Bees are essential to our survival on Earth. But our rooftop hives, not only contribute to better urban gardens and crops, but also provide us with honey – which goes directly to your breakfast table! Contrary to popular misconception which favour rural honey. The one collected in the city is just as healthy. Bees in the city can enjoy rich vegetation of the local parks. There are many green areas in Warsaw, so that there is no risk that they will ever run out of food. While rural honey often comes from monocultural crops (e.g. rape), our honey is produced from pollen of very diverse plants resulting in a unique taste. It tastes differently throughout the year’s seasons depending on what trees and plants are in blossom. Honey from our rooftop beehives is used for the needs of the hotel – guests can try it on a breakfast table and it is also presented as a gift. Since the hives are located high on the roof, bees do not pose any threat and you won’t most likely notice them anywhere.
Jindrich Halabala’s long breakfast table is a place to learn not only about new slow food trends, but also globetrotters seeking everyday authenticity, daily meetings and discussions. Our butter is 83% milk fat and 17% water, not a butter mixture. Our pickled cucumbers are only vegetable, salt and spices. The eggs come from free-range green leg hens from Milicz, they are the most expensive and the most difficult to reach on the market.
The bread is baked according to an old recipe from natural ingredients, we serve naturally pressed juices without sugar and preservatives. We have our own herbs, tomatoes and cucumbers, honey from the roof hives and preserves.
We also make preserves ourselves, they do not have a gram of sugar or gelling agents. We fry them in copper saucepans. Why did the aristocracy live longer? Because they ate better and benefited from medical care? Maybe yes? But above all, though unconsciously, they prolonged their life by killing millions of bacteria with silver. They ate from silverware with silver cutlery. Like silver, copper also brutally deals with bacteria. Now you know why we fry our jam in old saucepans…
Since 2016, we have a coffee roaster, which is why our coffee is always freshly roasted and very aromatic. Coffee beans always come from reliable, certified plantators who use ethical coffee-growing methods.
All this can be found on our breakfast table.
Furniture from the era – made by craftsmen at the time when our house was built. They are real, wooden, they saw a lot, and most importantly, long hours were stroked by the hand of masters. You can still see it! However, restoring the former splendor of a time-damaged and badly exploited thing is expensive and requires courage. Not much furniture has survived in destroyed Warsaw, so we bring it from other cities in Poland, Czech Republic and Italy. We have rooms furnished with Italian, French and Austrian Art Nouveau, German and Polish Art Deco and Czech Modernism in the rooms. We have the largest in Poland furniture collection of Jindrich Halabala, a famous designer from Brno.
Wooden floors – we do not like dust mites, we do not cover floors where it is not necessary, and if they are already carpets, they must endure frequent washing.
Starting from spring 2019, we collect rainwater in three large recycled barrels. With the collected rain we are watering the vegetables, flowers and weeds.
We are very fortunate to enjoy exceptionally good quality tap water. Water in Warsaw is unique – it comes from a treatment plant designed and built by the outstanding engineer, William Lindley. Today so called „Lindleyowka”, remains the source of our district’s tap water, which tastes better than most water available commercially in plastic bottles.
Local Department of Health recommends drinking tap water. Since 2010 Municipal Water Supply and Sewerage Company have introduced ozone and filtration stations so the water is completely safe. Drinking it reduces plastic pollution and is good for your pocket.
Our flowers and vegetation break the sterile nature of the concrete courtyard, not only “calming the eye” but also providing oxygen, as well as edible fruits and vegetables. Indeed, we have our own tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs: basil, mint, rosemary, coriander. And sometimes even pumpkins.
Garden is our pride and mission, but sometimes a reason of disagreement – like with the Senate of the Republic of Poland, which our tomatoes disturbed to such an extent that if it wasn’t for the series of articles in Gazeta Wyborcza who knows if they wouldn’t put us behind bars…
Warsaw on foot is too big and by the car artificial, because it moves like a train on the tracks. And we recommend Warsaw, which you enter through the back door. Bicycle paths run along the flood embankment, among the backwaters of the Prague shore, along the alleys of Powiśle.
You can borrow bikes from us and also go on a bike trip with our guide. Bicycle path maps are available at the reception! Bikes are free for our guests!
Composting
We decided to compost the remnants of food so that in processed form it would return and fertilize the soil. Composting is a job combined with care for the comfort of the guests. Rather than allowing nature to slow down biomass, composting provides an optimal environment in which composting organisms can thrive. What are we throwing into the compostor? Most of the kitchen and garden wastes such as: fruit, vegetable and plant scraps, coffee and tea grounds, hedge twigs, earth from pots and boxes, faded flowers, leaves and aboveground parts of weeds.
Recycling
Long before the official start of recycling in Warsaw, we were doing it on our own. This is our commitment to Mother Earth.
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