Camelot Café

Camelot Café on Świętego Tomasza Street is often described as a city institution, and it is easy to see why. Tiny tables, squeaking floorboards and watercolours pinned to white walls give the rooms the feel of a bohemian living room, and the crowd is a mix of academics, local performers and visitors who have heard about it from friends. A reader of one local guide recalls that it was a favourite haunt of the Nobel Prize-winning poet Wisława Szymborska, which only adds to its literary aura. The building itself has a colourful past: in the early 20th century it housed a brothel fondly remembered by local artists, and after falling into ruin it served as a film set for the 1960s Polish film Awantura o Basię.

The menu covers the whole day. Breakfast is served until 12:30, which makes Camelot a natural first stop for a slow morning in the Old Town, and later on there are soups, salads, pasta, risottos and desserts. The café claims the most famous szarlotka apple pie in town, and thick hot chocolates are a winter favourite, alongside local warming liqueurs for cold evenings. The food is straightforward café cooking rather than a gourmet experience, but the setting makes it memorable.

If you can, ask for the raised window seat, which has been called the most romantic spot in town. Couples, solo travellers with a book and small groups of friends all fit in here, and it is a good place to shelter on a wet afternoon. Families with young children may find the tiny tables a squeeze.

Downstairs, the basement is home to the Loch Camelot theatre group, which stages its own idiosyncratic brand of cabaret, along with concerts and recitals, described by one guide as delightfully strange, antiquated and endearing. Schedules and prices are published by the group itself. The café is open every day from 9:00 to 23:00. Arriving early is the best way to secure the window seat or a table for breakfast, since the small rooms can fill quickly at weekends and on cold days when everyone wants to be indoors.

Camelot is just a couple of minutes' walk from the Cloth Hall and St Mary's Basilica. It makes an easy break between sights or a quiet alternative to the cafés on the square itself.