44
WIZZ MAGAZINE
DECEMBER-JANUARY 2012/13
FEATURE
LUBL IN
and slowly we made my dream reality.”
Back then, there were two other Jewish
restaurants in town but with little tourist
trade, within a matter of months, only one
was left standing: Mandragora.
It isn’t just the food that draws diners
in. Yes, their delicious selection includes
duck with apples, Hanukkah pancakes
based on a recipe from 1914, and carp with
almonds and raisins that’s outstanding. But
Izabela has also introduced special family
night gala suppers on Sabbath, and lavish
celebrations on Jewish New Year (Rosh
Hashanah) and Hanukkah.
One constant visitor, although he now
lives in Tel Aviv, is Moshe Opatowski.
Born in 1926, Moshe is a Lublin Jew
who survived the war. He was passing
Mandragora shortly after it opened, heard
the traditional Jewish music, and, to the
customary mutual “Shalom”, entered
with his son and grandchildren. Various
members of his extended family have been
coming ever since. Their pre-war portraits
sit amid other sepia-tinted photographs
on the restaurant’s walls. “Moshe is almost
like a spiritual father,” says Izabela. “He
phones me every day from Tel Aviv to see
how the restaurant is doing.”
If you pass by Mandragora today you’ll
still hear live music, provided by the
Lubliner Klezmorim under violinist Tomasz
Czaplin´ski and featuring the vocals of
his wife Elzbieta. With links to the Jewish
National Theatre in Warsaw, this five-piece
provides lively, traditional sounds with
numbers such as
Hej Klezmorim Gute
Brider
,
belted out in Yiddish.
Next to Mandragora, the Piwnica Pod
Fortuna (piwnica.lublin.eu), a 17th-century
tavern, has been transformed into a public
exhibition space that illustrates the cultural
history of Lublin, both Jewish and Catholic.
Once the local courthouse, later the home
of the Lubomelski family, this historic
monument was spared by the Nazis when
they noticed German inscriptions on the
original murals dating back to the 1600s.
From 2009, with Lublin bidding to be
European Capital of Culture 2016, the city
began to host concerts and exhibitions of
greater and greater global significance.
With it came more visitors, particularly
“
Talented restaurateurs are
delving into recent history
to create an authentic and
colourful gastronomic scene”
IZABELA KOZŁOWSKA OF MANDRAGORA
STAR OF DAVID, MANDRAGORA
