Shopping crisis solved

Not content with shutting the shops in Poland on Pentecost Sunday back in 2007, the government has now gone a step further and shut shops on what seems an arbitrary number of Sundays each month (two? three?) with the result that the Saturdays before the closed Sundays have become Retail Hell.

Last Saturday week, I visited Auchan, enduring a solid traffic jam there and back, Puławska chockers like on a weekday evening, and an almost-full car park. But all the check-outs were working, so things went reasonably well - except that five items on my shopping list were sold out.

I drove on to Lidl. Here, the situation was worse. The car park was full to the point of overflowing.  Inside, I found three of the five missing items. I picked up a handful of other things, and found myself at the back of a queue nine people long. Yes, there were nine other weekend-shopping desperados ahead of me with their trolleys heaving with enough produce to last out a war. I endured, paid and left to go to Biedronka to finalise my shopping there.

Yes, the last two Has avocados were there; I had five items in my hand, and sought my place at one of the three open check-outs. I chose the middle one. Just as I arrived at the end of the queue (four trolleys and a couple of baskets), the check-out person decided to close the till, the people with the groaning trolley in front of me were to be her last customers. I put my handful of grocers down and left, swearing I'd never shop on a Saturday in Poland as long as this (or any future) government insists on shutting the supermarkets on Sunday.

So I opened an online account with AuchanDirect, and made my first-ever online grocery shop last Wednesday. At first, a bit of a disappointment. The first two things I was after (Muszynianka mineral water and Maluta Balkan yogurt) were both 'temporarily unavailable'. The cat food was hard to find. The mineral water that was available was not available in the bottle size I wanted. Choice was limited compared to what's in the shop. (Only one Roquefort, not five, for example). But I gamely carried on, and in the end got most of what it was I wanted. Around 130 złotys (which meant that delivery cost 19.90 złotys was relatively steep but cheap in terms of time saved). However, by increasing the value of my shop, the relative cost of delivery falls. (Or I can collect the whole lot outside Auchan for free. Worth investigating.)

I selected a delivery window of 16:00-18:00 on Thursday. The guy came an hour and half early (which was no problem on that particular day as I was off work with a thick cold), but it could have been a problem had I specially arranged to come home for 16:00 to find that the delivery had come and gone.

The produce was in three cardboard boxes (not reusable), the six-pack of large mineral water bottles separately, and some free gifts - sachets of spices and a packet of mints.

It will take a while to change habits, but shopping online is preferable to the unpleasantness of shopping on a Saturday.

Incidentally, it is worth knowing that the Lewiatans in Zamienie/Nowa Wola and Dawidy Bankowe are both open on a Sunday.

This time two years ago:
Mszczonów - another railway junction

This time five years ago:
The Devil is in Doubt - short story, part I

This time six years ago:
Stormclouds are raging all around my door

This time seven years ago:
Floods endanger Warsaw

This time eight years ago:
Coal line rarity

New shoes from old, courtesy of Loake

I wrote in June about the appearance of a Loake shop in Warsaw, and the shoe manufacturer's promise to restore old pairs for the equivalent of £50. I took in one of my many pairs of Loakes for a 'long sole' rebuild, and three weeks later, they were ready for collection. Below: how this pair (bought in or around 1996) looked before, having sustained many Warsaw winters of salty snow and ice.

Below: and how they look today. Still the same uppers, but the entire sole and heel has been replaced, as have the shoes' linings, and new laces.

Below: this is the brand - my favourite shoes. Made by shoemakers, in England. Not by robots or children. These shoes will be good for many years; this is sustainable manufacturing.

Below: the key ingredient - a Goodyear-welted leather sole, with rubber finish for those mucky Jeziorki roadsides - pavements have still to reach this far-flung part of Warsaw. This is something no 'Mr Minit' style heel bar can ever provide - a tip-top quality shoe repair, hand-stitched - not merely glued.

Given that a new pair of Loakes cost 1,290 zlotys, spending a quarter of that on a new long sole every few years makes this a long-term investment. No here-today-gone-tomorrow fashions - Loakes are timeless in style and the mark of a gentleman. [Watch this BBC piece about Slow Fashion.] Loake Warsaw, ul. Chmielna 30 (in the courtyard). A stone's through from Kino Atlantic.

Since collecting this pair, I've handed in four more for reconstruction; a further four pairs wait at home.

Loakes in Warsaw!

Hurrah! My favourite shoe brand comes to Warsaw! For 35 years (since April 1980, to be exact) my formal shoe of choice has been Loakes. Over the decades, I've bought no fewer than 13 pairs. The reason? They're hand-made in the traditional way, they last for ages (if well looked after), the style is timelessly elegant and triumphantly British. Not Italian (made from Venezuelan albino bat leather with a silver clasp and tassel, that last one season then fall apart). Or from the Far East (simply fall apart after one season).

Loake is a family business - fourth generation, now led by Andrew Loake. Founded in 1880. History, tradition - things that few footwear brands can emulate. Many of Loake's employees are children or grandchildren of previous generations of Loake employees. This is the antithesis of global corporations exploiting whatever they can get away with exploiting to maximise next quarter's earnings. This is sustainability. I support it.

I was delighted to hear the news that a Loakes shop would be opening in Warsaw - the second in the whole of Continental Europe. So mixing a little bit of business with a whole lot of pleasure, with my son, I set off for the occasion, attended by many Polish fashion journalists.

Below: ul Chmielna 30 - in a courtyard just off the main (pedestrianised) street, not far from ul. Marszałkowska.

Below: Before the store opening, the briefing. Loake's sales director talks us through the product. This shoe, the company's best seller, is the Chester (same name and same colour as our male cat, Czester).

Below: At last, the store opening. Inside, it's beautifully laid out. Up-market, unfussy. The kind of place that makes you want to buy several pairs. Prices from 600 zł to 1,200 zł. For shoes of this quality that last many years, a snip.

Below: Proper. Men's. Shoes. Today. Yesterday. Tomorrow. Not shoes with turned-up pointy toes that will find themselves in sales bins at the end of the season.

Below: My son, in his element.

Below: These will do! A lovely pair of co-respondent brogues.

The best part of the story for me is that Loakes will take their customers' old shoes and fix them back in their Northamptonshire factory with a new long sole and leather lining for 350 zł a pair. I will be bringing them many pairs that I can't get properly fixed in Warsaw. The concept of a szewc (cobbler) who sews soles to uppers has all but disappeared. The guy should call himself a kleik (gluer) who glues bits of rubber to worn-down soles. So if the craft is dying, at least back in Northamptonshire, there's a factory still doing it the way it should be done.

This time last year:
Gdynyer, on the beach, six am

This two years:
Polish doctors in UK offer new healthcare model

This time three years ago:
Football in Warsaw

This time four years ago:
Era becomes T-Mobile

This time five years ago:
Warsaw-Góra Kalwaria-Pilawa rail link closed

This time six years ago:
Marsh harrier, golden airliner over Jeziorki

This time seven years ago:
Bus blaze on way to town

This time eight years ago:
A beautiful, stormy twilight

Shopping for food and dietary update

Competition is a wonderful thing. Now we have a Biedronka 'under the nose', a 12-minute stroll from home, and a Lidl a similar distance away, I cannot say that I have ever been so well provided with retail opportunities in my life. But despite the newcomers, I'm still true to Auchan Piaseczno - 15 minutes from home by bicycle, five by car. The pressure on Auchan is on, and Auchan is responding admirably.

At Biedronka yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see Lavazza Qualita d'Oro priced at under 19 złotys for 250g - around two less than Auchan was selling it for. Until I visited Auchan today - when I found that the French retailer has responded to the Portuguese retailer's challenge and dropped its price for the product to below 18 złotys.

Same story for apples. Biedronka price for a kilo of excellent Polish apples - 1.75zł. Auchan - a selection of four different varieties of Polish apples all for 1.45zł a kilo.Wherever I look, I can see that products at Auchan are more keenly priced. And there's far more variety. Biedronka has started selling cider - hurray! One type - a brand named Desire. But Auchan now has three bays, each a pallet wide, stacked with around 15 different ciders, domestic and imported. And Auchan has Browar Witnica's staggeringly good Lubuskie IPA, along with over 150 other beers. Lidl, on the other hand, has still to offer a cider among its beverages section, mainly brewed to be cheap and strong.

My recent visits to Lidl have failed to impress; there's now only a handful of things I pop into Lidl for. Its excellent tinned fish, Nixe brand - finest quality mackerel and good tuna at a good price. Unbleached, undyed toilet paper that harms neither your bottom nor the environment. Beefmaster steaks from Biernacki (Biedronka does these too) and superb kiełbasa polska surowa długodojrzewają from Balcerzak.

Biedronka counters with 15-month-old mature cheddar at 4zł less than mature Kerrygold 'cheddar' at Auchan, and a slightly broader range of food products than Lidl. And when it comes to fresh fruit and veg, Biedronka falls behind Auchan. I bought a basket of cherry tomatoes on the vine at Biedronka - they turned out to be Italian and taste-free, nowhere near as good as the organic cherry toms grown by PGO that are the mainstay of Auchan's offering.

Unless an Alma suddenly appears on Karczunkowska, my food shopping needs are well catered for; hugely better than back in 2002 when we moved to Jeziorki.

Meanwhile, a question many people have been asking since January - when will Real supermarkets be rebranded as Auchan? Last week PortalSpożywczy.pl reported that the first Real to open an an Auchan did so in Opole. The rest will follow step by step as Auchan, who have taken over the Real chain from German retail groupMetro AG renegotiate rents with shopping mall operators. It will take a while before the Real in King Cross Ursynów becomes an Auchan. And just seven years ago, the same shop was a Géant, owned by French retail group Casino. Remember?

The Polish food retail scene is consolidating, but it's also moving upmarket. The growing number of small-format deli chains like Piccolo Italia or Kuchnie Świata is encouraging. Polish consumers (urban ones at least) are becoming more discerning and prepared to pay top prices for top products. The single European market is bearing fruit.

Meanwhile, I'm nearly at the end of my short, sharp post-holiday diet. Over the past two weeks, I have been eating only fish, fruit, vegetables, nuts and pulses. No bread, no potatoes, no rice, no pasta. No wheat products whatsoever. No dairy products whatsoever. No meat, no alcohol. It is hard to find variety in such a diet, but shopping at Auchan has allowed me to concoct interesting and tasty meals. I've just had for supper a large bowl of fresh prawns, fried with loads of cherry tomatoes, seasoned with garlic, provençal herbs, chilli peppers, garlic, chives and coriander. Wow. Wonderful stuff.

This has been a tough diet, though nowhere near a tough as the two-week diet that my colleague Marta and her husband Kamil recently underwent. Like mine, though without the fish, pulses, fried foods or coffee. I don't think I could cope with a diet that strict!

Back to normal on Wednesday. Plenty of excellent cheeses await (including a well-aged Pecorino Romano), and a bottle of Weston's Vintage Cider for the evening.

This time last year:
Photos from the Radom Air Show, part 1

This time two years ago:
Offloading PKP's risk at W-wa Jeziorki

This time four years ago:
Time to be stuffing yourself with fresh fruit

This time five years ago:
First notes of autumn in the air

This time seven years ago:
Large spider catches fly

Where's the beef?

Ever since Poland joined the EU, nearly nine years ago, the price of fillet beefsteak (polędwica wołowa) has soared. It used to cost around 25zł a kilo (glory days!); today it's over 100zł. And the quality is questionable (where are those steaks that contain zero gristle or fat?).

I don't eat much meat, but when I do, only the best bit of the cow is good enough for me. There are many cheaper cuts of beef available; they look nice on the supermarket counter, but they are tough as shoe leather unless braised for hours. Flash-fry or grill - and your jaw muscles work overtime before you can swallow these inferior slabs of meat. Fillet steak should be good enough to eat raw (or extremely rare); its tenderness such that only gentle mastication is required, while the taste is supreme. BUT I CAN'T FIND ANY!

Firstly, supermarkets are often entirely out of stock (the chiller label tells you where it is - but the cabinet is empty). Butchers' shops rarely hold polędwica wołowa, but can order it for you (yeah, Mr Beefmonger, but I want it for THIS evening!).

Word is that after Poland joined the EU, the Germans, who love their fillet beef far more than Poles do, have been buying out every last scrag-end of the stuff. The best of what's left in Poland goes to restaurants (check out Butchery & Wine on Żurawia for Warsaw's tip-top meat eaterie), and what's left over is sold in higher-end supermarkets (Alma, Auchan). Carrefour? Forget it (dismal place). Tesco? John Cleese would have more chance of buying some Cheddar from Michael Palin. [Skip film to 1:31 in to see what I mean.]

Y'see, in the mart of competitive commerce - demand drives supply. And when the demand comes from somewhere else, the supply follows. Poland is a huge producer of lamb, and yet very little ever sees Polish chiller cabinets or indeed tables. It's nearly all exported (mainly to Arab countries - Poland has a large but constitutionally-controversial Halal butchery sector).

Polish supermarkets may offer little or no lamb - just as British supermarkets offer little veal. Brits can't bring themselves to eat little baby cows, while Poles can't bring themselves to eat little baby lambs (something to do with the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, I suspect).

And Brits can't bring themselves to eat horses, even when they come conveniently packaged as burgers. But that, dear readers, is a different matter...

Next week, Lent begins, and once more, for the 22nd time in a row, I will be forswearing alcohol, caffeine, confectionery, etc - and meat will be off the diet. My non-meat beefsteak substitute, the whole year round, is tuna, which I shall be eating more frequently - supermarket supply allowing. If no tuna - then fillet of salmon (without skin, without bones). Six and half weeks off meat will be good for my resolve.

This time last year:
Babcia vs. Roma action, Centrum

This time two years ago:
Reasons to be cheerful

This time three years ago:
Skiing in the Beskid Wyspowy

This time four years ago:
What's to be done about Warsaw's unmade roads?
[answer after three years: 'not a whole lot']

This time five years ago:
Jeziorki in the fog
[some lovely photos]