Baltic bonanza

Eastern European is the new Spanish - or that's what Jan Woroniecki is hoping. His new restaurant, Baltic, on The Cut, London SE1, is aiming to put Eastern European food on the culinary map.

Housed in an 18th century Grade II-listed former coachbuilders, Baltic seats 100 in the restaurant, 50 in the bar, and a further 40 in a private room, occupying some 3,000sq ft of space, which cost £600,000 to develop.

Woroniecki is also the man behind Wodka, the Eastern European restaurant he set up behind Kensington High Street in 1989, which is still going strong. But whereas Wodka draws most of its inspiration from traditional Polish cooking, Baltic borrows from all over the northern hemisphere - from Hungary and Romania to Russia and Georgia, with the odd bit from Scandinavia thrown in.

Let's take the Georgian influence, for example. "Georgia is famous for its use of nuts, spices, fruits and flavoured yogurts," explains Woroniecki, who has travelled through many parts of Eastern Europe, but has relied heavily on cookery books for the more far-flung corners. "You'll also see lots of coriander seed, fenugreek and marigold used in their cooking."

The region's influences are used in a popular dish of marinated chicken with French beans, dill, coriander and garlic yogurt (£10.90).

Helping Woroniecki interpret these dishes is Nick Pound, former head chef of Armstrong's in Barnsley, South Yorkshire. He has spent the last six months at Wodka immersing himself in the mysteries of Eastern European cuisine. With dishes such as rump of lamb, Georgian aubergine, sour cream and coriander (£12.75), pierogi filled with potato and cheese, sour cream (£5.90/£9) and kaszanska, a Polish black pudding with pear pur‚e and red cabbage (£5.90), you would be forgiven for thinking this was a tad out of touch with the current mood for lighter styles of cuisine. "But all our dishes have a degree of lightness," promises Woroniecki.

Best-selling dishes, so far, include golonka - roasted pork shank with smoked sausage and bean salad (£12.50), and poached salt beef, with vegetables and dumplings in rosól (£11.90). Average spend is a modest £35 for dinner, and £20 for lunch. "I'm fed up with London restaurant prices, they're going berserk at the moment," moans Woroniecki.

"The blinis are also selling well," he adds. They're sold in the bar, which operates "semi-independently" of the restaurant, along with a line-up of smoked fish, seafood, soups and charcuterie.

The bar also boasts a line-up of Polish vodkas made with real fruit, displayed in mid-maceration behind the bar and sold under its own label, Baltic Vodka. But that's as far as it goes in terms of Eastern European drink. The 67-bin wine list leaps around the globe, giving Eastern Europe a wide berth. "We did try," says Woroniecki. "We had a good look at the London International Wine & Spirits Trade Fair in May but the quality just isn't there yet."

Baltic lists just one Eastern European wine, namely the resinous, astringent 1999 Egri Kiralyleanyka Thummerer, Egri, Hungary (£15.50).

A selection from the menu at Baltic

Zur - a rye-sour soup, £3.50
Warm salad of smoked eel with honey and boczek, £6.90
Salad of roasted beetroot with spices, fromage frais and dill, £5.50
Steamed freshwater crayfish with dill and vodka, £7.50/£13.90
Roast rabbit with barley broth, £12.50
Sea bass with fennel and radish salad, £14.50
Caramelised salmon with sweet and sharp pepper and cabbage, £11.90
Golonka - roasted pork shank with smoked sausage and bean salad, £12.50
Makowiec poppyseed cake with cinnamon plum compote, £3.75
Warm cherries with white chocolate mousse and almond sponge, £4.25

Baltic, 74 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 8HA. Tel: 020 7928 1111.