Piątkowe Picie: The Best 10 Bars in Biskupiec, Mazury Province

When you tour a town like Biskupiec over a weekend, this gives you two full nights to try and sample as many of the different bars and restaurants as possible. So on my maiden live journey for this new website and blog, I headed out to explore the best bars in Biskupiec. Here is the thirsty short list I came up with on my trip here, another in my popular Piątkowe Picie series.

1.Bar U Marka (Old School Choice)
Bar u Marka is the best option for a quick beer before getting your bus or train, as it’s a 2 minute walk from the train station. A local friend of mine says that some people refer to it as the “old man’s pub” or “pub with drunk guys” – I popped in mid – afternoon so maybe I didn’t see that aspect to it! They sometimes refer to it as “pod kołem“.

The bar has lots of bottled beers and 1 beer on tap. I popped in for a quick Łomża beer, which was only 3 zlotys!! (That is 60 pence and the cheapest beer I have had in Poland since my 2007 visit – 10 years ago!)

There are pool tables, and some old fashioned relics from the PRL days, making this pub the nearest that Biskupiec will get to a retro socialist style bar (similar to the Projekt PRL pub in Starogard Gdanski).

2.Przystań Warmińska nad rzeczką (Karaoke Choice)
When I arrived into Biskupiec by bus on the Friday evening, it was already dark, but this bar caught my eye. I was impressed by the way it looked from the outside – Przystan Warminska. The entrance to the bar is on the other side of a river, and you have to walk across the custom built platform to get inside.

But the biggest surprise for me was the people I met in here. On the first night, I sat down beside Dorota and Asia and got talking to them. Later I met local lad Piotr and we had beers together.

After this, we went to the bigger downstairs room and were singing karaoke at night. It was brilliant – I also met Justyna and Agata. I sang Oasis and R.E.M.

The next night I just called in for a quick drink, but was also able to meet and chat to the locals. I met Ewelina and Marta on the Saturday night.

3.Restauracja Pub Na Rynku (Trendy Choice)
Despite the fact that this bar is simply called “Restauracja” (Restaurant) from the outside, it’s always known as “na rynku”. Rynek is the word for square in Polish and Na means in. So literally “The bar in the square” which reminded me sentimentally of my 6 years living in the English seaside resort of Bournemouth, where one of my regular hangouts for cheap booze was the “Moon in the Square” pub.

Na Rynku is the best place in Biskupiec to sample local beers. As a keen lover of local beer culture and microbreweries, I was finally able to try some of the Warmińskie beers that I had heard about including the Kormoran.

In Na Rynku, I also enjoyed chatting to the friendly staff, Karolina and Kamila. Kamila was OK to be photographed and to appear on this blog, Karolina in her charm, a little shy…

I also had breakfast in here on the Saturday, local Pierogi Warmińskie for dinner on the Friday and enjoyed the coffee, in a town with no real “cafes” in it.

4.Stara Kaflarnia (Polish Charm)
Featuring as a hotel review on here because I slept here the first night, as well as one of the best bars is the trendy and well known “Stara Kaflarnia”.

It’s a big restaurant boasting lots of seats and tables for all occasions. They hold discos, parties and functions here and it’s also a cool local disco and bar to hang out in. I tried the beer on tap and the grzane piwo (hot beer) in here. The food menu is huge, with pizza, pierogi and kebab all available.

5.Hotelik Atelier Bar (Sports Choice)
I asked my local friend to recommend for me a good coffee shop (café/kawiarnia) in Biskupiec and to my surprise, she told me the town doesn’t really have any cafes. This is basically true, however at Hotelik Atelier, they have a very cool cosy café, which is also a bar. This café/bar has Wi-Fi and TV.

As a football fan, Hotelik Atelier has a TV screen in the downstairs café and bar. This is the only real place in town that will show the English Premier League. I had some beer and paluszki here while watching the Leicester City v. Chelsea match live on TV.

6.Steakownia (Beer and Steak Choice)
Boasting the best and only steak house in town, the trendy Steakownia was featured this week in Smaczny Sroda (Tasty Wednesdays). As well as serving up the best steaks, they have a good wine list and a standard range of beers (no dark beer or local stuff sadly).

7.Under (The Clubbing Choice)
I asked some local girls to recommend me a “nightclub” to go to and to my surprise, there is one genuine nightclub here in Biskupiec, and it is a bit of a secret hideaway! Its very name of “under” is also a bit mysterious.

In fact, you’d never find it! It was situated in the basement, by a car park, up the hill well out of town on Ulica Lubowa. I had to get two locals to help me find it.

Inside, good dance music and a dancefloor and a football table. I met Michal in here and we chatted over some beers (6 zloty for a Warka on tap). Entry was free and the girls were a little confused and hard to chat to, when I tried – they found my story a little bit unbelieveable!

8.Pizzeria Festina (Pizza and Ice Cream Choice)
Obviously in two days, I cannot try every single type of food or drink in Biskupiec but I wanted to at least visit the town’s best pizzeria even if I wasn’t here to eat pizza. Having just devoured my steak, I plumped for desert and hot beer here.

I popped into Pizzeria Festina on ulica Ogrodowa. The pizzas looked and smelt good but I had a desert here – Lodowy torcik chałwowy and had a hot raspberry Grzane Piwo (hot beer) and it was a really pleasant hang out.

9.Bar Smaczek (Summer Choice)
Perhaps my winter visit meant that realistically I was only in 8 bars on this list of 10. However, I did visit the outside of Bar Smaczek, which was closed. It is situated near the Urzad Miasta. Perhaps it is open in the summer, I have no idea.

10. RED HERRING: Browar (False Choice)
    When I arrived in Biskupiec, I saw a sign for “Browar”, now during my time living, travelling and working in Poland, the word “Browar” always meant to me to be some kind of brewery or pub. This was certainly the case in Starogard Gdanski, where I reviewed the trendy Browar Kociewski. But here sadly, the brewery is now closed and there is not even a Biskupiec brewed beer to try anymore, which felt a bit sad as even Starogard and Malbork had their own beers. However, the brewery here was the first in Poland to issue keg beer!

So as you can tell, I had a great time exploring these 10 bars in Biskupiec, there may be more I missed. If you own one of these bars, drink in one of them or remember me from one of them, please share my story, spread the love and peace for charming Biskupiec and get in touch.

If I come back to Biskupiec and you want to invite me into your bar for a drink and chat, please do – I love working and helping to promote Poland to the world.

Here are some videos I made in some of these bars in Biskupiec: