The story
On the 33rd floor of the Olivia Star tower in Gdańsk, Arco by Paco Pérez occupies a position that is as much conceptual as it is geographical. Paco Pérez is one of Spain's most celebrated Catalan chefs — the force behind the two-Michelin-star Miramar in Llançà and Enoteca in Barcelona, the one-star 5 (Cinco) by Paco Pérez in Berlin, and Tast Català in Manchester. Across those kitchens he has accumulated five Michelin stars. Arco is his northernmost venture, and it brings his innovative approach to Mediterranean cuisine to a city that had never before held a Michelin star.
Day-to-day, the restaurant is led by Antonio Arcieri, an Italian-born chef who trained under Ferran Adrià at El Bulli and with Eneko Atxa at Azurmendi before joining Paco Pérez at Miramar in 2007. In 2016 Arcieri took the helm of the restaurant Pérez founded in Gdańsk and, within a year, earned it the city's first-ever Michelin star — a distinction that placed him in The Best Chef Awards ranking among the world's leading chefs. Alongside him, Łukasz Cegłowski — a Gdańsk native shaped by three-Michelin-star kitchens including La Vie, Vendôme and The Ledbury — brings a rigorous French-school sensibility to the Mediterranean framework. Head Pastry Chef Marek Rosochacki, whose work spans the Raffles Europejski Warsaw and Atelier Amaro, specialises in artisanal chocolate and champions clean, classically grounded forms. The sommelier, Andrzej Strzelecki, holds a WSET Advanced certification and has done internships in Baden-Württemberg and the Mosel.
Arco operates exclusively through tasting menus, each conceived as a sequence of experiences rather than a list of courses. The flagship Physis menu runs to 18 courses; the Hall of Fame offers ten; and the Green Green Grass is a fully vegetarian ten-course Mediterranean tasting menu. Wine pairings are structured around two programmes — Back to the Roots and Exceptional Wineries of the World — reflecting the depth of the in-house Bodega, a dedicated cellar and VIP room housing 800 labels and more than 3,000 bottles, including rarities unavailable elsewhere. That collection earned Arco the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence in 2024, a recognition that speaks directly to the seriousness of the wine programme.
The room sits on the 33rd floor of the tallest building in the Olivia Business Centre, with the city and the Baltic coast spread below. The restaurant opens Tuesday through Saturday from 17:00, with last reservations accepted at 20:30. The atmosphere is one of considered quiet — a place where the Mediterranean warmth of the kitchen's philosophy meets the northern precision of its execution.
Recognition
Ambience
Location