectares to build a factory. And every time, we rebuild. Im the fifth generation now. Right. All the farmers were flexible. When something changed, they knew what to do to have a farm. People started to travel to see different things, like they see in different countries. Hm, something more modern, something new. So we had a meeting with chefs from warsaw and asked them if Theres Something new that they would like us to grow. This ability to adapt to its environment is what kept this farm alive. But one of its most successful products has been growing here for over 100 years. Its amazing because the asparagus are growing on this land since 1905. We grow only violet and green one. Some of them are thin, some of them are. Fat. Like people. Nick laughs like people as the only farm left in warsaw, its local shop is often frequented by the most talented chefs in the city. Hiya. How are you doing . Hello. Very good, very good. Im just picking some asparagus for the restaurant. This is marcin przybysz, the Head Chef at epoka, one of warsaws emerging restaurants. Every three months, he conjures up elaborate new recipes. They are really, really good. And his relationship with this farm is an important part of that process. We can try them raw, actually. They are perfect. Mm these ones are special because they have different seed than the green ones and white ones. And these ones, theyre, like, really, really rustic. Yeah. Usually, everybody are picking the perfect straight asparagus. Uhhuh. I prefer an Art Brush Shape of asparagus. Oh, look at them theyre, like, so curly. Theyre like little mini seahorses. Exactly and so, with a perfect selection of not so perfect asparagus, marcin has invited me to cook with him. Its called epoka because we are cooking from all epochs of Polish Cuisine. Oh, wow. Look at this thank you. Here is our main entrance. Over there, we have two rooms. I see a lot of cookbooks here. Yes, the Old Cookbooks is actually my inspiration for the place, because we are in the building from 1857, and when i was searching what type of restaurant i can do here, i actually found these books. Wow, look at that and the book is called. Oh, its so old. Practical warsaw chef. That means its actually perfectly fit to me. So, what are we cooking tonight, chef . Were going to cook asparagus. And were going to actually cook asparagus from this book. Oh, right. Yeah. Its a book from 1786. 1786 . the name of the book is great chef. Well, youve got a lot to live up to. I cannot wait to get stuck in here. No problem. I have a Couple Ofjobs for you. Starting with the asparagus. Truffle slicer. Youre using a Truffle Slicer . This is where i slice off one of my fingers. Look at that venison a lovely sear on the outside there, chef. Some garlic, thyme, rosemary. Rosemary and thyme. Butter. Oh, yes. Look at this basting action. Eat it now, it looks so delicious. Put all the flavour on the top. 0h Look at that. Now, this is going in the smoker. Some local morel mushrooms, a stalwart of Polish Cuisine, followed by more mushrooms. We have Mushroom Puree in the shape of the mushroom. Nick laughs this is like a work of art. Marcin� s Old Cookbooks focus heavily on presentation. You make it look so easy, marcin, this is ridiculous. Finally, the beautifully seared and smoked venison, topped off with some Bone Sauce thats been reduced for two days long. Ok, now the best part. Oh, my goodness. Oh, thank you very much, chef. You can try it. Go for it dont mind if i do. Yeah. How should i attack this . Mm, mm, mm why is it so important to you that you keep these old recipes alive today . Thats my mission. Im doing this for the kids, for the country. Because it gets me really upset when i discovered these books and i realised i dont have a clue about it. So that they can enjoy it . Exactly. Its pretty incredible what marcin and his team are doing in there, taking ancient recipes and adapting them for modern times. My time in warsaw has made me realise that my view of Polish Cuisine was defined by the impact of its more recent history, reflected in the simple dishes served in the countrys much loved Milk Bars. Chefs like marcin are looking further back to an earlier history, when lavish banquets were made up of varied ingredients and complex flavours. Theres clearly a rich history buried under communism thats now being lovingly rediscovered. And what is amazing is when you taste his food, you kind of get transported back in time. And thank goodness for chefs like him, who are putting the effort in to really boost this place� s reputation. Next on my culinary adventure, im leaving warsaw to visit another Polish City thats playing a huge role in that change. Nick exhales poznan is only 2. 5 hours by rail from warsaw, and whilst it hasnt been the countrys most internationally renowned city, thats all changing, and im going to find out why. Poznan lies on the river warta. Once polands historic capital, its one of the oldest cities in the country. Home to two prestigious universities and an abundance of magnificent Renaissance Style buildings, today, over half A Million people live here, making it polands fifth largest city. Its renowned for its arts, culture and cosmopolitan outlook. Theres so many people out and aboutjust enjoying themselves. Little shops, boutiques, cafes. What a great place to just come and chill out, you know, for a few days recently, one of poznan� s biggest draws has been its Food Scene. Last year, it became home to one of only three michelin starred restaurants in the country. But its an everyday pastry thats at the heart of this citys culinary fame. Baking St Martins croissant requires a special licence, which has only been awarded tojust over 100 bakers and Maciej Marcinkowski is one of them. Maciej, how are you doing . Hello, nick. Im great. Im nick, nice to meet you. Its time for you to have a little Crash Course on how to make croissants. Ooh. Right, so, have you ever had any experience with a Yeast Dough . Usually pizzas, pizza dough. Its very similar to pizza dough. This is quite an old tradition that is all about sharing. Its inspired by st martin. Legend has it a local baker dreamed of a lost horseshoe and was inspired to bake croissants for the whole town, honouring St Martins spirit of helping those in need. Now, every St Martins day, the town unites for a parade and devours an astounding 700,000 croissants, baked for the celebration. So, now lets get to rolling. It should be four, maybe five millimetres thick. Poznan� s Food Scene might be evolving, but since 2008, its croissants have claimed the worlds first legal protection, ensuring theyre baked this way forever. Its kind of like, i dont know, champagne in france, for example. Yeah. Thats certified as well like that. Now, we need to get layers in our dough, so repeat it until we get 81 layers. It can now take anywhere up to three hours to create 81 layers of pastry. Were using One Maciej made earlier. Im going to show you what shapes now we need to cut out of it. Now for the filling, which can only be made out of these ingredients to be called a St Martins croissant. Poppy seeds, dried candied orange peel, sultanas, biscuit bits, peanuts, and also a little bit of almond aroma. So, to make them look like a croissant, weve got to roll them. Wow, look at that shape it does look like a horseshoe. It does. But whats left to do is one final test. I mean, its not bad. All right, so lets put them in the oven. While the croissants cook, maciej draws my attention to the view outside. Quite a lot of people are gathering usually for this part. Where at noon every day, poznan celebrates the legend of two goats, who once headbutted each other upon the top of the town hall. There we go. Oof steady on what an amazing Show Show over, its time to enjoy my freshly baked St Martins croissant. Mm can you taste the almonds . Mm, very almondy. It kind of, yeah, it tastes like marzipan, but its not. Marzipan, yeah. What a fantastic experience this is, overlooking the town square, eating this old delicacy mm. Fantastic. Poznanians have a reputation across poland for their creativity with food. But theres one particular ingredient that takes Centre Stage the potato. So revered, theres even a museum dedicated to it. But thats for another day, because im off to meet liska morawska kmita, a popularfood blogger, who wants to show me just how diverse the humble potato can be. How are you . Im nick. Good. Im liska. Lovely to meet you, liska. Nice to meet you. Thanks for having me. What a lovely city this is yes. So, where are we going . What is this place . Were going to the Pyra Bar. Uhhuh. Because pyra. Yeah. Means potato and they serve everything what is made of potatoes. Great. Well, i do love potatoes. Yes, i love potatoes. The Pyra Bar is a regular haunt for local poznanians. Dishing out over 30 different potato based meals, its a potato lovers paradise. Ok, right, so lets get ordering, shall we . Well take pyry z gzikiem. Uhhuh. Its a traditional dish. Its baked potato with some cottage cheese, and. Ooh. Oh, it smells amazing fresh dill. Whats with the Potato Obsession here . Its cheap. You can make a lot of dishes from the potatoes. Uhhuh. Yeah. And they have a lot of varieties of potatoes here. And it became very, very popular. The rest of poland even has a nickname for poznanians due to their devotion to the potato. They call people from here potatoes. What, potatoes . pyra, yes. Potato people . Yeah, yeah, yeah. The mighty potato arrived in poznan in the 18th century from germany and quickly became a household favourite. Nicholas janowski saw an opportunity and elevated the potato from a Kitchen Staple to a restaurant speciality. When we opened 15 years ago, we were just like kids. We were like, hey, lets make a potato bar. Its going to be fun. You know, but we didnt know nothing. And then it came to us that, 0k, we need a lot of equipment. We need a lot of people. Then were going to struggle with, i dont know, four, five, six tonnes of potatoes a month, because its too weird, its crazy. It takes a lot of work. It needs a lot of people. And people do not copy that so easy, like they copy another Burger Place or Pizza Or Stuff like that. And we are kind of unique. How is poznan� s Food Scene changing . When we were starting in 2009, we were just at the beginning of the movement, Butjust One year more or one year later, two years later, the people, the places were just growing like mushrooms. And its changing very fast. And chefjarek kin� s restaurant 62 is at the heart of this renaissance. Hi, jarek. Hello, nick. How are you doing . Nice to meet you. Jarek� s menu is reminiscent of the traditional flavours of his childhood. Apron for you. And on the Menu Today is duck filet, served with some classic polish flair. Lets cook. Potato doughnut. Oh, a potato doughnut. Yeah. We dont need a middle. I can hear the duck sizzling in the pan. Garlic and thyme. Out comes the blowtorch. Nice. Beetroot powder. Beetroot powder, whoa look how vibrant that is. Extra flavour. This is the red cabbage reduction. Easy on the truffle, chef, youll go bankrupt yourself. Its beautiful. Oh, my god. Look at the juice coming out of that breast and here we go. The piece de resistance. Middle. 0k. Weve finished. Good job. So, we can taste it. Ok, ill do it individually. So heres the beautiful pink plump duck. Mm. Its so tender and beautifully plump and soft. Its packed full of flavour, but its not overpowering in any way, which is great. Oh, wow, i cant wait to taste this mm that is so surprising, because, no, that was genuinely surprising because inside was this tangy, like, whoa, punch in the face a bit. Im going to go in like this. Oh, thats lovely, thats beautiful. And i can actually. Its a pleasure for me when im watching you eat. Ican. Nick laughs hello hows it going . Great to see you. And where there is duck, there is usually a celebration here in poland. Jarek has invited me with a few new friends to sample some of his menu. These dishes epitomise fine dining, offering an experience that rivals those in New York or london, but at a fraction of the cost. What struck me most on this trip is the peoples undying love for the traditional recipes they grew up eating. Mwah dishes that have become synonymous with their national identity. This is like a work of art. Im so inspired by the determination of those ive met who, after centuries of political upheaval, are redefining modern poland by creating dishes and restaurants like this one while still respecting their past. Theres so much to do, to see, to taste here. I cant wait to come back and discover what else is in store. Hello. Well, friday brought some hello. Well, friday brought some storms to Southern Parts storms to Southern Parts of the uk. Of the uk. Even a report of different its turning even a report of a damaging tornado. A damaging tornado. But at the same time, but at the same time, some parts of the country some parts of the country were also quite sunny and warm. Were also quite sunny and warm. In kew gardens, the temperatures in kew gardens, the temperatures reached 25 celsius. Reached 25 celsius. The days ahead are looking very the days ahead are looking very different its turning unsettled, its turning autumnal. A Jet Stream will send Weather Fronts in our direction. I think theres a fair amount of rain on the way, particularly across the southern half of the uk, and this time next week, some parts of the country could be around ten Degrees Cooler by day. Now, in terms of the rainfall this weekend, you can see where most of it will be. This is just the potential for rainfall here, perhaps 50mm or so in some parts of england and wales. So it is a mixed bag this weekend. Certainly some sunshine on the way, particularly across northern parts of the uk, but also heavy showers at times. So through the early hours, maybe some showers returning to Southern Parts of the uk, some cracks of thunder. Its not a cold morning by any means temperatures of around 1a in london, typically around 12 13 whether youre north or south. For northern ireland, for Western Parts of scotland. 18 degrees in glasgow, but i think quite cloudy and much cooler along that North Sea coast. And then notice the showers again here in the North West through the course of saturday evening. And then on sunday the showers become more widespread and heavier across parts of england and wales. But again, the best of our weather on sunday will be in the North West of the uk. So once again sunny spells for the Western Isles and not looking so bad there in belfast with a bit of sunshine too, but not so great for the south with all The Cloud and the rain. Now on monday, low pressure is over the uk. That again spells a fair amount of Cloud Outbreaks of rain and the air will start to come in from the north, so the temperatures will start to drop from northern scotland, only 12 degrees in the south still relatively warm. Were holding on to the mid, possibly the high teens. So heres the outlook for the week ahead. You can see that big drop in the temperature in the south 1a degrees in london. But look at edinburgh by tuesday its only around 11 degrees with showers. Thats it. Bye bye. Live from washington, this is a Bbc News special on the rising tensions in the middle east. Hezbollah confirms that one of its top commanders was among those killed in an israeli strike on beirut. The latest strikes come after four days of deadly attacks in lebanon, including explosions of communications devices, prompting new condemnation from the Un Human Rights chief. It isa it is a War Crime to commit violence intended to spread terror among civilians. We examine what the attacks in lebanon could mean for the region, Israels War in gaza, and what may happen next. Im helena humphrey. Glad you could join me. We begin in lebanon where there are Concerns Tonight over escalating violence between the militant Group Hezbollah and israel and what it could mean for the region. Hezbollah has now confirmed the death of a top military
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