Prague--Long Report

First of all, all those rumors you've heard about Czech beer are true. Suffice to say that pivo (beer) was one of the few Czech words we managed to learn.

That being said, Prague does not seem to be a great food town, albeit my experience was limited to four days and narrowed by a preference to patronize Italian restaurants in Italy (or Chicago, for that matter).

But there are three restaurants I'd return to, all of them in Mala Strana, within a 1/4 of a mile of each other (and spelled with accents I'm not including):

1). Club David (on Trziste St., right up from the USA Embassy), but only for the special Czech menu--potato soup, a terrifically rich venison goulash, and pancakes topped with whpped cream and a hot wild blueberry sauce--a real value at about $25. The rest of the menu was Continental, a la carte, higher priced, and IMO unmemorable, altho I must commend the waiter for his honesty, who, when interrogated about the freshness of the fish, replied, "Well, you know, Prague is very far from the ocean . . " A very pleasant and comfortable just-like-a-living-room setting, tho.

2). Vindrna U maltezskych rytru (Enoteca at the Maltese Knights, Prokopska 10): A short menu, and somewhat hit-and-miss, but worth a try for lunch or dinner. Our hits were the game on crouton opener; the fettucine with goat cheese, fresh spinach and nuts; and the very large duck breast.

3). U modre kachnicky (Blue Duckling, Nebodviska 6). The real winner. A wonderful menu with many game, duck, and Czech options. The best sauteed foie gras we had since our last visit to Perigord, along with excellent roast duck (in a thick plum sauce), wild boar (in a tart mushroom sauce), and perhaps the best apple strudel we had in Prague (and we had a lot). Dark, opulent, Belle Epoque interior, with an unobtrusive piano accompanimen. A bit pricey. We topped out at about $150 for the two of us (saving a little by choosing a Moldavian wine, without regrets). If we'd had had another night in Prague, we certainly would have continued to explore the menu.

Two other notes:

1). For efficiency, value and service, the best Metro system we've ever experienced. Stations can be a bit difficult to spot (they all seemed to be inside buildings), but it made the choice of an outlying hotel (ours was in Vysehrad) a very viable alternative.

2). The new Kafka Museum: Far from the Disneyfication we feared, it was an honest attempt to explore the Life and Work with particularly strong exhibits on FK's Prague roots. A atmospheric setting, too, that here and there was appropriately unnerving. Put it on your list.

Did you gather any data on the Czech Paradox?

A few years back my son and I visited Prague, and U modre kachnicky (Blue Duckling, Nebodviska 6) was the culinary highpoint of our visit - both in its ambiance (a time capsule of pre-war Czech bric-a-brac) and its exceptional cuisine.

Did you gather any data on the Czech Paradox?

Nope, just sat back and admired the view, altho I suspect, and this is also an unscientific observation, that somewhere around the age of 30 the CP ceases to exist.

I get to Prague regularly for business. it is not uncommon to have beer for breakfast, and not even that uncommon to be offered a shot of brandy for an 11 am business meeting.

I got used to that pretty quickly, I have to say.

JBW, I'm curious how you found those restaurants. I had written about David and Kachnicky on my recent posting of the Bohemian Europe trip I took. Enjoyed wonderful meals at both restaurants and ordered very similar items as you. If you had seen my post, I'm wondering if you found Maestro, in Old Town, for great pizza from a wood burning oven.

The Blue Duckling is mentioned in several guidebooks, altho the recs (including yours, I'm sure) on this and other sites were major deciding factors. I believe I was introduced to David here on LTH, altho the David website (with menu) was an important factor.

As far as pizza is concerned, there were a lot of interesting Italian possibilities, and I suspect that Prague has several top-notch Italian restaurants, but I was focused on traditional Czech cuisine, with the understanding that I could probably find comparable Italian restaurants elsewhere. It was a temptation, tho.