Your favorite Czech food
 

What was your favorite meal experience (restaurant & food), while visiting the Czech Republic? Prague, in particular...

We were in the Czech republic for 2 weeks. My niece is vegetarian - and it was like they were trying so hard to accommodate her that every meal she ordered was amazing. Going again, I would probably consider just eating vegetarian food.

We ate at a few vegetarian restaurants, they were excellent!

Garlic soup (like onion soup but with garlic) was awesome.

Fried cheese was a great snack (we were walking long distances so fried + cheese was ok!)

Dumplings are really popular - but I didn't love them. I thought they were a bit too big and gummy.

I had game in many places in the country - usually with a fruit sauce - I found the meat to generally be overcooked.

We had pretty good pizza in a few places.

Honestly, the food wasn't the highlight of Czechia for me, but I loved it all the same.

Andel Plzenksy: Nadrazne 114 A classic beer garden atmosphere with good food, beers, desserts. Reasonable and busy – just across the road from the main Andel metro entrance. Dinner was about 15 euro each.

Best food to try ( for me)... The pork knuckle (though it took me about 6 months to get up the nerve).
Goose is a classic ( esp. In the fall)... Halusky in its various forms (tho more Slovak than Czech).

Kokovna is the flagship restaurant of pilsner urquell....their original restaurant is in Prague... Also a place to sample the local cuisine.

And if you really can not (wimp!) stomach the local cuisine... Here is an Italian place we like:

Ristorante Carmilita: Ujezd 406/31 Wood fired oven pizza, delicious chicken and pasta dishes, nice wines and great beer all at very affordable prices. In Mala Strana but far enough from the mobs to be local and affordable.

If you get off the beaten path... Monday thru Friday at lunch... Most places will have a "menu". One set meal, soup and main course... 3 to 4 euro. Ask if they have a menu... And just get it. It is a communist remnant across Central Europe... Often not advertised (and never translated)

Ah yes - the pork knuckle - I had that I think in Vranov. n. Dyji - was pretty good!

We ate at Kokovna in Prague. They did have a good selection of traditional cuisine. We had better elsewhere, but wasn't bad.

If you happen to be traveling out to smaller towns, one thing we found was that even if nothing looked open if there was a sandwich board outside (usually a Pilsner Urquel chalkboard) then it was open and there was food. Can't say the number of places we found by tentatively opening an unmarked door to find an open and packed restaurant on the other side. Mostly, for me at least, the beer and atmosphere were better than the food, but it was food nonetheless. We were told it's a holdover from communism - with the small signage being a recent addition.

My two most memorable meals in the Czech Republic:

In České Budějovice I had roast venison with a savory cranberry and cream sauce (not the Ocean Spray variety, lol). With plenty of Budvar! Outstanding! It was at the Maly Pivovar, the little tap room restaurant of the Budweiser Brewery, just off the main square.

In Prague, at Restaurace u Parlamentu, near the Jewish Quarter, it was pickled herring and onions, roast pork, dumplings and sauerkraut, with homemade rye bread. Just like my 100% Bohemian mama used to make!

Yeah, generally speaking, the "menu" is what is written on those chalkboards! Here's our hint.. go into any dive. The fall back plan is you will drink (not eat) if it looks really disgusting. Beer is good everywhere.

And on Kokovna... you are correct, not great, not bad. I have eaten at the one in Bratislava a few times - I never ate at the one in Prague.

Czech food takes some getting used to... I started to enjoy it after about 6 months... Love it now after 2 years... Hated it for the first few months.