Zakopane is a town in the Tatras mountains near the Slovakian border, and the wood panelling, sheepskin throws and enclosed terrace in this Turnpike Lane outpost are a charming nod to the region. The menu has some local flourish as well, there are dishes incorporating oscypek, a briney smoked sheep’s cheese, served grilled, or alongside meat. Lamb, a relative rarity, is offered as a roast leg, or, for the adventurous, knuckle. Of note is a larger pierogi variety than usual, including lesser-known but traditional favourites like nutty toasted buckwheat with soft cheese, and several sweet fruit options.

A north London mainstay found just above Green Lanes’ murderers row of outstanding Turkish restaurants, and every bit as satisfying. Autograf does serious homestyle Polish cooking. Borscht comes strained of lumpy vegetables, in “barszcz czerwony” or clear style, and shimmers with the delicate fats of its stock. The whole concept of “saving room” is rendered useless by the mains, where wonderfully limber potato and flour dumplings — a meal themselves — are a side for pickled-cucumber stuffed beef roulade, and the “plate sized pork schnitzel” does exactly that. Probably best to save the calories and close out with one of the many flavoured vodka shots on offer.

What looks like a generic coffee shop at the frightfully busy intersection of the A10 and Seven Sisters Road actually serves a full Polish menu from a kitchen as strong as any in the city. For an adventurous, cheap lunch it’s hard to beat buttery chicken livers fried with a sweet mix of onions and apples for less than £7. For the rest, the homemade pierogi is an obvious standout, done bite-sized with a paper thin dough and noticeably fresh fillings. There’s a good selection of pastries and doughnuts to take away too, if you’re hurrying towards the station.

The star foods of Polish cuisine have, if anything, overachieved. Pierogi and borscht are firmly entrenched in the global food canon. The hidden gems of Polish cooking are the lesser-known soups, which often use the pleasing sourness of fermentation — with rye flour mash or sauerkraut — to balance hefty meat and starch. Miod Malina, a charming farmhouse-style cafe in North Acton, does these soups very well. Bread bowls are available, to make a full meal, and the cafe does special Polish chicken soup, or rosół, on Sundays. This traditional week-end delicacy starts with a strong, clear, beef and turkey broth in addition to the expected chicken.

A comfortable, boozy refuge by the Holborn tube. Stick to small plates: dumplings, chopped herring and onions, salty lard on bread, and fried sausage halves will do wonders to keep you going against an extensive drinks list. Try a wide selection of Polish beers, or use the bartender like a sommelier to tour the various grain types and dry or sweet infusions on the vodka list. Lesser-known options include syrupy and aromatic fruit wines, and brandies with paint-strippingly high proofs.

There is no definitive English-language genealogy of pierogi — distinctive differences in style do exist — depending not only on the stuff inside, but the makeup of the dough, and the chef’s own preference. At Sowa, where the pierogi are made at a counter in full view of patrons — note the conspicuous bags of extra-fine Polish flour — they’re twice the size of tired supermarket varieties, and rich fillings are balanced by a substantial rope of springy dough at the hand-closed edges. It’s as good as these underrated little dumplings get. Sowa serves one of the UK’s oldest Polish communities, in Ealing, and the upholstered chairs and monogrammed windows seem suited to the central European business-type. There is a good patisserie attached, where you can find the preserve-packed doughnuts known as Pączki.

Formerly an Elephant and Castle institution, Mamuśka! recently moved to a brick and steel space behind Waterloo station, and now boasts room for 200. It’s not clear whether the continued casual style — orders are placed at the counter and brought out to tables — is still meant to reference a classic Polish bar mleczny, or a Nandos. The new decor and jokey menu suggest Mamuśka! has designs on the fast-casual expansion market in the future. The food remains good value, with almost no meal on the menu crossing a tenner.

The Polish Social and Cultural Association building in Hammersmith has been a fixture of the London Polish diaspora since the 1970s, hosting film screenings, theatre, music, and a large Polish-language library. It also has two restaurants open to the public (a third, upstairs, is members only). Łowiczanka sports white tablecloths and folded napkins, and pricing a shade higher than further-flung options, but the quality is there. Cafe Maja, facing the street on the ground floor, is both cheap and cheerful, with limited menu of cutlets, stews, and soups (and a full range of pierogi). There are usually a crowd of children around the cake and pastry display, they have the right idea.