By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
THERE is good reason why there are few traditional Polish restaurants in Melbourne – because it’s such hard work.
Or as Kluska proprietor Barbara Szwed said – it’s “a bugger to cook because it has to be fresh”.
“You can’t reheat the food – my Polish customers will know.”
Each day Ms Szwed buys her quality ingredients fresh and locally – meats from Dandenong butcher Marmara Halal Meats and veggies from Dandenong Market.
From those goods, the kitchen laboriously produces hand-made delicacies such as white sausages, dumplings (pierogi and pyzy), potato cakes and sauerkraut.
Ms Szwed said the key to a good dumpling is a soft dough, with a quality cheese or meat filling (or farsz).
One of the most popular dishes is a tender duck leg topped with apple sauce, with a touch of carrot dip on the side.
Adding to the authenticity, there’s dried wild mushrooms imported from her homeland and a range of vodkas and Polish beers.
The recipes are little changed from what she learnt from her mother in the north-west Polish city of Zlocieniec.
The exception is her self-taught and certified gluten-free dumplings.
Her childhood memories include pointing at Australia on a map.
“It was very exotic for us.”
Ms Szwed and her husband arrived in Melbourne 24 years ago and settled in Noble Park and then Lynbrook.
A trained accountant, she learnt English while working in factories and nursing homes.
“This is time for me,” she said of her decision to open Kluska four years ago.
It’s a consuming career that suits the self-described “energetic people-person”.
“I just had to be passionate because I’d never run a restaurant before. When lots of people came at once, that was hard to manage at first.
“I just wanted to introduce Polish culture and tradition to Australians and other nationalities.”
The restaurant has built respect among critics and has featured on SBS TV’s Food Safari and in appreciative newspaper reviews.
Ms Szwed has not doubt her food could attract an even bigger fan base had she set up closer to the CBD.
“I wanted to keep it close to home and my family, which helps when you close at 11.30 at night.”Kluska is open from Tuesday to Sunday at 161 Foster Street, Dandenong.
Bookings on 9793 2154.
