The weekend forecast doesn't look too promising, but I'm hoping the sun will come out for the third annual Prague Food Festival, organized by Maurer's Grand Restaura
nt Guide. This years' indulging will take place between Mánesův and Charles bridges on the Old Town side of the Vltava, with some booths located on land and others set up on waterside pontoons. Participating restaurants include Aromi, Café Imperial, and V Zátiší, among many others.
The Hilton Prague Old Town has officially opened the new version of its restaurant, following the departure of Gordon Ramsay's Michelin-starred venture Maze Prague earlier this year. The new concept, called Zinc, is headed up by Ari Mun
andar, former executive chef of Essensia at the Mandarin Oriental Prague. His menu is described as "modern European cooking with an Asian twist," and includes dishes like crab cake and sweet corn sorbet, miso-glazed Chilean sea bass, and baked pineapple with star anise and cinnamon.
Jean-François and Nadine Musso, formerly of Passion Chocolat in Vinohrady, are back to making their i
rresistible pastries and bonbons. This time, they're located in the U Nováků pasáž off Vodičkova, and their shop is called Pâtisserie St. Tropez. Meanwhile, Mama Coffee has opened up a new, roomier location on Korunní, and Aromi offshoot La Finestra is now in full, delicious swing.
Kogo Group's lackluster sister, L'Angolo, is being remade yet again -- this time with the help of Kolkovna Group, which is collaborating with Ko
go to form a third local dining superpower, Koko Group. Under Koko's management, L'Angolo will be transformed into Fragola, a high-end combination sushi/Mediterranean restaurant/bar/club/"art cafe" that will have live DJs, serve food into the wee hours, and offer a Sunday brunch.
A little complicated, maybe, but it just might work.
images: praguefoodfestival.com, zinc.cz, musso-praha.com, kogofragola.cz
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Food news: the Food Fest sets up, Zinc debuts, and Kogo and Kolkovna make a baby
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Food news: The new Grand Restaurant Guide is released, La Casa Blů airs out, and Marks 'n' Sparks considers expansion
Last week saw the release of the 2009 Grand Restaurant Guide, with listings of 455 restaurants across the Czech Republic. The top-rated establishment according to the voting public was Alcron at the SAS Radisson, followed by La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise, Francouzská Restaurace at Obecní dům, Rialto Ristorante in Brno, and V Zátiší. 2008's bizarre overall winner (and #1 and #3 in service and food, respectively), U Lípy, was conspicuously absent from the rankings.
Congratulations to La Casa Blů, whose owners decided to make their restaurant and bar complet
"House of Personal Development" Maitrea on Týnská ulička plans to open a vegetarian restaurant in early 2009. The center
Starbucks-esque Polish chain Coffee Heaven has announced that it will be consolidating its operations and closing six of its nineteen Czech stores as we
And some good news for home chefs frustrated by Albert's perenially moldy produce: Marks and Spencer is reportedly considering opening a series of grocery-only stores (known as Marks and Spencer Simply Food in the UK) in the Czech Republic. They've already experienced success here with their in-store food sections, which feature M&S-brand canned goods, frozen foods, wines, and more.
photographs kanzelsberger.cz, lacasablu.cz, maitrea.cz, marksandspencer.cz
Friday, February 29, 2008
Food news: Confusion over Kolkovna, chaos in Palladium, and more sushi for Prague
There's been some apparent confusion over the Kolkovna Group lately. All of its Pilsn
er Urquell Original Resturants (including Olympia and Celnice) are now called Kolkovna, presumably to differentiate these locations from other, similar-looking PUOR franchises around Prague (such as Deminka and U Vejvodů). In a broken-English statement posted on Expats.cz, a Kolkovna Group representative accused Deminka's owners of breaching copyright by using Kolkovna's logographer. It was also confirmed that the group will be launching a fourth Prague Pilsner Urquell restaurant, Sokolovna, in Vinohrady.
Prague's s
econd and third Starbucks locations opened in Palladium on February 19th, just one day before the electrical fire that is now expected to shut down the shopping mall for at least the next three weeks. Meanwhile, Starbucks rival Coffee Heaven continues to expand, with a new branch about to set up shop on heavily touristed street Na Můstku.
In other openings, Ivan Havel and his wife, Dagmar, have debuted their new restaurant in the Lucerna pasáž. Monarchie's menu is inspired by cuisine from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and much of the meat and produce is to be delivered fresh from the Havels' personal farm outside of Prague.
Finally, karaoke box club BeKaraOk! is now serving Japanese delicacies in its upstairs Sushi Bistro, where the sushi and maki come pre-packaged in handy take-out containers. Note: the Bistro's opening hours are from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday only.
images: kolkovna.cz, coffeeheaven.eu, lucerna.cz, bekaraok.cz
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Prague opens its first Starbucks (but definitely not its last)
At three o' clock in the afternoon on opening day of the new Starbucks on Malostranské náměstí, the area around the coffee shop's cash registers was crowded with customers. About a third of them had already paid and were waiting for their drinks to be whipped up by the staff behind the bar. As each order was finished, a barista placed the labeled cup on the counter.
"Grande chai latte for Sandra!" A young woman in dreadlocks went to get her tea, but before she could reach it, an older lady muscled her way through the crowd and grabbed the cup.
"That's my coffee!" the lady snapped in Czech as she snatched the drink. "I was here before you!"
"Yes," the younger woman said patiently, "but did you order a grande chai latte? And is your name Sandra?"
"Yes, it is! Well, no it isn't. But my name is Soukupová, and it says Soukupová on the cup."
"No," said the young woman, pointing to where the barista had clearly written 'Sandra' on the cup in pencil. "It says Sandra."
The older woman dug her reading glasses out from her purse. She put them on and squinted at the cup. "It says Soukupová," she confirmed. "I was here first." The lady strode out of the shop, chai latte in hand.
A minute later, the barista called out, "One tall caffè latte for Soukupová!" The dreadlocked girl, a 22-year-old Czech native named Alexandra ("they only understood the Sandra part"), exchanged glances with me.
"I used to live in Washington, D.C.," she said. "I got used to going to Starbucks over there, so I was excited when I heard they were opening here. But what you saw just now -- that's Starbucks in Prague. That's the Čecháčství [loosely translatable as 'Czechism'], you know?" Alexandra rolled her eyes. "Enchanting."
Alexandra may have used the word sarcastically, but more than a few people really did seem enchanted by the official opening of Prague's first Starbucks on Tuesday. One notable customer was a very eager 90-year-old man, who was spotted by Starbucks Czech Republic's marketing manager, Alina Tyszkiewicz, at the 9 a.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony.
"He was jumping up and down. He was so excited that there was a café here again," Tyszkiewicz said, referring to the historical literary café that once stood in the same location. "For us, it was a kind of confirmation that we were right to bring Starbucks to this spot."
As I sipped my sickly-sweet chai latte (a tall -- small -- chai tea latte contains 32 grams of sugar, about 10% of its total volume), I overheard the man sitting next to me talking on his cell phone. "Hey, come check it out!" he said to his friend half-jokingly. "We're experiencing Starbucks."
I wondered how long the general enthusiasm would last. Lots of locals appeared to be coming by to see what all the fuss was about, but some of them didn't seem too impressed.
"I'm used to Italian espresso joints where you get coffee in a minute," said Jadran Šetlík, a 56-year-old local. "Here I had to wait twenty minutes because all these people were jumping ahead of me. Next time I'll consider whether I want to go through that again. But in the end, the coffee is good."
Šetlík's last point is debatable -- coffee connoisseurs almost unanimously shun Starbucks on account of its low-quality, heavily-roasted beans -- but local management is confident that the American mega-chain will find its share of regular customers in Prague.
"We expect this to be a kind of meeting point, a place where people can hang out and read books and surf the internet," says Tyszkiewicz. Is she and her team planning to provide the city with more such meeting points?
"Definitely," Tyszkiewicz says with a grin, and confirms that Starbucks will be opening another branch in Palladium shopping mall by the end of February. "We're always looking for ways to expand."
Considering Starbucks's enormous global reach of over 15,000 stores, that's no surprise. I have to admit, though, that I was a little rattled when I was asked to shell out 180 CZK for a small chai and a medium caffè latte. That kind of thing seemed okay in New York, but in Prague? For coffee in a paper cup?
At these prices, no wonder people are getting possessive over their drinks. But try not to get too upset if someone snatches your cup away from the pickup counter.
After all, there's plenty more where that frappuccino came from.
All images property of The Prague Spoon.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
I'll have a grande skim peppermint white chocolate mocha with whipped cream, prosím
It's official: after countless pages of web forum gossip and years of anticipation, the big green mermaid is making her way to Prague.
Starbucks -- that small-business-usurping, mass-litter-generating, cookie-cutter comfort zone for coffee drinkers who don't like coffee -- will soon be opening its doors in the Czech Republic.
The first location is set to open at the end of January in the Grömlingovský palác on Malostranské náměstí, formerly the home of Kampa Group's Square restaurant. More stores are to follow, including at least one in the Palladium shopping center (MF Dnes has speculated that the coffee chain will replace Palladium's two Iceland cafés, which are owned by Starbucks franchisee AmRest).
Good news? Bad news? Who cares? Leave us a comment below.
Image: Starbucks.com
