Prague

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Restaurants and bars

Culinary historians, take note: 2006 was the year when Prague dining became a treat. Until now the experience of going out to eat was better described as an adventure – one complete with thrills and chills. It‘s still not reliably smooth or relaxing, of course; no venture across the former Iron Curtain in search of pleasant victuals is likely to be that for some time. But the hungry of Prague these days will, as a rule, find themselves noticed, seated, given a menu and charmed by what they see on it.

Pubs & bars
With its 500-year history as a nation of brewmasters, you wouldn’t expect the Czech Republic to feature many decent cocktail bars but a few in the centre are trying damn hard to make up for that fact. The magic words pivo, prosím (beer, please) won’t get you very far at some of these new bars. In Old Town there are a couple of cocktail bars –Tretter’s and Alcohol Bar – that compare favourably with many a Western European one – and fortunately cocktails are a universal language, with mojito, dry martini and slippery nipple understood just about everywhere.

 

While the crowds here vary wildly, all feature bar staff who shake, rattle and roll all night while never letting you see them sweat. Even in the traditional working-class district of ◊i∆kov (famed for having more pubs per capita than any other place on earth), classics like frozen Margaritas and delectable Daiquiris are on tap at Hapu, a Czech-owned and -run living room of a bar. It’s not much to look at, but the crowd of interesting international regulars says it all.

These recent developments on the bar scene dovetail nicely with the more established beer drinking tradition. There’s still no place better for pub crawling in terms of both affordability and quality than Prague. You can savour the workhorses of pivo – Pilsner Urquell, Radegast, Staropramen and Gambrinus – just about anywhere. Then head for the speciality bars for less well-known Czech beer delights: Letensk≈ záme±ek for Bernard, U ∞erného vola for Kozel, and so on. Even those without much on their menus will usually offer some trad beer grub like smoked meat platters and/or the magnificently smelly pivní s≈r (beer cheese).

 

Cafés
Café culture in Prague offers everything from imperial elegance to American ‘experimental’. The kavárna in Prague has long been at the centre of intellectual life and, with the secret police now gone, some new places have slipped right into this role, such as the delightfully Mitteleuropa-feeling Dinitz, while some classics have rebounded. The cosy Café Montmartre has bounced back from the bon vivant days when it hosted black masses during the 1930s. The Slavia, meanwhile, where dissidents like Václav Havel and Ji¡í Kolá¡ once planned and plotted, has been slightly too cleaned up, alas. Expat caffeine addicts often get their fix at Ebel Coffee House, Kava Kava Kava and the Globe Bookstore & Coffeehouse.

 

Places such as the ethereal Dahab, which looks to all the world like a movie set harem, signify the highest form of a different Prague phenomenon – the ±ajovna or tearoom. This quintessential example comes fully equipped with Persian pillow seating, jangly belly dancing shows, steamed couscous, mint tea and hookahs.

 

Tipping & etiquette
At pubs and beerhalls, tables are often shared with other patrons who, like you, should ask ‘Je tu volno?’ (‘Is it free?’) and may also wish each other ‘dobrou chufl’ (‘Bon appetit!’) before tucking in. Prague dines with a relaxed dress code and reservations are necessary at only the new generation of upscale spots in town. Many waiters still record your tab on a slip of paper, which translates at leaving time into a bill. Pay the staff member with the folding wallet in their waistband, not your waiter (the phrase ‘Zaplatím, prosím’ means ‘May I pay, please?’).

 

A small cover charge and extra charges for milk, bread and the ubiquitous and frightful accordion music are still the practice at many pubs, as is tipping by rounding the bill up to the nearest 10 K±. At smarter places, 10-15 per cent tips have become the rule. While you should have little trouble making a phone reservation in English at modern establishments, just about everywhere else it might be easier to book in person.

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