One staff member at the Bankstown Polish Club watches video screens showing the carpark like a hawk. You can park for free, but only if you are visiting the club for dinner. When guests arrive - for the first hour we were the only ones - he rings a little bell in the bar and the two-person Polish kitchen team peer through the white curtains like meerkats to see who has arrived. You get the impression that guests might be few and far between.
The small and homely dining room sits at the front of the single-level community club with a window into the bar and the balloon-lined function space with its empty parquetry dancefloor. Our window table has a view of residential towers reminiscent of Soviet-era housing in Poland (wielka płyta), where all architectural flourishes were spared. But the welcome is warm, the drinks are cheap and Poland is known for producing some of the best vodka in the world, and the food is great!
The Polish martini ($18) teams Żubrówka Wódka, honey liqueur and apple juice into a gateway to liking martinis if you're someone who doesn't. The same vodka is teamed with Chambord, dry vermouth, and lemon juice in the Warsaw ($18), which was a shade medicinal for me. Vodka-lovers: skip the mixed drinks in favour of a shot of Potocki ($16) - a smooth, rye-based Polish vodka - with a glorious sour apple Cider Lubelski ($12/400ml) chaser (there's also a good range of Polish beers).
Potato, pork and dumplings (pierogi) are all well-represented on the succinct menu. We start with crisp potato pancakes ($20/3) topped with melted smoked cheese and cranberry sauce. Krokiety z barszczykiem ($28) teams a hearty mug of savoury borscht with a crumbed croquette (a rolled thin pancake stuffed with onions and savoury mince). It goes very well with fried beets ($4), a hot vegetable side that eats like a relish. The sides, including a simple carrot and apple salad ($4), are so cheap, it's worth ordering all of them to accompany the meal's crowning glory: golonka zapiekana w kapuście kiszonej ($44). Having tackled a few pork knuckles through these European club adventures, this one was easily the best. Eating like moist baked ham, it was pickled and brined before baking to a crisp, crackled exterior. Smeared with Polish mustard on rye toast with a hat of sauerkraut, it was a taste sensation. We also took home a considerable portion of this substantial dish.
