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My husband's best friend from high school, Hank, and his wife had booked a big Euro Trip and invited us to join them for the weekend in Prague. The funny thing about Prague is Hank had studied abroad there, and Evan has been to Prague twice, both times with Hank. I on the other hand had never been.
The other wife, Sarah and I handled the planning. She and I are both foodies, so a lot of the research was on restaurants we wanted to try. We also knew we wanted to go to the opera and wear black tie. We flew in on Thursday and landed around 6 pm. We stayed at the Andaz- which was fabulous. Amazing value. We had breakfast included and the breakfast was excellent. One of the best hotel breakfasts to date. The rooms were furnished nicely with enough storage space, a great bathroom, cozy bed and they had bathrobes. The first night we were there, we had dinner at Stangl. It is located in Karlin-Zapad and I had heard of it because it is situated on top of a popular bakery called Eska. Hank was trying to get us to get drinks at a tiki bar but Sarah and I vetoed and we ended up going to a total local hole in the wall spot in walking distance to dinner. The spot was called Behind the Curtain and fun for us to experience a local spot. Dinner knocked our socks off. From the start of walking in and seeing the open kitchen concept through amuse bouche, the wine selection, staff.. I could go on. We had the choice of 3 v 6 dishes and went on the lighter side as we were eating at 9 pm. The use of herbs at this restaurant was one of the things that stood out to me- fresh dill is one of my favorite things. We all tried the Czech wine which was nice to experience. Who knew the Xzechia had great Chardonnay. I always knew they had excellent Gruner Veltliner and Riesling but not chardonnay grapes. Our waitress was a foodie and ended up giving her restaurant/bar/coffee shop list which we used the reset of the trip when we needed any lunch or bar recommendation (thank you Valentina). The next day, we met up for our delicious hotel breakfast and all went our separate ways. Evan and I need to work, and I also wanted to go to the hotel gym (which was fantastic by the way). Sarah and Hank went and saw the campus that Hank used to study together. We met up for lunch at a Valentina recommendation, U Kalendu. I learned U before anything means "on" (and if that’s not correct, I blame Hank). The lunch was very Czech traditional, and we had duck breasts and the most delicious green salads with pistachios and an excellent dressing with lots and lots of herbs- my fav! Evan also had one of the traditional soups that was a take on chicken and dumplings, again very traditional. The restaurant had excellent wine by the glass. Bonus points since it had Czech Chardonnay and of course many beer options. The restaurant is also attached to a bakery and the smells were unreal- treat yourself after lunch (it’s a separate door to to the left if you are facing the water). Hank took us on a walking tour after lunch. We took the tram. It is super easy. We did not pay as there was no place to get tickets, so, we just assumed it was free. And if it wasn’t, I apologize to the Prague community. The first stop was the Charles Bridge. Hank told us three people we needed to know. 1. a man with a last name that started with a W, Wensaslas. He is in a Christmas song as well, "Good King Wensaslas". He came to Prague in 900 and built the city wall that is still there today. The second guy is Charles IV, he was King of Bohemia and then the Holy Roman Empire. This was around 1300. He is responsible for majority of St Vitus medieval church (the one you see up on the hill). The third guy is Franz Kafta who is a poet and known as the observer. We walked back into town and went to Pont Gallery for an afternoon pick me up aka coffees. That night we had the opera and an early dinner… more eating! That seemed to be the main theme of the trip. We had one hour to get ready at this point we decided that we needed to visit the pottery/ceramic/décor store attached to our hotel, Potten & Pannen. We asked them to show us all of the Czech designers. Sarah and I both came away with some fun drinking glasses & I also came away with a baby head candle holder. The man at the store told us about Cubism and the Cubist era. He recommended we go to Black Madonna house and specifically the café upstairs for a Viennese coffee (black espresso with whip cream). We got ready for the opera in 30 minutes in our black tie best and went to Mylnec for dinner which is right on the river and also next to a dance club that Hank kept trying to get us to visit, Dance House! Apparently, the dance house is five levels, and every level has its own dance genre. Spoiler alert, we did not go. Mylnec was excellent and they did a la carte and tasting menu option. This restaurant had lots of seafood options which was a nice break from all of the meat (deer, steak etc) that we were having at all the other spots in Prague. The opera house that our show was at was the Czech Opera House. There is another one along the river so if you do buy tickets, double check your location. We spent about 50 a ticket and had our own private box. The opera exceeded my expectations. We were so glad to have a box to ourselves so we could shuffle around and not worry about disturbing anyone- pro tip! We saw Macbeth which really tested our memory of high school English classes and Shakespeare. The opera house was gorgeous, and the opera itself was beautiful, but we lasted two acts and at intermission decided we should go to some bars to catch up more! Again, we referenced Valentina's list. We picked a spot nearby, Parlour. It took us so long to find as it was truly down a cellar/basement. It was very speakeasy vibes. It was intimate and dark with excellent cocktails. Next, Evan and I decided we wanted some wine and went to another Valentina spot, Autentista wine and champagne bar. Both of these spots were excellent. The next day, we decided we were going to go on an all-day run tour of the city. We started at the Black Madonna for coffees. In all honesty, we ended up at the wrong café. We walked into the cubist café and thought we were in the wrong spot- hilarious! If you do, make it to the Cubist café the history is that it’s the only cubist café in Europe (says the article I read online). Artists and poets would hang out there back in the day. Next, we ran into old town and Church of Our Lady Before Tyn, the fountain, & the old and new town halls. Hank showed us the astrological clock and then we continued back to the Charles bridge and ran up on the hill to view the close up of the castle and church (St. Vitus). Fun facts by Hank
We ran all up and down the cobblestones and needed some fuel; we tried to pop in Kuchyn. I recommend getting a reservation if you want to sit inside or outside with the heaters. It has a great view of the city. We didn’t have a reservation so had to order at the bar (which was super cute). Guests can sit or stand on the patio without a res and still order whichever drinks plus food. The food menu is limited at the bar- they offer four options. The food looked great, we ordered dumplings and beef shank to share to tide us over. We had some excellent Riesling and the boys had Pilsner. For our real lunch fuel that day, we ate at Lokal, another traditional Czech spot with things like sausage, steak, goulash. It was very fun. We finished our run with a viewing of more baby sculptures and gelato at Angelique (get the pistachio or the nut butter). After a 5-mile excursion, we went back to our hotel and then took a nap before our dinner that night at Field. Field is a Michelin star restaurant focused on farm to table dining- it was excellent. Again, guests had the option to choose 6 or 10 courses. I did the non-alcoholic wine pairing because it was a bunch of infused vegetable and fruit juices. The infusions were with dill and hazelnuts- so unique and awesome! The staff was very fun and engaging at Field and it was not stuffy. The food was excellent. We ate things like sturgeon, foie gras, deer- very excellent flavor combinations. We had a drink reservation at Bar Hemingway but missed it as our dinner went to long. But if you have the time we heard amazing things so check it out. Coffee Shop Triko Kafe & Kolonial Kavarna co hleda jmeno Kavarna Stara Skola Solo Bakery Typika Espresso Bar Caffe Jen Alma Coffee and Riot Slavia Kavarna Onesip coffee Villa63 Kro Café Savoy Point Café and Gallery Etapa Kolektor Format Coffee Food- Specialty Pho 100- Asian Vallmo - European Da Pietro Praha - Pizza Aromi- Italian Osteria Da Clara- mediterranean Vycep- European San Carlo- pizza Bistro Monk- brunch El Camino - tapas Restaurant 420- owned by same people at Field Terasa U Zlate Studne- modern european La Bodeguita del medio- cuban Field Matilda Sandwhich rodeo Big Smokers- bbq Mr. HotDog Food- Czech Hostinec na Vytoni U Kalendu Kuchyn Lokal U Bile Kuzelky Specialty Angelato- ice cream Cukrarna Mysak- dessert Kus Kolace- bakery Goodlok- juice and smoothie bar Tisse Bakery- bakery Cukrar Skala- cake shop Cocktail Bars Bullerbyn Parlour Public Interest- right next to Field Automat Matuska- beer bar Forbina- pub Wine Bar Autentista Bokovka Veltlin Winegeek |
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