Tag Archives: Czech Republic

Zvonařka Bar/Restaurant, Prague, Czech Republic

12 Saturday Aug 2017

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16th October 2017 update: The weather was really good at the weekend and so we decided to have an early afternoon beer sitting outside. We were plagued by wasps and worse still I didn’t have my Executioner racquet with me. I’m tempted to go back one lunchtime this week with the racquet and seek revenge.

Zvonařka benefits from a huge outdoor terrace that looks out towards Nusle.

There’s also plenty of space inside (empty until 10pm during summer).

But space isn’t the only reason to visit – the beer and food are pretty good as well.

Gambrinus 10° 0,5 l is 38Kc
Pilsner Urquell 12° 0,5 l is 46Kc
I prefer Gambrinus, even if the price were the same.

The steaks are pretty good here, but the prices have slowly crept up. A 200g Pfeffersteak – Beef Sirloin with a mild Pepper sauce is now 375Kc plus 45Kc for steak fries.

On my last visit I tried the Salmon Tagliatelle Salmon (205Kc) and it was actually pretty good. Of course it wasn’t like being in Italy, but I’d have it again.

Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area – especially during the long Prague summer.

Zvonařka
Šafaříkova 1
Praha 2 Vinohrady

Tel:224 251 990

info@restauracezvonarka.cz

www.restauracezvonarka.cz

Monday-Thursday 11:30-24:00
Friday 11:30-01:00
Saturday 12:00-24:00
Sunday    12.00-23.00

Putica Restaurant by Retro, Prague, Czech Republic

07 Monday Aug 2017

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Putica was previously at Anglická 81/24 not far from IP Pavlova metro. The location was closed (landlord wanted the space back) and, after a while, a new Putica opened on Francouzská 75/4 – still not far from IP Pavlova but very close to Náměstí Míru.

I guess the owners of Putica made some deal with Retro restaurant and downstairs night club as the full name is now ‘Putica Restaurant by Retro’. The outside is a little confused as a long sign says ‘Retro’ and then there is a smaller ‘Putica’ sign. The new space has a large outside terrace, although the road isn’t that quiet.

Many of the staff are still there and the service and food are just as good. For example, here is the small 100g version of their classic burger (matured beef, smoked bacon, Cheddar, homemade ketchup, pickles, tomatoes, lettuce and honey mustard
140 Kč):

The large 170g is 240Kč but comes with fries and herb dip.

The interior has had some remodelling:

One thing that hasn’t changed is the focus on the lunch menu. I’m regularly tortured by their FaceBook posts offering interesting lunch dishes; pasta, lasagne, quesadilla, chillia con carne. But I can only make time in the evening when the menu reverts to the standard offering – it’s not bad, I’m just bored of it now. So we really only visit when we want a good burger.

I remember when the old Putica first opened, I had a really excellent, closest to Italy as you could get, Pappardella pasta dish – I’ve never seen that again. If they could start adding more evening specials then I’d definitely visit more often.

If you liked the old Putica then you’ll be happy here – especially if you’re lucky enough to have lunch there.

+420 603 176 111
info@putica.cz

Putica Restaurant by Retro
Francouzská 75/4
120 00 Praha 2

Monday – Thursday
11:00 AM-11:00 PM
Friday and Saturday
11:00 AM-12:00 AM
Sunday
12:00 PM-10:00 PM

http://www.putica.cz/en/

U Pečeného kolena bar/restaurant, Prague, Czech Republic

04 Friday Aug 2017

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U Pečeného kolena isn’t somewhere you’d find unless you lived locally or were invited by a local. I had to follow a friend’s instructions to arrive there:

To get there, take a tram 11 or 14 going out of town to Pod Jezerkou.
When you get off, walk forward 173 metres and take the oblique (not the hard) right when you pass the horrible grey building …. Walk forward 84.38 metres, beside the Botič stream. The restaurant is before the first block of flats, behind the hedge.

I found the place quite easily.

 

We sat outside the entire time. The Budvar 12 0.5 (39Kč) was good.

The food menu on the restaurant website is one of those old-fashioned page-turning apps – I wish they’d just write down the basic menu.

The food was all fine, nothing special but nothing bad. Here are some pictures:

Smoked salmon salad 130Kč.

Pork knee

If you find yourself in the area and want to drink and/or eat outside, then you’ll be fine here.

Restaurace U Pečeného kolena
U Michelského mlýna 75/37
140 00 Praha, Michle

Open daily 11:00 to 23:00.

420 241 442 075

www.upecenehokolena.cz

Hlučná samota Bar/Restaurant, Vinohrady, Prague, Czech Republic

23 Sunday Jul 2017

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Hlučná samota is named after a book called Příliš hlučná samota (1976) by Czech author Bohumil Hrabal. Příliš hlučná samota translates as ‘too much noisy loneliness’ – which I suppose could apply to any noisy bar where you visit alone and don’t know anyone.

The Hlučná samota website has a picture of Bohumil Hrabal with a beer, so I’m guessing that he visited at least once.

The Czech draft beers are:
Staropramen 10° 0,5l 37Kc
Postřižinská 11° 0,5l 39Kc

I usually drink the Postřižinská despite the pronunciation problems.

The food is good, traditional pub fare at a reasonable price. The menu, in Czech and English, is on their website. Inside looks like this:

There are tables outside in the street – the street isn’t very busy, especially at the moment as the street that crosses Záhřebská is under construction. I was amazed to see pictures of a courtyard garden on their website as I’ve never seen that open.

Just recently, I tried to book an outside table for eight people for a Tuesday evening – I went in on Monday. But was told that they don’t take reservations for outside tables. So that was eight people who drank and ate elsewhere that evening!

Nothing really special about this place, but if you’re in the area you’ll be okay there. Or, if you are looking for a great wine bar, then almost opposite is Le Bouquet.

Hlučná samota
Záhřebská 14,
Prague 2

+420 222 522 839

http://www.hlucna-samota.cz/

hlucnasamota@seznam.cz

Open every day 11:00 – 24:00

Corn Mazes appear in the Czech Republic

21 Friday Jul 2017

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I remember navigating the maze at Hampton Court Palace as a child. I really enjoyed trying to find the centre of the maze. Since then, I’m surprised that I haven’t sought out mazes when travelling. I have a feeling that it’s because I want the maze to myself and not have people walking back from a dead end saying “Oh it’s a dead end”. Yeah thanks so much, why not tell me the end of the book I’m reading while you’re at it!

Corn mazes have appeared in the Czech Republic – but before you call Fox Mulder, these mazes weren’t created by aliens. Apparently, corn mazes are a tradition in North America. Unlike the English garden maze, made of hedge, corn mazes are created by cutting paths into a corn field that has been planted specifically for the purpose of maze creation. The corn is then harvested and a new maze appears the following year.

A company called Fit-Jump has created 25 corn mazes in the Czech Republic. The mazes are large – the biggest, in Brno, is the size of two football pitches. There are three near Prague; Praha Koloděje, Praha Líbeznice, and Praha Vestec.

The nearest looks like Praha Vestec. The website shows the location on a map, but doesn’t offer any advice on how to get to the maze if you don’t have a car. There also isn’t any detail about nearby bars or restaurants. For Praha Vestec it looks like you need to take the Red C Metro Line to Budějovická, then take a 322 Bus seven stops to ‘Vestec,Safina’. Restaurace Na Blatech and Restaurace U Klimešů look like the nearest beer/food places. If I can organise myself to visit then I’ll update this page.

July opening hours of the Praha Vestec maze are:
Monday – Friday
10:00 – 20:00
Saturday, Sunday, public holidays
9:00 – 20:00

Admission:
Children up to 3 years: free
Children from 3 – 15 years: 60 CZK
Adults: 85 CZK
Pensioner over 70 years, disabled: 60 CZK

They also offer the chance to book the maze for yourself, although I’m not sure how much that costs.

http://www.kukuricaci.cz/en

https://www.facebook.com/kukuricaci/

U Emy Destinnové Restaurant – Prague, Czech Republic

20 Thursday Jul 2017

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I previously wrote about U Emy Destinnové back in September 2013. We’ve been back a few times since then, but they just re-opened after some redecoration and also have a great fish platter offer.

U Emy Destinnové is on a quiet street not far from IP Pavlova metro station. I believe they will add some more decoration outside, but this is how it looked on Monday 17th July – the first day open since redecoration.

The restaurant name stems from the Czech opera singer called Emmy Destinn. The theme only extends to a pictures of Emmy on the walls; no opera played, no dishes called Emy’s Clam Chowder etc.

Emmy Destinn also appears on the Czech 2000Kc banknote:

 

But for this visit we received plenty of change from our Emmy as there was a summer special offer. The image below is a direct link to the restaurant website – so if you can’t see it the offer is over.

I mentioned the offer in my email reservation. We still weren’t quite sure how much food there would be. The chef patron, Steven Trumpfheller, recognised us from previous visits. The waiter was really friendly, so much so that we monopolised him a bit by chatting too much.

We ordered wine by the glass, 0,15l Vin de Pays Syrah et Grenache (110Kc). This represents good value considering the least expensive bottle of French red on wine list is 775Kc. If were ordering by the bottle, my choice would be Trivento Reserve Malbec, Argentina – Mendoza, 100% Malbec (950Kc) but really I think that should be about 700Kc. Oh and yes we have red with everything, except pudding!

We were tempted to order starters, but weren’t sure how big the fish platter would be. So we decided to wait and maybe have pudding after.

Two platters arrived, each looking like this:

The portion was so generous that we started to suspect that the offer advert wasn’t completely clear and that the price would be 699Kc per person. I’m guessing the chef added an extra scallop or two because we’re regulars but still. Octopus was substituted with tuna. We probably would have preferred octopus but the tuna was very good.

I paused to look around the room.

The place is certainly brighter and more cheerful than before. After I took this picture, a group of 8 people arrived – so not bad for a Monday night.

We were both absolutely full from all the delicious seafood and fish. So full that we skipped the crème brûlée and opted to pay the bill.

I was really happy to find that we’d been charged 699Kc for the two platters. I’d be amazed if the restaurant made any profit from our visit.

Even if you miss the special offer, the menu items are good value and quality. I’d recommend a visit.

U Emy Destinnové
Kateřinská 7,
120 00, Praha 2

http://www.uemydestinnove.cz

+420 224 918 425

Mo – Fr 11:00 – 23:00
Sat 18:00 – 23:30
Sun closed

Restaurace U Havlíčků, Prague, Czech Republic

19 Wednesday Jul 2017

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U Havlíčků isn’t somewhere you’d find unless you lived locally or were invited by a local. I had to follow a friend’s instructions to arrive there:

To get there, take a tram 11 or 14 going out of town to Pod Jezerkou.
When you get off, you, take the road opposite, Mendíků all the way until you cross over the Botič stream.
To your right is a big, triangular space.
Walk to the far edge and go right.
That is Magistrů. The pub is on the second block, about 63.37 metres ahead.
The door is around the corner in Děkanská

I found the place quite easily.

There were tables outside – the street was quiet.

Inside was classic Czech but that’s not a bad thing:

The Czech beer on tap was Staropramen 11 0.5l 35Kc. I’m not normally a fan of Staropramen but the several I had at U Havlíčků were very good.

There were only Czech menus available – that’s not a complaint as this is the Czech Republic. Our waitress seemed to speak pretty good English.

Not knowing the food, I played it safe and ordered a burger (I think 175Kc). I was disappointed to find that a slice of cheese was 20Kc extra – really no need to charge for that. I was also disappointed that only regular fries were available and not chunky fries. Friends who had visited before had a bowl or mussels and a plate of prawns. I was quite surprised to see seafood as a speciality of a local bar but was assured that the food was good.

My burger was pretty good and came with coleslaw – even the fries were better than I expected.

The staff were friendly and efficient. There was free wi-fi available. The toilets were clean and had paper towels – better than hand dryers.

I’m sure we’ll return.

Restaurace U Havlíčků
Magistrů 173/6,
140 00 Praha 4,
Michle

Tel.: (+420) 602 329 900

e-mail: info@uhavlicku.cz

 

Open every day from 1100 – 2300

http://www.uhavlicku.cz/

Bistrøt 104 Restaurant, Prague, Czech Republic

18 Sunday Jun 2017

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Bistrøt 104 opened in February 2017 but we only managed to visit on Saturday 17th June. The ø in Bistrøt is to reflect the Nordic ideals of organic, local, seasonable and sustainable food. The 104 is just the street number and not a latitude or longitude point as I first thought.

The Bistrøt 104 website is pretty sleek and has a professional video and mission statement. The menu is a PDF which is okay these days as most browsers have a built-in PDF reader – no need to download Adobe Reader. You can also make a reservation request on the website, which I did earlier in the same day and received an email response within a few hours.

The exterior is modern but welcoming:

We were warmly welcomed on arrival at 19:00 and offered a choice of tables – the place was empty. At first we looked for a table for two and then realised that four was the smallest.

Chef Pavol Pavlík was in the kitchen:

We ordered a 1l filtered water (49Kc) and a Valle Reale, Montepulciano d‘abruzzo 2015
(779Kc). The waiter was professional, but friendly and was more than able to discuss the wine we’d ordered.

The waiter explained that portions were small and that we should order more than just a starter and main – or perhaps the degustation menu (1090Kc). We’d already guessed that from looking at their website. My personal view is that there shouldn’t be a traditional starter, main, pudding menu as Bistrøt 104 isn’t that kind of place. What I’d prefer is to be able to choose two starters, two mains and one pudding for a set price of, say, 900Kc.

We opted for the degustation menu:
ASPARAGUS yolk foam yolk confit nuts
OXTAIL marrow wild garlic ash-baked potatoes
FISH onion broth almonds
PARSLEY AND MUSHROOMS
LAMB KNEE nettles seaberry horseradish
BEETROOT kefir honey

An amuse-bouche plate arrived; from left-to-right – tempura crisp with wasabi, pâté and (warm) liver.

All were delicious. Bread arrived together with a second amuse-bouche (carrot).

The tomato purée on bread wasn’t to my taste but my girlfriend liked it.

The degustation began!

ASPARAGUS yolk foam yolk confit nuts
Cold with three types of asparagus; white, green and wild. Everything was nice and beautifully presented – but it wasn’t amazing.

OXTAIL marrow wild garlic ash-baked potatoes
A hot soup which had the wow factor that you look for in a place with Michelin aspirations.

FISH onion broth almonds
The waiter served the broth at the table.
The top was a kind of edible paper. The separate jar contained onion foam. It was really good but was missing something that I wish I knew enough to articulate.

PARSLEY AND MUSHROOMS
This was a bit of a disappointment considering how much the Czechs enjoy foraging for mushrooms. Perhaps when the season enters full swing this plate would improve.

LAMB KNEE nettles seaberry horseradish – broth served at the table. I forgot to take a picture of this course but you can rest assured that the presentation was another delight. This dish was excellent and had the wow factor that we were looking for.

BEETROOT kefir honey
The small kefir (like a drinking yoghurt) was delicious. The beetroot good but nothing special for me.

I checked the bathroom.

Modern, clean, stones in the washbasin, towels for hand drying, tissues, a small box containing toothpicks and cotton buds. Perfect.

We declined coffee and digestifs and asked for the bill. So it was nice to still receive some lovely petit fours.

The bill total was 3107Kc plus tip. I was disappointed to see an additional 50Kc per person cover charge and that our second bottle of filtered water (49Kc) had also been added. This at odds with the generousity of the amuse bouches and petit fours. It’s really unnecessary at this level to add a cover change and water should be free.

We enjoyed our dinner. The staff were knowledgeable and friendly. Some plates were exceptional, some not – although all were beautifully presented. It sounds as if I’m being over-critical, but at this level I expect to be wowed.

Nickel and diming on the bill and inconsistent menu aside, this place does represent reasonable fine-dining value. I wouldn’t surprised if Bistrøt 104 receives a Bib Gourmand in the next Michelin guide.

However, there are plenty of great restaurants in Prague and Bistrøt 104 would need to do more to tempt me away from the likes of Sansho, Yuniku and Cicala.

Bistrøt 104
Korunní 810/104
Praha 10
+420 272 660 837

Opening Hours
TUE-SAT 11.00-15.00 18.00-23.00

bistrot@livingvenues.com

http://www.bistrot.cz/

Operation Anthropoid Events, Prague, Czech Republic June 17th and 18th 2017 – review

18 Sunday Jun 2017

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Operation Anthropoid was the code name for the assassination of SS-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei Reinhard Heydrich.

I previously wrote about the events to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of Operation Anthropoid in Prague on May 27th. I then wrote about my visit to the event. I thought that was it as the date had passed. But then another group organised an event this weekend of Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th of June.

We aimed to visit Karlovo náměstí at 15:00 to see shots fired from a canon at 15:10. But we missed the tram and arrived at 15:12. I don’t think the canon shots were that loud as we weren’t far away and didn’t hear anything.

We then walked around what the organisers call:
A period camp of the Czechoslovak Brigade in Great Britain showcasing a number of period techniques and historical artifacts.

 

This man looked like a Nazi spy using a futuristic communication device:

Past the camp were some vintage military vehicles:

And some people in costume:

But there weren’t many people in civilian costume as the previous Anthropoid event, the majority were soldiers.

There were a few tents selling beer (slightly over-priced at 40Kc and food:

It was all interesting enough, but really only took 20 minutes to look around and we were ready for the 15:40 – Rehearsal for attack on Heydrich’s car. This wasn’t a reconstruction of the actual attack, but a demonstration of how the soldiers trained for various scenarios; shooting, grenade.

The first attempt was reasonably successful, although one soldier’s gun didn’t fire:

The second attempt was a complete fail when the grenade failed to explode:

The event continues today and you still have time to see:

12:40 – Rehearsal for attack on Heydrich’s car – hopefully more successful than yesterday!
14:00 – 16:00 training demonstrations
15:10 – shots fired from a canon
15:40 – Rehearsal for attack on Heydrich’s car – last chance

All events are free.

Church Night, Prague, Czech Republic

11 Sunday Jun 2017

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Church Night this year was Friday 9th June. We had dinner in the garden at Pizzeria Grosseto, by Náměstí Míru and then went on a church tour. None of the churches we visited had a queue or wait to enter.

First was the Church of St. Ludmila at Náměstí Míru.

Next we jumped on a 22 tram all the way to Malostranské náměstí. The plan was to visit St. Nicholas Church. We joined the swarm of people heading the entrance. At the entrance was a sign that said ‘Entrance’ with an arrow pointing back from where we just walked. We walked the entire circumference of the church and decided it was shut – shame on you St. Nicholas Church.

We walked back one tram stop to the Church of Our Lady Victorious:

Next was a walk across Charles Bridge to St. Salvator Church.

This was the best visit so far. There was eerie music being played:

You could climb up to a gallery:

And take pictures looking down:

It was now just after 11pm. We walked along Karlova Street to the Old Town Square, then straight into the Church of Our Lady before Týn. Was good but the church is so much more impressive from the outside:

That concluded our Church Night. Thanks to all the churches that opened their doors.