What to eat Prague? culinary specialties and gastronomy

Like its Central European neighbours, Czechs often start their meals with a soup (polévka). The most famous light soups are broths (beef or chicken) served with all kinds of pasta. More consistent soups include zeleninova polévka, with vegetables, and the famous česnečka, a soup flavoured with garlic and topped with potatoes and bread croutons. However, the Czechs do not eat many vegetables. As for salads, they are mainly made from mayonnaise. A little bit of everything is added, potatoes, ham, hard-boiled eggs or even beets.

Among the most famous cold dishes, it is impossible to miss the obložené chlebíčky, these sandwiches sold in lahůdky (sausages). It is about eating, standing up, deli bread, vegetables or cheese (or all together) or a slice of bread with an infinite variety of salads and mayonnaise. If there are some specialities not to be missed, they include pražská sunka (Prague ham), very famous outside the country such as in Germany or Poland, as well as other delicatessen products such as moravské uzené (Moravian smoked ham), uherák (a sausage), debrecinská pečeně (cold roast from Debrecin), tlačenka (a head cheese) or poličan (a smoked salami). Conversely, there are few cheeses in the Czech Republic. The best known is the olomoucké tvarůžky, a small dry tomme from Olomouc, which has a protected geographical indication (PGI). However, there is the very popular smažený sýr, a fried cheese starter, served with a salad or as a main course with chips. Cheeses and delicatessen are often served with pickles. The most famous are those of Znojmo or znojemské okurky.

On the meat side, the national dish, which you will find all over the country, is called svíčková It is a steak steak simmered in a cream sauce and served with cranberry compote. This dish is often served with knedlíky. These dough balls that look like steamed rolls are emblematic of Czech cuisine, as they are invariably served as a side dish. They are hearty and effectively absorb the sauces that usually cover meat dishes. Another similar speciality is halušky, which consists of small crumbs of knedlíky dough - made from potatoes - topped with a smoked bacon and cream sauce. Ideal before a long afternoon of walking in winter. Játrové knedlíčky (liver meatballs), on the other hand, are consumed with a light but very flavoured broth. Pork remains the most popular meat in the Czech Republic. The term vepřová refers to a roast pork, a common dish in restaurants, as well as jitrnice (liver sausage) or vinná klobása (wine sausage) that are roasted. More reserved for special occasions, roast goose (pečená husa) is served with potatoes and candied red cabbage. Although Viennese escalope (schnitzel/řízek) or goulash (guláš) are Austrian and Hungarian specialities respectively, they are also very common dishes in Prague restaurants.

A traditional Czech Christmas meal consists of a series of dishes that are quite simple but nutritious. We start with a rybí polévka, fish, cabbage and potato soup, then we serve the main course: vánoční kapr, fried carp fillets, usually accompanied by bramborový salát, a rich potato salad topped with hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise and chopped pickles. In the middle of the table is a vánočka. This braided brioche is flavoured with candied lemon peels. Appreciated for a long time, it was first mentioned in 1400 by the Benedictine monk Jan of Holešov, whose brioche shape reminded him of Christ as a child, wrapped in a cloth.

On the sweet side, a Christmas meal always ends with a tasty plate of vánoční cukroví, small shortbreads that come in all shapes and sizes. Indeed, the Christmas holidays are a serious business in the Czech Republic, as in the rest of Central Europe, and it is an opportunity to enjoy a thousand and one sweets that can be found on Christmas markets and especially the most beautiful of all that takes place every year in the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) in the very heart of Prague. The most gourmands will be able to bring back in their suitcases a box of the famous vánoční cukroví. The most common are the pecivo masloves, which consist of two layers of biscuits topped with jam. The linecke dvoubarevne dvoubarevne dvoubarevne have a pretty black and white checkerboard pattern, with vanilla and cocoa. Simpler, parizske pecivo are wafer cigars, sometimes filled with custard cream. Medvedi tlapicky, which could be translated as "bear paws", are kinds of madeleine whose end is covered with chocolate on which flaked almonds are placed, supposed to recall the claws of the mammal. Cut into crescent-shaped shapes, vanilkove rohlicky are flavoured with vanilla and generously sprinkled with icing sugar. Finally, pernik na figurky are probably the most symbolic Christmas cookies. These gingerbread shortbread shortbreads often take the form of fir trees or stars and are meticulously decorated with white icing. Prague's winter markets are a good opportunity to eat a trdelník, a spit cake in the form of a tube of golden dough sprinkled with sugar. The most hungry can even have it garnished with ice cream balls and chocolate syrup. To be enjoyed with a glass of svařák, a mulled wine with spices and orange.

The rest of the year the Czechs are also fond of sweetness. štrúdl or závin is often filled with apple, cinnamon and dried fruit or sometimes tvaroh, a fresh cheese similar to English cottage cheese. Palačinka is a huge crepe filled with fruit and ice cream, often covered with chocolate sauce and whipped cream. For the hungry. While local cuisine is generally heavy, Czechs eat a lot of fruit, which is abundant in summer. Knedlíky ova are amazing little fruit ravioli, which can be filled with plum (švestkové), apricot (meruňkové) or strawberry (jahodové) and usually sprinkled with crushed nuts before being served. Poppy seeds are used in many desserts such as makovec, a very soft cake with a light frosting. Koláč is a type of small brioche tartlet that can be garnished with a multitude of ingredients: jam, fromage frais or poppy seeds. There is even a larger version called valašský frgál, originating from Valaquie in the east of the country. On the Viennese side, an abundance of breads (chléb) of all kinds - black, white, sesame seed - as well as butter buns (buchta) are served for breakfast. Prepared only for Easter, velikonoční beránek is simply a lamb-shaped brioche that is reminiscent of the Alsatian osterlammele.

Just like in Vienna or Budapest, Prague has inherited the coffee culture. The city has a lot of them and some of them are simply worth a visit for their spectacular interiors. Some examples include the Imperial Café with its opulent decoration in the style of ancient Egypt dating from the 1910s or the Kavárna Obecní dům with its Art Nouveau interiors. Whether it is tea or coffee, the Czechs are heavy consumers of these two hot drinks. The čajovna is a very special type of tea room that mimics an orientalist decoration with Chinese furniture, a Persian rug and Indian silverware side by side.

Located at the crossroads between the wine, beer and vodka production areas, the Czech Republic is more than experienced when it comes to alcoholic beverages. Start with beer (pivo). With a consumption of almost 145 litres of beer per year per inhabitant, the country holds the world record, well ahead of the Germans (140 litres) or the Belgians (67 litres). Here it is even called "liquid bread", which is how the Czechs relate to this beverage. We can't do without beer, we can't plan a meal without it. Moreover, the cuisine seems to be designed in this country above all to go with beer more than the other way around. From the early hours of the Middle Ages, breweries flourished throughout the country. Every village, every castle had its own. Beer bars have multiplied to become the favorite meeting places. And nothing has changed today. Many village breweries have certainly disappeared, even if a new movement to return to their roots is resurrecting many of them. Czech beers - generally light and slightly bitter - are often ranked among the best in the world. The most prestigious Czech beer is Pilsner Urquell, brewed in the city of Plzeň and sold all over the world. Produced since the 18th century, it is a variety of lager beer, always imitated, never equalled, to be enjoyed why not in one of the most famous breweries in Prague, U Zlatého Tygra. Gambrinus is produced by the same company and its less bitter taste, as well as its slightly lower cost, seems to have made it the most widely served beer in the country. Another famous beer, Budweiser Budvar, brewed at České Budějovice, in the south of the country, is also very popular with Westerners. It will not be confused with its insipid American namesake. Prague is not to be outdone with the huge Staropramen brewery, located in the Smíchov district, which is also highly exported. Locally each region seems to have its own preferences and we are witnessing real local and regional identities such as Bernard d'Humpolec, Zubr de Přerov, Regent de Třeboň, Starobrno de Brno, etc. Even Prague has "neighbourhood" beers: Pražan in Holešovice, Krušovice (near Prague), Velké Popovice, etc. Not surprisingly, the Czech Republic is one of the few countries in the world where beer is cheaper than mineral water. Count on average between 1 and 2 € for a pint.

Wine (víno), which has been cultivated since ancient times, is mainly produced in the Moravian region in the south-east of the country, which is home to almost all the vineyards. Among the quality white wines we can observe the ryzlink rinsky, with a bouquet that smells like muscat. Müller thurgau, one of the best wines in the country. Light and fragrant, it is ideal with fish. Neuburské has a slightly smoky bouquet and accompanies poultry. Another wine, from the Mělník region (northwest of Prague), called svata ludmila, is considered to be the most prestigious in the country. Burčak is best enjoyed during the harvest. It is a rough wine (drink between grape juice and white wine at 3° maximum). The Czech Republic is less famous for its red wines, although some interesting wines such as rulandské cervené, valtické zamecké or vavrinecké are to be tasted.

Of course, the country also produces a wide variety of liqueurs and eaux-de-vie, the most famous of which is undoubtedly slivovice, plum liqueur from the Valaško region in eastern Moravia, which can reach a frightening 90° alcohol level, although the volume is closer to 40°. There are of course other fruit liqueurs such as pear hruškovice, apricot maruškovice, cherry čerešňovica or apple jablkovica. Becherovka is an alcoholic beverage produced in Karlovy Vary, based on about twenty plants, including cloves or cinnamon. It is a very popular digestive that reminds us of Christmas sweets thanks to its sweet and spicy taste. More surprisingly, tuzemák is a sugar beet alcohol that is supposed to imitate rum. It comes from inländer-rum produced at a time when the Austro-Hungarian Empire could not easily obtain sugar cane due to the lack of colonies. Finally, the fernet is produced at Plzeň. This bitter alcoholic beverage produced from herbs is very similar to the Italian Fernet-Branca.