as there is a real shortage of good, qualified, properly trained chefs here.
In French cuisine yeah, its difficult to find in Poland anyway.
For example I know head chefs in good-quality small regional restaurants (retailing food at around 40pln for a 3 course meal, or 25 PLN a main course) that get paid only 12PLN an hour (about €3!).
Its the relevance of everything isnt it. the wages are in line with Poland's economy fair enough, but the food prices are a totally different issue. I mean Polish produce is relatively cheap, its only when kitchens start buying in imports that the budget creeps up. Good chefs can create the stuff they need without buying it in from local cheap ingredients. Obviously something like lobster with vermouth sauce will have to be paid for and indeed charged at a premium.
Another issue is so many restaurants have ridiculously long menus based on frozen and preprepared foods.
That is amazing, the size of the menus in some places, its like how the hell can they sustain that.