Matka, chef Piotr Korzen's gourmet Polish restaurant

It's an opening we're pretty excited about, we admit, because Polish restaurants - and Eastern European restaurants more generally - aren't exactly legion in Paris, and that's a shame. Polish chef Piotr Korzen has just opened his very first restaurant, called Matka, to dust off any preconceptions about Polish cuisine.

Poor cuisine? A little too traditional? Boiled potatoes and cabbage in all their forms? Perhaps, but not only! Polish gastronomy is also rustic, authentic and even downright gastronomic, provided it is executed by an experienced chef. And Piotr Korzen is just such a chef!

After arriving in France in 2015, the thirty-something passed through some fine Maisons, such as the Sur-Mesure restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental, where he spent five years under the aegis of Thierry Marx before turning to bistro cooking at La Machine à Coudes in Boulogne-Billancourt, where he then took charge of the kitchens.

This May, the chef jumps into the deep end with the opening of Matka(mother in Polish), a tribute to his culture and nationality. With its warm, homely decor (complete with fireplace!) and typical Eastern European motifs, the restaurant takes gourmets back to the 20th century.

On the à la carte menu, Piotr Korzen offers a gastronomic version of the great classics of Polish cuisine, including chlodnik (12€), a surprisingly refreshing borscht glazed with beet, fermented beet, cucumber and dill; salceson (13€), a head cheese spiced with cumin and mustard pickles; pierogi stuffed with fine mashed potatoes, cow's cheese and caramelized onions (23€), dipped in sour cream; or golabki (26€), an excellent cabbage stuffed with lamb confit, accompanied by several quenelles of hearty mashed potatoes - tomato and mushroom.

As for desserts, you're bound to find the country's traditional cakes, like rhubarb sernik (€14), a Polish version of cheesecake, and makowiec, a cake with poppy seeds, chocolate, walnuts and creamy meringue.

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What a pleasure it is (finally) to see Polish cuisine in the place it deserves: at the table of a contemporary, gastronomic Parisian restaurant that doesn't forget its origins.

This test was conducted as part of a professional invitation. If your experience differs from ours, please mention it in the comments.