Zapiekanka at Plac Nowy

The zapiekanka is a half baguette split lengthways, covered with fried mushrooms and cheese, grilled until the cheese melts, and finished with a stripe of ketchup - a food that appeared in Poland in the 1970s as an economical hot snack and became a fixture. The place to eat one is Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, where the Okraglak, a round brick building of 1900 built as a kosher poultry market with slaughter stalls around a central hall, now has hatches cut into its outer wall from which zapiekanki are sold from several competing windows, most of them open extremely late. The toppings have multiplied - onion, cheese and garlic sauce, meat, pickles, whatever - and the arguments about which window is best are permanent and unresolvable. The square holds a flea market and a food market on different days, and the surrounding streets are the centre of Krakow's nightlife.

What you actually see

• A split baguette grilled - mushrooms, cheese and a stripe of ketchup.
• The Okraglak - a round 1900 poultry market with hatches cut into its wall.
• Competing windows - several sellers, open very late.
• A flea market square - Plac Nowy, with markets on different days.

When to go

All year, late evening. An hour.

Honest expectations

Queues are long at night and after the bars close. Quality varies between windows and with how busy they are. Seating is a kerb. The square is loud until early morning.

Nearby

The Kazimierz synagogues are around the square; the old town is north.