Czech Food, Restaurants, Cafes & Cheap Eats In Praha
Here’s one fact about dining in Prague: If it’s on a hoof, it’s served here. People in the Czech Republic consume more meat than just about any place on the planet.
There’s no shortage of plates with pork or beef, so have at it.
Menus with prices are posted outside just about every restaurant so its easy to stroll along and see the choices.
A dish on just about every menu is goulash, which is meat with dumplings; those breaded balls are ideal for scooping up the meat juices.
It’s easy to spot Czech restaurants – they have pretzels on a type of hanger on wooden tables. U Vejuodu is a classic cool local-style bar with creaky wood floors, an arched ceiling and a kettle pot over the bar (a node to modern life are the plasma TVs). Among its meal choices is a huge hunk of meat on a rack to be enjoyed by a group.
Another authentic spot is U Medvidku – just behind Mozart’s old residence – is a bar with an adjacent restaurant that is very popular among the Czechs.
Musetti Cafe is another good Czech restaurant – start the eating process with the stuffed tomatoes. Both are in the “Mozart area” near the famous composer’s house; U Vejuoda is on Jilska Street and Musetti Cafe is directly across from a sex store.
Cafes along Old Town Square are in the most desirable location because of the interesting people-watching activity while dining. As such, they tend to be more expensive – mind you, expensive by Prague standards means the equivalent of $20-25USD for a good meal and drink – and charge 10-20% more to be seated outside.
On the other side of the tracks – literally, behind the train station in the neighborhood of the big needle (the Soviets constructed it to block radio transmissions but the Czechs now use it to bring in everything around the world) – is a highly popular semi-trendy. semi-traditional restaurant.
On Seifertova, at the first corner of a cool area that has a plethora of small bars and relatively inexpensive hotels, Hureuh Didkrch has soft mood lights, music, great food (100-300 KC, beers 30KC, full bar) and, in what is a novelty in Europe, plenty of napkins.
That comes in handy because the designer of the cutlery apparently never met the designer of the plates. After dinner, go downstairs to check out the live music.
Two blocks up the corner street is Fantasie Restaurance, a place so authentic the locals look at visitors entering the building like they are aliens from another planet. The tables are mostly full for dinner anyway so best to go for lunch (tasty meals are just 75-200KC).
This area is a 15-minute walk from city center (Trams 5, 9, 18).
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