***Cards on the table: Our Sam Wonfor has been helping Restaurant Biedronka with spreading the word ahead of its launch. But we didn’t think our readers should miss out on the story because of that***
For Marek Dziedzic, the idea behind his first restaurant can be traced back to two stretches of countryside, nearly one thousand miles apart.
One is in Puszczykowo in western Poland, where the 35-year-old chef grew up after being born near Kościan, not far from Poznań. The other is in County Durham, where Restaurant Biedronka will welcome its first guests at The Farmhouse, South Causey Inn, on October 1.
“I want to bring my heritage from the Polish countryside to the British countryside,” says Marek. “They’re not as far apart as you might think.”
Biedronka – Polish for ladybird – will combine British produce with the food Marek grew up with, putting handmade Polish dumplings centre stage alongside snacks, starters, fish, meat and desserts.
But this wasn’t a restaurant concept Marek had been carrying around in his head for years.
“The idea came to me quite naturally,” he says. “I’ve listened to a lot of people talking about opening restaurants and one thing that stayed with me was the idea that sometimes the concept should come from the place, rather than arriving with an idea and trying to make the place fit.
“When I looked at The Farmhouse, I started thinking about contemporary farmhouse cooking and bringing my Polish heritage into that.
“It means I’m telling my own story through the food. It’s true to me. I don’t need to make up stories that aren’t real.”
That story has taken Marek through kitchens in Poland, London and Manchester before bringing him to the North East.
Cooking wasn’t necessarily the obvious career choice. As a teenager, Marek was considering becoming a car mechanic before heading to catering college in Poznań. A job as a runner in a steak restaurant gave him his first real opportunity in a professional kitchen when the chefs discovered what he was studying.
In 2012, he moved to London, initially working in a “pretty terrible” pub before landing a job at the five-star Stafford Hotel in Mayfair.
There he met chef Brendan Fyldes, who became an important mentor. Fyldes had trained under Nigel Haworth at Michelin-starred Northcote and worked with chefs including Marco Pierre White and Richard Corrigan.
“I spent five or six years working with Brendan,” says Marek. “He was a huge influence on me. He was an incredible chef and I learned so much from him.”
Marek followed him from The Stafford to Café Football, the restaurant backed by former Manchester United teammates Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs, and then to Manchester for the opening of Hotel Football opposite Old Trafford. Their working relationship continued back in London at Green & Fortune, by which time Marek had progressed to sous chef.
Around 2017, he moved on to join the opening team at Neptune restaurant in London, where he met Swedish chef Alex Nietosvuori.
That meeting eventually brought him north to join Alex and his partner Ally Thompson as they prepared to open Restaurant Hjem at The Hadrian Hotel in Wall, Northumberland.
Marek moved to the region permanently in 2019 and seven years later regards it as home.
Hjem would go on to win Northumberland’s first Michelin star, with Marek becoming head chef and playing a central role in the restaurant throughout its life.
“It was a very exciting journey and we worked incredibly hard,” he says. “I learned a lot. I could cook when I arrived, but it gave me another way of thinking about food and how to approach it.”
Like many chefs, Marek had long wondered what it would be like to have his own restaurant. When the Hjem chapter came to an end, the thought became harder to ignore.
And now Biedronka is almost ready.
Friends and family have been among the first through the doors, while an evening for North East hospitality friends – billed, with admirable directness, as the Biedronka Sausage Party.
Marek has surrounded himself with familiar faces, with much of the seven-strong Biedronka team having previously worked together at Hjem. It means the new restaurant opens with plenty of experience at Michelin-starred level already in place.
And while Marek’s standards will be high, formality for its own sake is not on the menu.
“I want it to be relaxed,” he says. “I don’t like stuffy or pretentious service. You can be very professional without any of that. Really good food doesn’t need it.”
The menu gives diners more freedom than a conventional tasting menu. Guests can build their own four, five or six-course experience from sections covering snacks, starters, dumplings, seafood, meat and desserts, while a seven-course chef’s selection is available for those happy to leave the decisions to the kitchen. Prices start at £65 for four courses.
Vegetarian and vegan diners will also be catered for, alongside other dietary requirements.
And the dumplings are central to what Marek wants Biedronka to be.
“You can’t have a restaurant like this without Polish dumplings,” he smiles. “I really want them to be one of the stars of the menu.”
Among them will be Pierogi Ruskie, which Marek describes as the “flagship” of Polish dumplings, filled with farmer’s cheese, potato and onion and served with brown butter and cheese sauce, toasted breadcrumbs and parsley. Poznańska Pyza – a soft, steamed yeast dumpling similar to a bao – comes filled with braised duck leg and served with duck and apple jus.
There’s also Rosół, a traditional chicken broth which has particular significance for Marek. “I would have it back home most Sundays and on celebration days like weddings,” he says.
Made with corn-fed chicken, Biedronka’s version comes with handmade noodles, shredded chicken, carrots and parsley. “When I think about this dish, it has a place in both worlds. It’s elegant and very comforting.”
And dumplings make it all the way to dessert, with plum-filled Knedle served with crème fraîche and vanilla sugar.
Marek sees plenty of common ground between the food traditions of Britain and Poland.
“Polish food is hearty and in many ways it’s quite similar to British food,” he says. “There’s braising, slow cooking and those really deep flavours. I like good seasoning and letting ingredients taste of what they are.”
There are longer-term plans too, including growing vegetables at South Causey and bringing more of the kitchen into the dining room, allowing Marek and the chefs to be more visible during service.
For now, though, the focus is October 1.
After nearly two decades spent learning and cooking in other people’s kitchens, Marek is about to open a restaurant which is unmistakably his own – rooted in where he came from and the part of the world he now calls home.
“I haven’t found anywhere else doing this kind of food here,” he says. “I hope it brings something different to the North East.”
Restaurant Biedronka opens on October 1. Bookings are now open via restaurantbiedronka.com