Platzki

Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor

Last Updated 12 January 2023

Platzki, Deansgate Mews, Great Northern, 255 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 4EN – Visit Now

Potato Pancake Festival: It’s the weekend event you never knew you needed, Platzki’s Potato Pancake Festival is returning to the independent Polish eatery to add some excitement to a mostly lowkey January.

Platzki is one of our favourite city centre restaurants (see our review below from last summer), and everyone loves crispy fried potatoes. Put the two together and add the concept of pancake, and you’ve got yourself a delicious and unique evening out at a truly great independent restaurant.

This event is held at the restaurant (you’ll find it on Deansgate at the Great Northern Warehouse) on the 18th and 19th January and there’s no need to book a table – just turn up. Sittings run from 4pm up to 10pm, but think like a Boy Scout: be prepared, be early.

Bob down to Platzki for the perfect homemade potato pancake

It’s all about the restaurant’s near-legendary crispy fried potato pancakes, otherwise known as placki ziemniaczanes. And let’s face it, nowhere in the North, let alone Manchester does this traditional delicacy better.

A staple in Polish households for centuries, the potato pancake served as a meat substitute during Lent and as an alternative to bread during times of poverty.

Now, the crunchy-yet-soft-in-the-middle speciality has been reimagined with a host of toppings and garnishes, from wild creamy mushroom sauce with fresh herbs, to sausage stew, to roasted pork neck with potato dumplings and horseradish gravy.

So if you’re looking for something to add a little pep to January, stick a note in your calendar to bob down to Platzki for the perfect homemade potato pancake.

Full review: Polish restaurant Platzki is one of Manchester’s most inspiring dining destinations. Based in the ever-growing Great Northern Warehouse, it dances on that thin line between fine dining and home-cooking – and does both brilliantly. But even before we get to the food, there’s plenty to praise about this unique restaurant.

The vegan and vegetarian options on the menu are far from an afterthought, and are often the standout dishes

The owners have a progressive outlook, very much in tune with the city at large, with an LGBT+ friendly outlook and hands-on support for victims of the war in Ukraine, even hiring those affected to work in the restaurant. They also design the menu, starting from scratch every six weeks or so, with new ideas to showcase the exciting range of flavours found in East European food. Best of all, the vegan and vegetarian options on the menu are far from an afterthought, and are often the standout dishes.

Walking in feels like being invited into someone’s home, albeit a very stylish, beautifully laid-out home with dozens of chairs and tables. The team who work here are a delight, fiercely proud of their heritage and with a deep love for Manchester. They’re full of stories and friendly recommendations, and if you want the full experience, let them choose your dishes (the menu even states ‘We have a lot of ideas so ask staff’). In brief, it feels like going round your best mate’s house for tea, if your best mate’s mum and dad are Michelin star chefs.

The drinks are a high point. Whether it’s one of the carefully-crafted cocktails, a rich red wine or a wooden board of multi-coloured vodkas, the quality is high and the taste impossibly smooth.

Start with the pierogi. These chunky Polish dumplings come decorated with light salad leaves and berries, coated with a mouthwatering plum sauce. They’re also incredibly moreish, so don’t scoff the lot, save some room. Zupa, Polish tomato soup is a hearty option, rich, full of flavour and topped off with some enormous crunchy croutons, plus a healthy amount of fresh basil, for good measure.

The beetroot dish is one of the most eye-opening starters, for all the right reasons. It’s a big plate of candied beetroot carpaccio, hosting an artfully-arranged tangle of salad leaves, raspberries, mustard marinade and the most potent smoked cheese you’ll ever taste. The flavours work wonders together and whether you’re vegetarian or not, this is a must-try.

Pan-fried sea bream is another huge portion (spot a pattern?), and it’s flawless. It has that all-important crisped-up skin, soft white meat and a pitch-perfect combination of heritage tomatoes, capers, olives and dill dressing. If you’re looking for the ultimate summer dish, a mouthful of Platzki’s sea bream, olives and capers is up there with the best.

But the standout dish, and the one you’ll keep going back to again and again for ‘just one more bite’ is the karkowa. It’s a gloriously rich roasted pepper stew, heavy on the paprika, garlic and rosemary, plus some of the softest, most addictive chunks of slow-cooked pork neck you’ll find anywhere in the North. It’s listed as coming with spinach egg noodles but these noodles aren’t spaghetti-style long noodles, they’re rustic dumpling-shaped chunks that match well with the rich sauce.

Then there’s the herring. This is possibly the ultimate summertime Platzki dish, an aesthetic triumph that teams sweet berries with two thick fillets of salty, freshly-prepared vivid-red fish.

And finally, because the Platzki staff will insist on making sure you leave happy and content, finish things off with a sweet, custard-based cake, topped with fruit and a sprig of mint. The perfect palate cleanser for an exceptional meal.

Platzki has been doing its thing for a few years now in the city, steadily moving to bigger premises, expanding the menu and earning the kind of word-of-mouth recommendations most places would die for. If you’re looking to treat someone to some of the best and most original food in Manchester, waited on by a team of people who genuinely care, in more ways than one, make Platzki your next stop on your food journey.