Olka Polka Bakery & Deli

What is it?
Wherever you are in Poland, you'll always find sernik, the national dessert of baked cheesecake. The filling is rich with egg and sweet cheese curd, creating a light, fluffy topping. 

Where can I get it?
Olka Polka in Campbelltown, a specialist in Polish food. Owner Andrzej Luczak trained in Poland as a baker. The shop started almost ten years ago as a bakery but has since expanded to include deli and grocery lines for homesick Poles. The shop is small but neat and clean, with baking down out the back. They have all kinds of sernik Polish cheesecake ($3 for a square), including plain, variations with peach or raisins, and a traditional version layered with a thick paste of ground poppy seeds and butter. The cheesecake squares come covered in a thin layer of icing or dusted with icing sugar.

What else?
You can get into all your Polish favourites here, like makowiec ($10), a sweet bread stuffed with poppy-seed paste and smothered in icing. If poppy seeds aren't your style, try the soft and spongy drozdzowka yeast cake ($3 for a slice, $7.50 for a slab) with a crumble topping. Paczek Polish donuts ($1.50) filled with a squirt of plum jam are the most popular, often sold out by mid-morning.

What about savouries?
The display cabinet is chock-full of Polish smallgoods, including black pudding ($15.60/kg), cold smoked hams ($24.90/kg) and the lightly smoked mysliwska Hunter's sausage ($24.50/kg), made with pork, pepper and juniper. Eat with a thick slice of their famous rye bread ($4.30 for a 900g loaf), sold under the Olka Polka label at a dozen Polish delis across Sydney. For a takeaway feed, they'll make up a bread roll with cheese, lettuce and your choice of meat for $3.80.

What's in the freezer?
Bags of homemade pierogi dumplings ($8 for 16 pieces) will cover you for your next dinner party, available with potato and cheese, meat or cabbage and mushroom fillings. You can also pick up boxes of bigos hunter's stew ($8), golabki cabbage rolls ($8 for three) and flaki tripe soup ($9), generous with beef tripe, carrot and marjoram - all homemade by Hanna Luczak. Krokiet ($6 for 3) are deep-fried croquettes filled with minced meat and vermicelli noodles that make an easy, reheatable snack.