In Warsaw, everything is relaxed. Rebuilt after the War, the city gleams with a shine that comes from being polished to within an inch of its life. The carefully maintained buildings ooze centuries of life, hiding the fact they were rebuilt in 1945.

The process of rebuilding a city lends itself to a little town planning. The wide boulevards carry traffic effortlessly to its destination and you quickly get the sensation that the Polish capital is spread over a wide area. Indeed, walking through it is quite a feat but the place is pleasant enough and this can be particularly enjoyable, particularly if you detour by the river Vistula.

The effect of all this is a certain nonchalance, a relaxedness that comes from being able to just stand up, dust yourself off and rebuild yourself. The Poles have had ample opportunity to shrug their way through two of the most oppressive European dictatorships and this laissez-faire attitude seems to now be a national characteristic.

I found that, while walking around, you could not really distinguish between one zone or region and another. This is not to say that the city is homogenous – far from it – but where the differences between regions is obvious in, say, London or Paris, here it is almost non-existent to the foreign eye.

Everything is, I thought, rather relaxed and laid back.

Or maybe it was just me.

I continued walking around the city and began seeing more and more evidence of this; in the way people laughed and joked with each other, in the way people shopped, in the way life just drifted past me during my stay there.

It is only fitting then that I ended up in a restaurant that provides good quality food and service but in that effortless, relaxed way that epitomised my brief trip in Warsaw.

Bibenda, on Novogrodska, is just around the corner from the Palace of Culture that reminds people of the faux generosity of the Soviets and fuels many of their jokes. I arrived just as twilight seeped across the back streets of the Polish metropolis and entered to find myself in a cosy wine-bar-cum-restaurant with a small but comfortable outside terrace full of young Poles all having a thoroughly good time, judging by the laughter and bonhomie.

The menu is not too elaborate and provides a decent choice of Polish food and some foreign additions. The avocado caesar salad sits well with the zlotnicka pork chop even though the combination sounds out-of-place. The place is quite well-priced too although this will depend on the exchange rate. When I went, starters could be had for 3 EUR, while mains were going for around 5 EUR.

The food is fresh, well presented and plentiful. Sitting by the well-stocked bar, I could see that the staff barely had time to pause as they dashed from one table to another with bottle after dish after menu after coffee and whatever else the punters had asked for. I washed my meal down with a smooth Polish beer I had never heard of. I ended up with change from 10 EUR which is more than you can say for a similar place in Prague in the town centre.

I headed out into the now-dark capital, noting the many clubs, bars and entertainments spots in the area. I don’t wish to repeat myself but the sense that the natives are relaxed, calm and intent on enjoying themselves was pervasive without being ostentatious or over-bearing.

A highly recommendable place indeed.