Cafe Polonez is a classic Polish restaurant more than it is a cafe, known for serving some of Toronto’s best schnitzel, perogies and cabbage rolls.

The place is named for the Polish waltz, which explains the image of a pair of figures on front of the thickly laminated bilingual menu of iconic dishes.

The back of the old school 65-seat restaurant depicts an intricate landscape of Warsaw.

Beet root soup with dumplings ($7.95) is a vegetarian customer favourite, a thin borscht consomme with earthy, delicate mushroom dumplings, though you can opt for pork dumplings instead. 

I also find myself highly intrigued by appetizers of pork spread with dark rye and pickle ($6.50), herring with onions ($10.50), and smoked salmon ($13.50).

Perogies are $12.95 for a dozen, meaning these Eastern European dumplings are still one of the best meal deals around to this day. 

Get them softly boiled or pan-fried until crispy, with your choice of fillings like cottage cheese and potato, minced pork, sauerkraut and mushroom or even fruit, but cheddar and potato is the most popular. You’re also free to mix and match and get a platter of several kinds.

Pan-fried, the exterior is snappy yet tender and the filling is fluffy, smooth and full of hearty cheese and potato flavour. Whenever you order perogies, they always come with obligatory sour cream and a heavenly mixture of fried bacon and onion. Opt just for fried onion for a vegetarian alternative.

House cabbage rolls ($16.95) as a platter come with rustic halved potatoes generously sprinkled with dill, the same slaw and beet salad as well as carrot salad.

You have a choice between mushroom or minced pork filling, the pork incredibly smooth, moist and comfortingly flavourful, the cabbage leaves tearing apart easily at the touch of a fork, smothered in sweet and mild tomato sauce.

A platter for one ($22.95) is the quintessential order, a feast of four of their house perogies, a “polonez” schnitzel topped with fried mushrooms, a hunter’s stew known as bigos of sauerkraut cooked with pork sausage, beet salad and coleslaw.

Wash everything down with a selection from several classic pilsner-style Polish strong beers ($6.95) like Tatra or Zywiec.

To really put some hair on your chest, try some Polish vodka: they have over half a dozen kinds starting at $5.50 for an ounce shot, ranging up to $10.50 for premium brands like Chopin, Belvedere and Pravda.

They also do all-day egg breakfasts, hot sandwiches and daily soups, giving this place a diner feel. Just don’t leave without grabbing some frozen perogies ($7.50 for a dozen) to take home.