Lenkiewicz Cafe

HOT POLISH SUMMER

Yes! You’ve read it correct: there is such thing like a hot Polish summer! I mentioned it when I wrote about lakesides (which you can find here) but there is not always a chance to have a whole day getaway trip to chill by a jezioro. So what do real toruniaks* do then?

WE GO FOR AN ICE CREAM

It wouldn’t be this unusual, after all you’ve got famous Italian gelato as the best remedy for the summer heat waves. It is true, however the ice cream I’m on about is something really emblematic to Toruń and it is definitely something I’d like to share with you! It is a short text about a place so popular that queues sometimes turned behind the corner of another old-town street.

CUKIERNIA I LODZIARNIA LENKIEWICZ

This is one of the oldest patisseries in Toruń, and for me being quite a young person, it has been there for ages. I remember from my childhood popping into their confectionery shop to have one of the best tartaletka**, the ones that have never been beaten anywhere else. Someday they started making ice-cream. Everything handmade in one of the tiny houses in Toruń’s suburbs. They had an unconventional approach and really generous hand when it came to ice cream portions. That’s why when they opened the ice cream confectionery they became an instant hit.

In fact, this place became so popular that it has impacted the everyday speech of toruniaks, however not everybody is aware of that. Nevertheless, when a day is as sunny and hot as it can be in July and somebody happens to be hanging out with friends there is a 90% chance that someone will cry out ‘Let’s go to Lenkiewicz!’ while strolling down Szeroka*** street. It doesn’t have to mean let’s go to the actual Lenkiewicz cafe or patisserie, but it often simply means: let’s get an ice-cream!

Some say that the greatest marketing accomplishment is when people refer to something by using your brand’s name. Well, then Lenkiewicz in Toruń has definitely been successful!

And not without a reason!

FLAVOURS! TELL ME ABOUT THE FLAVOURS!

I know, ice-cream can be exciting! When it comes to Lenkiewicz, I’ve been visiting them for more than 10 years now, but I always end up having at least one of my favourites, and these are:

• gingerbread - of course you’re in Toruń, so you have to have something gingerbread-like cause gingerbread belongs to this city ! (You can read here more about Toruń and its gingerbread passion). However, being perfectly honest I must say that this ice-cream taste more like Dutch speculaas than typical katarzynki****, but I still love it.

• Cookie - not surprisingly tastes like cookie and I must say that I fell for it when I was ten years old, and I still feel like a kid each time I order it.

• Yoghurt - it is one of the most refreshing ice cream flavours available, and it is really smooth on the palate… oh god I start to sound like an ice-cream sommelier.

• Black and White chocolate - sounds like a really boring flavours to go for, but I can’t help it. The chocolate tastes so intense that you don’t even mind being boring.

• Raspberry - something that truly tastes like summer.

Alongside these favourites (that are really subjective I must admit) there are loads of different types to match your taste buds, for instance: lemon, blackcurrant, my brother’s favourite snickers, bounty, and even whiskey to name only few. The important bit is that Lenkiewicz rarely disappoints.

WHERE CAN I FIND IT

There are two shops in the Toruń’s old town: one at ul. Wielkie Garbary 14, and this is the one I would often visit after my English classes. Then there is the most popular cafe just by the main square at Rynek Staromiejski 33/34 (next to the Kuranty restaurant where you can enjoy some of the pierogi I mention here) and then there is the one outside of the city centre at Chabrowa 24. I mention this one because I happen to be there quite often, this is where the ice-cream is being made, and also it is one of my favourite pit-stops to grab ice cream on my way to the Okonin jezioro, the lakeside I mentioned earlier.

DOES IT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE FAMOUS ROBERT LENKIEWICZ? WHY ICE-CREAM IN POLAND HAS GOT SEXUAL CONNOTATIONS AND SOME OTHER FUN FACTS ABOUT THIS PLACE.

First of all: I’m sorry but the Lenkiewicz family from Toruń and the glorified British painter - Mr. Robert Lenkiewicz have got very little in common except of the surname and the genius behind their works.

Well, the ice-cream is not such an innocent word in Polish as it happens to be in other languages. So you’ll hear quite a lot of giggles when you say word ‘lód’ or ‘lody’ in wrong context. Also watch out for expressions like ‘środa dzień robienia loda’ (translated as ‘Wednesday the ice-cream making day’) which only at Lenkiewicz means the actual ice-cream making.

Lenkiewicz confectionery is also a popular spot for part-time jobs and some of my friends have told me that it can be incredibly busy (which is not particularly surprising given how popular the place is) but also that each year the ice-cream scoops are getting smaller, meanwhile the prices often go higher. I don’t know how true that is, because I still feel like I had a proper meal after having Lenkiewicz ice-cream, but thanks to my friends I know that the ice-cream are really made locally.

*toruniak - a person that lives in Toruń
**tartaletka - a type of a sweet mini-tart with vanilla custard and fruit jelly on top; one of my favourite desserts, largely thanks to Lenkiewicz.
***Szeroka - the main street of the old town of Toruń.
****katarzynki - the emblematic gingerbread of Toruń