It is not even one month old - Piękna Helena opened in early May at ul. Łokietka 6. She is young but very friendly and has great plans for the future.
Gourmet specials
Right from the entrance, the café attracts customers with coffee, home-cooked bakery products and cookies, to include brownies made according to the café's own recipe which are becoming Piękna Helena's speciality. The menu also includes salads, breakfast dishes, and two showpiece dishes: hamelin (baked Camembert served with pickles and bread) and tapas served with fuet sausage. There is also the masterpiece dish: Piękna Helena (Beautiful Helen) - a pear dessert with ice cream, almonds, and chocolate. In the future, the menu is also to include special dishes for pregnant women and breast feeding women, and children-sized servings.
Quick decision
According to the café's owner, Maja Żyłajtys-Wrońska , the café is the product of many lucky circumstances. After she gave birth to her baby, Maja looked for places in Wroclaw where she could go with her newborn daughter and she could not find any that were perfect enough. When her maternity leave ended, with her husband Michał she learned about a tender for lease of the former Decobaazar store. They decided to make it a place for their own business.
Comfort for babies and parents
This is why Piękna Helena has quite a lot of amenities for families. There is a separate room for breast feeding and for changing diapers. The café is spacious so that baby carriages can be put inside. There is also a play room, filled with hand-sewn toys, called Bird Radio Headquarters. It looks like a forest at night, with stools in the form of mushrooms and with shelves that look like tree stumps. In just a few weeks, the room will be separated from the rest of the café with a transparent door. This will enable parents to watch their kids while keeping the kids from disturbing other customers. The Bird Radio Headquarters will host various musical events, for example drum playing lessons combined with English or art classes.
The lady boss and other inspirations
According to the Wrońskis, the true boss of their café is their daughter Helen who is over one year old. The café was partly named after her, but the name is also connected with the musical nature of the place and with Offenbach's operetta "The Beautiful Helen". After the operetta's première, Paris restaurant owners put in their menus various dishes named to honour the work. However, only the pear dessert became a part of a world-wide menu.
Business, art, and meeting friends
Piękna Helena is a great place not only for families. One reason to visit the café is the wall with affordable art with an exhibition of works of recognized artists that can be bought for good prices, less than PLN 200. The café is often visited by guests of the nearby hostels, businessmen, persons who hire desks in the CO12 co-working office, local residents, and seniors. Also, employees of the Infopunkt Łokietka 5 organize various events there. The next one is planned in early June. It will be an exhibition of posters as a part of the Brave festival.
Joanna Strutyńska
