The Hungry Rooster Combo plate is as close to Poland as you can get without jumping on a plane. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

FAMILY BUSINESS

Signature Dish: Hungry Rooster Kitchen’s Hungry Rooster Combo

Sep 3, 2021 | 11:26 AM

NANAIMO — If your only pierogi experience is a mass-produced, frozen, pillow of potato and cheese you’re doing yourself a great disservice.

The Hungry Rooster Kitchen on Bowen Rd. is serving up fresh, authentic Polish pierogies on a daily basis, where you can taste the generations of experience behind each one.

Their combo plate offers five different types of pierogies with bacon and onions, Polish sausage, dressed salad, sour cream, hot Polish mustard, sauerkraut and a slice of bread.

“The recipe has passed down from generation to generation, from my grandmother to my momma and then to me,” Janina Tokarski, owner of Hungry Rooster Kitchen, said. “I’m going to pass it onto my daughter as well. The recipe is still original, the same exactly like my grandmother did.”

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Flavours of pierogies include potato cheddar, potato cottage cheese, potato spinach feta, sauerkraut-mushroom and beef/pork.

They’re made fresh from scratch on-site fried along side bacon, onions and sausage and presented beautifully with all the fixings.

The salad is reminiscent of a coleslaw, based by a creamy, light dressing while the sauerkraut is very mild and perfect for those skittish to try it based on its harsh reputation.

In addition to the delicious Hungry Rooster Combo, the kitchen serves up soups, cabbage rolls and even a pierogi sandwich, stuffed with all your Polish favourites.

The notion of doing things the way they’ve always been done in Poland is central to Hungry Rooster’s success.

“We are a family business. My older daughter, she’s running our Hungry Rooster food truck. My younger daughter is a graphic designer so she did all the design of logos and our artwork here. I run the Hungry Rooster Kitchen in Nanaimo with my lovely, wonderful staff and my grandson is starting to work on the truck to help us.”

Five generations of family vaulted Hungry Rooster to thrive over the last 11 years.

In that time, they’ve also offered their pierogies in frozen packages which are available in their store or at select supermarkets across Vancouver Island.

Hungry Rooster also offers a selection of gluten-free and vegan options, along with cabbage rolls and soups in their take-home cooler.

For Tokarski, everything she and the business does is based on tradition and the way her family has made pierogies in Poland for generations.

“My daughter calls me the pierogi queen, but I think the pierogi queen is my mother. She inspired me and taught me how to do good, healthy, tasty, delicious pierogi and I try to do it here in Canada as good as she did in Poland.

Hungry Rooster Kitchen is located at 203-1925 Bowen Rd., between Meredith Rd. and Dufferin Cres.

They are open for take-out service Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Saturday between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m.

You can find out more by visiting their website, or calling 250-585-4044.

Signature Dish is brought to you by Island Savings – A Division of First West Credit Union, learn more at https://www.islandsavings.ca/.

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