Eating Well in Prague

Prague is more well known for its beer than its food so I was a bit worried heading over for a short weekend break. Fortunately scouring the food blogs and various websites helped turn up a number of winning formulas. Between the meals, and the slight snacks in cafes and ice cream stores, this managed to tide us over the weekend.

One of the cafes I managed to hunt down serve a pretty decent breakfast and a very complicated coffee menu. It’s calle Cafe Lounge (Plaská 615/8, 150 00 Prague 5, Újezd / Lesser Town) and they definitely know their stuff.

The menu appears to be pretty complex but I tried their flat white and it was exactly what I needed. They even brought a bottle of water before to the table before you start ordering. A very nice touch.

Another great place worth visiting is Chagall’s Club and Restaurant (Kozí 5, 110 00 Praha 1). A definitely up market affair, with white table cloth dining and even where the waiting staff handle your cutlery with white gloves!

This is a bite sized piece of smoked duck meat and a perfectly matching jam complements of the chef.

I had these beautiful braised cheeks in marjoram with baked apple and cabbage (206CZK). No signs of infamous Czech dumplings that are easy to overload on in any other restaurant. This was perfectly executed, amazingly balanced and well seasoned cooking. The cheeks literally fell apart and I love the reduced sauce that I just wanted to cover all the other elements in.

Following on from that I had lamb loin crusted in parsley, fresh peas, parmesan risotto and sauce of herbs (CZK390). Yet another almost perfectly executed dish – I would have preferred the lamb slightly more rare as it started to get a bit dry, but every other element was just divine. Juicy, freshly cooked peas that still had bite. An amazingly rich and probably unnecessary risotto and the intensity of the parmesan definitely noticeable even against the strength of the lamb flavour. Really well done and a shame I didn’t have space for dessert.

Kampa Park (Na Kampě 8b, Praha 1-Malá Strana) is
yet another well known dining location. It’s definitely more accessible to the tourists just being off the ever popular Charles Bridge.

Some yummy bread.

And an intense wild garlic soup that wasn’t overpowering but perfectly done. This came off their spring menu and was a delight to eat. Small chunks of asparagus dotted throughout as well.

I opted for their club sandwich which was not really a club sandwich (I thought they were supposed to have three pieces of bread) but was super filling regardless. A fried egg, steak, mediterranean vegetables and tomato providing plenty of substance. The chips were perfectly crisp and chunky enough to still be fluffy in the middle.

Other notable places that I either checked out but didn’t take photos of or I didn’t actually get to eat at and would like to go back to.

  • Bakeshop – A popular place just around the corner from Chagall’s that seemed a bit like a NY bakery. Definitely popular and prices proving it.
  • Le Terroir – A french restaurant tucked away down a little side street that I saw but never got to go to
  • Sansho – A bib gourmand restaurant serving pan-asian food getting pretty good reviews. Just the soft shell crab bao that I read about made me want to go here.

And a few shout outs to the places I went to that really helped me out: