I recently headed off on a little
mid-week trip to Prague with my friend Becky! While I'm sure I could
rattle on about the incredible architecture and the must-see sights
(side note: the Special Effects Museum is not a must-see sight), this
is a food blog. So here's a little overview of what were some of my
favourite foods I ate while in the Czech Republic's capital.
(left: Design Hotel Neruda on Nerudova Street, right: a selection of amazing mini pastries)
First of all I want to talk about my
hotel! I have a little bit of an obsession with the website Voyage
Prive and check it at least once a week for deals even when I'm not
intending going on holiday anytime soon. That's where I got an
incredibly good deal for the Design Hotel Neruda. Since Voyage Prive
discounts only luxury holidays, we ended up with a Superior Room at
the hotel. We found it pretty funny that our room was perhaps
intended for couples, with its frosted glass toilet and bath visible
from the double bed. Included in our amazing deal was an inclusive
breakfast buffet. Like Joey Tribbiani, a breakfast buffet is where I
win all my money back. I've been to restaurants with much bigger
selections, but the quality of the food at Neruda was amazing. I'm
still craving one of the little savoury pastries we had. Alongside a
selection of savoury and sweet pastries (and tiny pots of Nutella to
spread on them) was your basic continental spread of breads, yogurts,
cereals, fruits, coffee and tea, as well as a small hot food section
with eggs, beans and sausage. You could also order pancakes from the
kitchen as a special each morning, but we were too busy stuffing our
faces with pastries.
(left: Sirloin with Bread Dumplings, right: Goulash in a Bread Bowl)
The location of our hotel was perfect
for us, we were less than five minutes walk up to Prague Castle and
it was packed full of restaurants and street food vendors. On our
street was a little restaurant that we actually ended up visiting
twice! Restaurace U Mlynáře was a proper little traditional
restaurant with checked table cloths and waiters decked out in
traditional outfits. I consider myself an ambitious eater so I was
fascinated by the Sirloin with Bread Dumplings as it came with a
dollop of whipped cream on the side! The highlight was the bread
dumplings, I need to learn to make these myself. The low was of
course the whipped cream, it wasn't unpleasant to be honest, I just
really didn't understand the point of it. Everything about the dish
was hearty and warming – with the exception of the cream haha!
Speaking of hearty and warming, all we
could talk about after a long day of sightseeing and wandering around
chilly Prague was a goulash bread-bowl. U Mlynáře's goulash didn't
disappoint, it was super tasty and filled the spot. We also shared a
pickled cheese starter, which I think was pickled in garlic because
it was the most garlic-y thing I've ever eaten. But I love cheese and
I love garlic, so I say put your hands together (two Friends
referenced in one post!). My only complaint was that there wasn't
enough! I was determined to eat the entirety of my bread-bowl, but
once the goulash was gone there wasn't much to dip it in. But
considering this cost just 190 Czech Korunas, I certainly wasn't
complaining!
Food in Prague was generally quite
cheap if you compare it to other major European cities and probably
one of the best cheap eats in Prague is TrdelnÃk. TrdelnÃk is a
sweet cake/pastry made from rolled dough wrapped around a stick to
form a chimney shape, then grilled and topped with sugar and walnut
and cinnamon mix. It's actually traditionally Slovakian and I'm sure
the bane of all locals as there are TrdelnÃk stands and shops
everywhere! I was so excited to have one of these until I got a whiff
of them as sadly I have a mild allergy to cinnamon and these things
were definitely covered in them. While Becky went in to have one, I
decided to ask a nice woman in one of the shops (called Good Food
Coffee and Bakery) if it was possible to make it without cinnamon.
Before I'd even given her a reason, she was off into the back kitchen
to fetch me a fresh dough, showed me an untouched bag of sugar and
told me she would make one without for me. She was so cute and
continued to point out my special TrdelnÃk to me and to her
co-workers so they wouldn't put any cinnamon on it. Once it was
finished they filled it with Nutella. It was so delicious – really
crunchy and sweet on the outside from the grilled sugar but warm and
soft on the inside.
(left: Cafe Savoy, right: Beer Museum)
The only foodie disappointment I
experienced in my short trip to Prague was Cafe Savoy. I did a little
bit of research before going to Prague by following a few Instagram
accounts and every snap of Cafe Savoy looked amazing. We went there
on our first day for a late lunch after we arrived in Prague. The
building itself is spectacular with beautiful ornate ceilings,
stunning chandeliers and detailed fixtures. Going down to the toilets
there was a big window looking into the chefs at work in the kitchen.
The food itself though was really average. I'd seen amazing looking
photographs of brunches on Instagram, but this menu must only be
available at breakfast or weekends, because the menu we had was
pretty tiny and not the best selection. I went for the frankfurter
but it was just essentially a hot dog with some mustard and
horseradish. I think if you're going to be there for breakfast or
just need a little place to stop off for a coffee and a cake then
Cafe Savoy is probably pretty great, but I'd pass on the lunch menu!
On our last night we also headed down
to the Beer Museum to taste some beers. They bring you out planks of
little sample sizes of beers for you to try, then you can always
order a full size of your favourite one! They have an array of great
beers not just Czech as we definitely had a couple of German beers.
My top tip – don't try the chocolate flavoured beer it is
disgusting.
We had an amazing time in Prague,
seeing the sights and keeping warm with the hearty food. Prague is
the perfect city for a little, affordable city break as if you keep
to the traditional Czech food you'll be able to eat for pretty cheap.
And don't worry about the cold this time of year, there's plenty of
hot wine and hot chocolate vendors about to keep you warmed up!
Links:
www.designhotelneruda.com
www.voyage-prive.co.uk
www.goodfood-karlova.cz
www.cafesavoy.ambi.cz/en/
www.restauraceumlynare.cz/
Links:
www.designhotelneruda.com
www.voyage-prive.co.uk
www.goodfood-karlova.cz
www.cafesavoy.ambi.cz/en/
www.restauraceumlynare.cz/
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