Prague Restaurants

A legion of venues are transforming heavy Czech food into delicate dishes, and even quality Asian fare can be found where once there was little beyond microwaved spring rolls. Prague's chefs and diners alike are both salivating at what lies ahead for them.

The development of Prague as a whole has much to do with its culinary upgrades. Once upon a time in the 1990s, Prague's best restaurants were full of Americans and Russians on vacation. Thanks to an uptick in local entrepreneurship and a resurgence of interest in cooking, Czechs are filling these exclusive dining rooms in increasing numbers. As locals, they clamored for fresher, more vibrant fare, and Prague's chefs have responded in force. No longer does haute cuisine here equate with heavy doses of foie or game—though there's no shortage of them. These days seafood, Eastern flavors, and seasonal ingredients are coming to the fore at long last.

That said, in recent years there has been a little retrenchment in the variety of cuisine here; as the diners are more sophisticated, they are less willing to put up with second-rate stabs at world cuisines. For that reason, Italian and "continental" restaurants specializing in meat and vegetables comprise the majority of restaurants in the city. On the plus side, prices are down compared to a few years ago, thanks to weaker Czech currency and a decline in the number of Prague visitors.

Alas, what still needs an upgrade is the service. English is widely spoken, but tourist traps in the center are perfectly content to be brusque, or worse, to try to tack phony cover charges onto the bill. For the most part, these places are near the Castle or in Old Town; if a man is needling you to come in, keep walking.

Classic Czech fare is best sampled in a hospoda, or pub. These local joints have menus that usually include dishes for which Czech cuisine is justly (in)famous: pork and sauerkraut with bread dumplings, roast duck, beef stew, and, for the vegetarian, fried cheese. In recent years Czech brewers like Staropramen and Budvar have opened branded pubs (Potrefená Husa and Budvarka, respectively). These restaurants are to the Czech pub what a Swiss timepiece is to a plastic watch—light-years ahead in terms of the quality of ingredients and service. If you're looking to dip a toe into the waters of Czech cuisine, these pubs are an excellent place to begin.