Polish chef Marek Dziedzic is to showcase the cooking of his home country at his new County Durham restaurant Biedronka, meaning ‘ladybird’, which launches this Thursday (1 October).
Marek is already well-known in the area as head chef at Scandinavian-influenced restaurant Hjem in nearby Wall, which closed down at the end of last year having reached the heights of Number 3 on the Harden’s 100 list of the UK’s best restaurants.
Biedronka is in the South Causey Inn, eight miles south of Newcastle, where Hjem had a residency earlier this year while founders Alex Nietosvuori and Ally Thompson worked on ambitious plans to open a follow-up to be called Freyja. The couple abandoned the idea in August, by which time Marek was thinking about how to marry his Polish background with British farmhouse cooking.
“I want to bring my heritage from the Polish countryside to the British countryside,” he says. “The food is personal to me and tells my story, but I also want Biedronka to feel very relaxed. You can serve really good food and be very professional without the experience ever becoming stuffy or pretentious.”
Marek, who is 35, began his career in kitchens as a teenager in Poland. He moved to London in 2012 and worked alongside Alex Nietosvuori at Brett Redman’s now-closed restaurant Neptune, moving to the northeast for the launch of Hjem in 2019.
He says: “Polish and British food have more in common than people might imagine. There’s a lot of slow cooking, braising and deep flavours in both.
“I really want the dumplings to be a big part of Biedronka. They’re handmade and there are so many different types and traditions to explore. I hope we can bring something a little different to the Northeast.”
Opening dishes include Pierogi Ruskie filled with farmer’s cheese, potato and onion, Poznańska Pyza, a steamed dumpling filled with braised duck leg, and Rosół, a traditional chicken broth with handmade noodles. Vegetarian and vegan options will be available, and dessert will feature plum-filled Knedle served with crème fraîche and vanilla sugar.