Prague Burgers: A (Small-Scale) Investigation

What makes a good burger a good burger? Well, for starters, the burger can't be a karbanátek.

I've seen some people in these parts frown on the notion of a hamburger being anything more than a quick food alternative to a real meal. But across the ocean in the hamburger's adopted home, putting together the all-American meat sandwich has turned into something of an art. Top-notch chefs like Daniel Boulud and Hubert Keller are opening burger restaurants, and some are even making them with luxury ingredients like foie gras and truffles.

I suspect it'll be some time before we see those kinds of ingredients on our burgers here, but there are a few places making a solid effort (and some not so solid) at dishing out the classic American meal. I went to six different local establishments that reportedly have good burgers, and ordered a bacon cheeseburger where available. Here are the results:





Bohemia Bagel Holešovice
Weekends are Burger Weekends at the Holešovice branch of Bohemia Bagel, when their usual selection of burgers is doubled; variations include the Falafel Burger, the Greek Burger, and the Steak Burger. But their classic version, the Bohemia Burger (135 CZK, plus an extra 20 CZK for bacon and American cheese), is probably their best: a juicy-flame-grilled patty on a toasted sesame bun slathered with garlic butter and served with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions. The bacon was crispy and the cheddar cheese was plentiful – but alas, there were no pickles, and the fries were miserably limp and soggy.





Fraktal
Judging by the recommendations I'd gotten, I thought the Fraktal burger was supposed to be something really special. And it was special, but not in the way I'd hoped. This was one sad little patty (I chose the small 125g burger for 170 CZK; a 200g burger is also available for 195 CZK), black and shriveled on the outside and overdone and rubbery on the inside. The top layer of the sesame seed roll was crumbling, as if it had been defrosted after spending the last six months at the bottom of a freezer. Not recommended.






Hard Rock Café
I hate to give the Best Burger in Prague title to a big corporation, but this one was really good. The choice here is between ten different types of burgers in two different sizes: Legendary (285g of meat for 320 CZK) or Regular (starting at 220 CZK for 170g of meat). My HRC bacon cheeseburger had the telltale criss-cross marks of a flame-grilled patty, was perfectly medium-rare and came on a toasted brioche-style bun. The bacon was crispy, the meat was juicy, and there were potato peel fries on the side (not enough of them, though). The best part? The service at Hard Rock Café is simply stellar.





Jama
Jama's burger doesn't have pickles, but it does have tomatoes, red onions, lettuce, and… olives? To get a bacon cheeseburger here, you pay 175 CZK for a cheeseburger or a bacon burger, then add 40 CZK extra for bacon and 39 CZK extra for your choice of cheese (you can save a crown if you do the math). My beef patty was crumbly and thick, with nice grill marks, but it could have used a little more seasoning. The bun was American style (sweet and light with sesame seeds) and the bacon was Czech (fatty, with very little crispiness). Jama was the only restaurant I tried that had steak fries, but the service was excruciatingly slow. And I could have done without those olives.





Mozaika
Mozaika's is a cheese-less burger (199 CZK), topped instead with garlic mayo and sautéed onions and mushrooms. I liked the effort at ingenuity here – the string fries come with a homemade spicy tomato dip and the burger is served on spinach foccacia – but the execution was all wrong. This was a straight-up karbanátek, with the meat all mashed together into an unappetizing lump, and the focaccia was saltless and soggy. I remember this hamburger being a lot better once upon a time.





Potrefená Husa Dejvice
This Husa makes its 200g burgers (268 CZK) with beef tenderloin. That sounds good in theory, but tenderloin is really too lean a meat to make a juicy enough patty – and this one was under-salted, too. The toppings (American cheese, red onions, lettuce, tomato) were plentiful and fresh, and the shoestring fries were great, but they couldn’t make up for the white bacon and tasteless beef. It'll satisfy a craving, but you won't be dreaming about it.

photographs: 1 Tomáš Krist for Lidové Noviny; all others Prague Spoon

This review originally appeared in Czech translation in the 12/09/09 edition of Lidové Noviny.

Read More...

Summary only...

Restaurant Review: Mirellie

It's not hard to see why the most-asked question about Mirellie is whether or not it's affiliated with the popular restaurant chain Kogo. All you have to do is open their menu.

Anyone familiar with Kogo's offerings will experience a little déjà vu at Mirellie. The divisions between dishes are the same and in the same order – starters, fish starters, soups, pastas, risottos, etc. – and many of the dishes themselves are word-for-word copies. Plus, just like at Kogo, the selection is enormous.

The difference is in the prices. At Kogo Slovanský Dům, the grilled roast beef with arugula and parmesan cheese goes for 310 CZK. The same dish at Mirellie costs 135 CZK. At Kogo, a simple plate of linguine with olive oil, garlic and shrimps will set you back 295 CZK. Mirellie charges 165 CZK. A fish soup at Kogo? 210 CZK. Mirellie's is priced at 90 CZK.

No, Mirellie is not affiliated with Kogo. At least some of its owners, however, are former Kogo employees, and it seems they've decided to beat their fellow countrymen-restaurateurs at their own game (both Kogo's and Mirellie's proprietors are from the former Yugoslavia): serving a large range of Mediterranean classics in a modestly upscale atmosphere.

Mirellie's location on a quiet Bubeneč street used to be home to the Asian fusion restaurant Monsoon, and not much has changed in terms of the décor. The dining area is separated into upstairs and downstairs sections, the walls and furniture various shades of brown, grey and beige. The upper space has a bar, a couple of leather couches, and a flat-screen TV; the tables down below are adjacent to the kitchen and toilets. Unfortunately, the non-smoking section is in the far less pleasant downstairs area – a decision that makes sense in terms of its proximity to the kitchen, but continues the city's depressing trend of giving priority to smokers.

Since it opened at the beginning of this year, Mirellie has gained quite a few regular customers. Some of them might be neighborhood diners looking for a decent place to eat – Bubeneč and Dejvice are still low on quality restaurants, and one of the few comparable upper-scale Italian options, Da Emanuel, is very much on the expensive side. Other patrons are former fans of Kogo who have become disillusioned with its constant price hikes and are willing to travel out of the center to get their Yugo-pasta fix.

I count myself as one of the latter. I don't want to mislead anybody; I'm still a big fan of Kogo's, and for years, their restaurants have been some of the most consistently high-quality spots in town. But Kogo is now the kind of place I can't eat in very often without feeling guilty about the money I'm spending.

So on my first visit to Mirellie, naturally, I ordered my favorite Kogo dish: the tagliatelle with arugula and shrimp. At Kogo, this would have set me back 285 CZK; here, it was a mere 170 CZK. But the Mirellie version wasn't as good as Kogo's. The pasta seemed a little dry, as if there wasn't enough sauce or the sauce wasn't especially flavorful. The shrimp, however, were plentiful and perfectly cooked (on a recent Kogo Slovanský Dům visit, the shrimp had been way too soft), as was the pasta, so I was pretty happy overall.

And there were some real delights: a huge portion of bean soup (60 CZK), loaded with the musky aroma of smoked bacon; a small grilled sea bass (290 CZK), so fresh it still tasted of the ocean, served whole but deboned. One of the weekly specials, a lobster salad (260 CZK), could only be described as a fabulous deal. Almost anywhere else, you don't even get to smell a lobster for under 300 CZK. Here, there was a solid half-lobster, several shrimp, and a generous amount of garden salad in a creamy, Russian-style dressing (I didn't get to taste another intriguing special, the polenta with porcini mushrooms, because it wasn't available on either of my visits).

It's certainly not the quantity of food that Mirellie's saving its money on; my pizza Vegetariana (129 CZK) was so big it spilled over the edges of a large dinner plate. It had a thin, cripsy crust and was topped with marinated bell peppers, (undercooked) eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, and kalamata olives. I got half of it wrapped up to go. The grilled octopus with beans and leek (160 CZK) was another large dish, even for an appetizer, with lots of gently browned octopus. I suspected the beans had come out of the can, but they still tasted good. When you've got over two hundred dishes on the menu, I guess you have to cut corners somewhere.

I didn't have any dessert on either of my visits – I was too full, and besides, the dessert options seemed to be limited to the frozen Bindi cakes and profiteroles that so many other restaurants and cafés carry.

The service at Mirellie can be a little slow and forgetful sometimes (on one evening, two of us never got any napkins), and, at other times, a little too eager to clean up plates and pour out Mattoni bottles. I also didn't like that we were charged for bread (10 CZK each for a pizza dough-type roll) even if we didn't eat it. Were we expected to take it home?

Mirellie is destined to be compared to Kogo. People like me will come in and order their usual Kogo dish and will end up either disappointed or pleasantly surprised. But for all the similarities between the two restaurants, the newer one really is doing its own thing, and doing it well. Soon enough, perhaps, guests won't even think to ask about the connection. They'll just appreciate Mirellie for what it is.

Mirellie
V.P. Čkalova 14
Praha 6 – Bubeneč
Tel.: 222 959 999

Open Mon-Sun 11:00-23:00

photographs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 Tomáš Krist for Lidové noviny; all others mirellie.cz

This review originally appeared in Czech translation in the 22/08/09 edition of Lidové Noviny.

Read More...

Summary only...

Restaurant Review: Grosseto

This review originally appeared in Czech translation in the 03/01/09 edition of Lidové Noviny.

It had been a long time since I'd visited Pizzeria Grosseto.

I knew I had blacklisted the place a few years ago, but I couldn't remember why. A rude server, or overcooked pasta, perhaps – one of the usual Czech suspects. With so many bad restaurant experiences under my belt, it can get hard to keep track of what offense happened where.

On a recent Wednesday evening, I passed by Grosseto's original location near Vítězné náměstí. The pizzeria was overflowing with customers, as it has been since the day it opened back in 1996. At that time, the neighborhood had only a few restaurants; now, although Dejvice is still pitifully lacking in dining options compared to Vinohrady or Žižkov, there are plenty of other options. So why does everyone still flock to Grosseto?

For one thing, it's a pizzeria, and everyone likes pizza. And Grosseto really does make good pies; many credit the restaurant with being the first to bring Italian-style pizza to the Czech masses. As the story goes, two Czech would-be restaurant owners, on a visit to the town of Grosseto in Tuscany, approached a pizza chef named Gianfranco Turbanti and asked him to move to Prague. A few weeks later, Mr. Turbanti arrived in Dejvice, son in tow, and set about the laborious task of constructing a wood-burning pizza oven to his very exact specifications.

Before Grosseto, "pizza" largely meant poor-quality dough covered in Eidam, párek, and a ketchup-based sauce. A few real Italian pizzerias, such as Rugantino, were around, but they were largely patronized by expats and tourists, not locals. There were a couple of American-style pizza joints, too: Pizza Hut and New York Pizza, both now defunct, as well as Chicago's Famous Pizza, formerly located in a prime spot on Malé Náměstí but now downgraded to a delivery-only service based out of Pankrác.

True Italian pizza is almost a different dish entirely, and it's the type of pie that has turned out to be most appealing to local tastes – although it, too, varies from region to region and from one pizzeria to the next. Grosseto's crusts are thin but not quite crispy, and have the inimitable smokiness that comes from a good wood-burning oven like Gianfranco's. The selection of toppings is, to my taste, a little heavy on meats, cheeses, and cream (the signature Grosseto pie comes with chicken breast, mozzarella, gorgonzola, and Parmesan) and low on vegetables (they do, however, put arugula on some of their pizzas, as do lots of Italian restaurants nowadays, and they use fresh mushrooms, which many do not). And although their pizza sauce is not very interesting – it tastes as if the tomatoes were taken straight from the can with no added seasoning – the overall quality of the ingredients is good and the pizza is well-made and tasty.

So why is so much of the other food so bad? The pastas were dismal, thanks not to their being overcooked (all of the pasta dishes I tasted were surprisingly al dente), but because they had been boiled in unsalted water. I have written about this particular problems many times before, including, I believe, in my last review of an Italian restaurant. But I will repeat these words again: you must salt the pasta water. Unless a person has cirrhosis of the liver and is following a strict no-sodium diet, there is no reason why any of us should suffer unsalted pasta.

Which I did, when I ate the pappardelle ai funghi porcini (195 CZK) at Grosseto. The tasteless noodles were homemade, at least, but they stuck together in messy clumps; luckily, the unexciting cream sauce contained plenty of porcini mushrooms that partially offset the dish's general blandness. It was a similar story with the spaghetti con aglio, olio e peperoncino (125 CZK), a dish so simple in flavor that it is almost unbearable to eat without salt.

According to the law of inept seasoning, of course, missing salt in one dish must be compensated by too much salt in another. And so it was with Grosseto's terrible tomato soup (48 CZK) and its otherwise good bruschette al pomodoro (69 CZK). The minestrone con verdure (45 CZK), meanwhile, was full of overcooked veggies and too-soft pasta shells; the tiramisu (79 CZK) might have been a winner if the ladyfingers had been soaked in espresso as they should be. Basically, everything other than the pizza was a just a little bit off.

And that included the service. When the waiter brought me the wrong pizza, he argued with me about what I had actually ordered. "You asked for number 27," he insisted. I told him that I had not ordered by number, but by name – I wanted the pizza Parma (185 CZK), which came with tomato sauce, Parma ham, fresh tomatoes and basil, not one with regular ham and a cream sauce. He had obviously guessed at the number and written it down incorrectly. Grudgingly, he took the pizza away, saying the replacement would come in ten or fifteen minutes. It came in 30 minutes, with no apology, long after the rest of my table had finished eating.

Mistakes happen, of course, but when they do, the waiter should be nice about it and try to accommodate the guest as soon as possible. That, however, would have involved him asking the pizza chef to rush the order and therefore acknowledging that he had done something wrong. But admitting to and apologizing for one's mistakes is not, I've noticed, the national forte.

Neither, apparently, is peripheral vision. As I tried to ask for the check, waiter after waiter walked by without a glance in our table's direction, like horses with blinders on. A few meters away, a bored-looking waitress stared off into space as she massaged lotion into her hands. Aha, I thought, so this was why I'd blacklisted Grosseto. Mystery solved.

Now if only they would let me leave.

Pizzeria Grosseto
Jugoslávských partyzánů 8
Prague 6 - Bubeneč
map
Open Mon-Sun 11:30 – 23:00
Tel.: 233 342 694

photographs: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7 Tomáš Krist for Lidové Noviny; all others grosseto.cz

Read More...

Summary only...

Restaurant Review: Klášterní Šenk

This review originally appeared in Czech translation in the 28/02/09 edition of Lidové Noviny.

As all restaurant-goers know, sometimes the quality of your experience at a particular restaurant depends not only on what you get, but whom you get. You can order everything right, but if you're stuck in the wrong seating section on the wrong day of the week, your food will end up tasting just that little bit more bitter.

That's what happened on my second trip to Klášterní Šenk, a cozy pub-restaurant located within the walls of the 10th-century Břevnov monastery.

My mother and I were having lunch. She ordered the soup of the day and I chose a main course off the regular menu; for seconds, we both ordered dessert. Her soup arrived promptly. I watched her eat it, hoping my halušky would come in time for us to dine together. Some time after the soup bowl had been cleared, my mother asked the waiter if the halušky were on their way, seeing as we had been waiting half an hour for them to come.

He promptly replied thus: "No, you have NOT been waiting thirty minutes." He then went to the register, hit a few buttons and returned with a very self-satisfied look on his face. "The order was put in at 12:40, and it is now 1:00. So you've been waiting twenty minutes."

Now, in America (and whatever you might think of the country, they do customer service very well) they have a saying: the customer is always right. It is an adage followed by just about everybody working in any service industry. Why? Because if the customer feels as if she has been waiting for thirty minutes, it has been thirty minutes. And because even if the customer is wrong, she should be treated with a level of courtesy and deference that will keep her happy.

I, instead, was treated like a booger. And that's fine; I'm pretty much used to it. Czech waiters often look at me as if I was something small, dry, and shriveled that they had just scooped from the inside wall of their nasal cavity. That especially happens when I do things like gently trying to explain that we had hoped to eat at the same time, and no we should not have had to tell the waitress that we wanted the food to come together because it should be obvious and in any case she should have asked us, etc., etc. The booger talks! It's always an interesting moment.

The argument went on for a full five minutes, as if the head waiter didn't have anything better to do in a packed restaurant during lunch hour than educate a couple of ladies about the correct way to order a meal.

Now contrast that experience with the one I'd had during dinner the week before: a friendly, charming server, who offered to make a cucumber salad although it wasn't on the menu (he ended up forgetting the salad, but apologized sincerely when he realized his mistake). I was pleasantly surprised by how patient he was with a friend who is a Czech beginner – he didn't pretend not to understand her, or start speaking in English, as so many servers often do. He even complimented her on her language skills.

So the service at Klášterní Šenk seems to be a little hit-or-miss. The food, on the other hand, is a lot more consistent. The dishes are mostly classic local fare and slightly more expensive than you'd find in your average pub, but all that much better in terms of quality and presentation. They are listed on the menu in funny, old-school Czech style: prsa z kačice, co na rybníku pod klášterem plula, s obé zelím i knedlíků (259 CZK) ("breast from a duck that swam on the pond under the monastery, with both cabbage and dumplings").

I tried one of the pricier entrées, the beef sirloin with chanterelle mushrooms (490 CZK). The meat was expertly cooked and seasoned, its inside pink but not dripping with blood, and the chanterelle gravy was a nice accompaniment. Even the corn on the cob (40 CZK) I'd ordered on the side was very good: instead of being shriveled or muddy like many pub cobs, this one was sweet and juicy. It was dressed in olive oil and a sprinkling of basil – an unusual choice, but tasty nonetheless.

A roast pork knee with sour cherries and horseradish (249 CZK) was excellent, too, as was the mushroom-packed kulajda in a bread bowl (59 CZK). And nothing makes me happier than opening up a menu to find hearty Czech sweet dishes, long replaced in most restaurants by tiramisus and cheesecakes. At Klášterní Šenk, you'll find fluffy lívance (Czech pancakes) with whipped cream and blueberries (69 CZK), or delectable potato dumplings filled with plum preserve and served with a vanilla-tinged sweet cheese sauce (69 CZK). The beer on tap is, appropriately enough, the rarely-seen eleven-degree Klášter (0.5l for 32 CZK).

To find all these delights, you'll have to make your way out to Břevnov, but even if you're coming from across town, it really is worth it. The setting – just adjacent to the St. Margaret church and its surrounding gardens – is positively serene, and makes an ideal spot for a pre- or post-meal stroll. And with its birchwood-burning fireplace (not always lit, unfortunately), stone walls, and wooden beams, the rustic-style restaurant is uniquely charming.

But lots of people already seem to have figured that out for themselves. Klášterní Šenk is a popular destination for weddings and other large-scale events, and if warned a few days in advance, they can prepare a full-on feast with roast duck, goose, and other specialties. On regular days, they are consistently packed for both lunch (they have a 99 CZK menu on weekdays) and dinner, so reservations are recommended.

And the restaurant is recommended, too. Just be careful who you order from.

Klášterní Šenk
Markétská 1/28
Praha 6 - Břevnov
map
Tel: 220 406 294
Open Mon – Sun 11:30–23:00

photographs 1, 2, 4, 5 Jindřich Mynařík for Lidové Noviny; all others klasternisenk.cz

Read More...

Summary only...

Food news returns, but some restaurants are gone for good

Prague has seen lots of restaurant closings recently, thanks in part to rising rents and a sharp drop in tourist traffic during the summer months. Among the departed: the tasty but unatmospheric Alexander's, health food spot Albio, Bombay Cafe's downstairs neighbor Rasoi, and Dejvice Asian fusion restaurant Monsoon. And not that anybody noticed or cared, but Josefov tourist trap Marco Polo and Russian club/restaurant/horseradish vodka bar Petrovič have shut down, too.

Still no official word on Kogo offshoot L'Angolo, which locked its doors after a kitchen fire a few months back. And rumor has it that Cremeria Milano on Pařížská will be closing in favor of a more profitable business venture -- a high-end clothing store.

Despite having shuttered 600 "underperforming" locations in the U.S., Starbucks has been popping up all over Prague. New coffeshops have opened in Ruzyně Airport, by the Zličín shopping center, and on Staroměstské náměstí at the former home of a Nordsee.

And everyone seems to be talking about Cloud 9, the new sky bar on the top floor of the Hilton. Besides mixing a mean cocktail, they have an interesting-looking bar menu of fancy little bites. I hear the view isn't bad, either. More on all that once I make it up there myself.

images: monsoon-restaurant.cz, cream-dream.com, cloud9.cz

Read More...

Summary only...

Food news: Cooking classes, paella, and rumors of noodles

I've gotten a few queries lately about whether or not any cooking classes are being held in Prague. There are actually lots of them -- but they're mostly in Czech, of course. Cooking schools seem to be popping up everywhere at the moment; the most notable is the Pražský kulinářský institut (Prague Culinary Institute), where a huge range of classes are taught almost daily by some of the city's most well-known chefs. Then there's Chef Parade in Žižkov, which offers (among other courses) a "Cookdating" class designated for singles only. Culinaria gives sporadic lessons in Indian and Italian cuisine in English. And there have also been some informal group cooking lessons occasionally put together by expats. If anyone knows of any other English-language cooking classes, give us a heads up by putting a note in the comments!

As for food events this week, Monsoon is preparing a Singaporean menu as part of their One night stand in Singapore this Thursday, while Oliva is going Spanish with a special paella weekend -- check it out here.

It looks like new Asian fusion restaurant Angel may be listening to its customers (or its reviewers): they've rounded out their meat- and fish- heavy menu with two additional vegetarian options. And another Asian-themed restaurant, The Noodle Bar, is apparently looking to open a second location in Vinohrady. More on that when it happens...

Read More...

Summary only...

Food news: I'll have the scallops. And hold the tobacco, please

At a recent dinner, an American friend of mine was surprised to find out that the "mussels St. Jacob" she had ordered actually weren't mussels, but scallops. The mistake was in the translation: in Czech, scallops are "mušle Svatého Jakuba," which, if translated literally, can mean "St. Jacob's mussels." On that note, Oliva is holding a scallop event this weekend. Have a look at the menu here.

If you've never tried Persian food before, now's your chance: the Hotel Praha, in conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, is hosting a Festival of Persian Cuisine on February 20th and 21st from 19:00. Entry is only 400 CZK and includes Iranian cooking demonstrations and an all-you-can-eat buffet. Call 224 342 621 for reservations.

For a few days only, Italian chef Christian Bertogna is leaving his post at the Ristorante Imperiolino to cook at the Hotel Paris's Sarah Bernhardt restaurant. A four-course menu costs 850 CZK; the event runs through Sunday.

And if inhaling cigarette smoke with your food irritates you as much as it does me, take a look at this handy website. Sponsored by the Czech Anti-Tobacco Coalition, dokurte.cz maintains a list of restaurants that are smoke-free or have separate areas for smokers. Until the Czech Republic decides to wise up and follow the example of its European neighbors, it's the best we can do.

images: olivarestaurant.cz, insiderpages.com, usmlemd.wordpress.com

Read More...

Summary only...

Valentine's Day Dinner

Looking for someplace to take your (potential) lover for Valentine's Day? On February 14th, Prague's restaurants will be awash with special menus, red roses, and in one case at least, complimentary condoms.

Here's a fairly exhaustive list of the kitschy goings-on to be held around town this Valentine's:

Alcron / La Rotonde - Each of the Radisson SAS restaurants will offer different four-course "his 'n' hers" menus. Highlights: At Alcron, raw oysters (for him) and scallops and crayfish in champagne soup (for her); at La Rotonde, beef tournedos Rossini with seared foie gras and truffle sauce (to share). Price per couple: 4000 CZK (Alcron) / 3400 CZK (La Rotonde).

Allegro - Choose between a four- and five- course Valentine's Day menu at this upscale Italian restaurant in the Four Seasons hotel. Price per person: 2500 CZK (four courses), 3600 CZK (four courses + wine pairing) / 2900 CZK (five courses), 4300 CZK (five courses + wine pairing).

Brasserie M - A special three-course menu for two. Highlights: An "aphrodisiac" duck fillet with ginger and Middle Eastern spices, chocolate fondant with passion fruit. Price per couple: 1750 CZK / 2250 CZK (with two glasses of champagne).

Chateau Mcely - The luxury castle retreat outside of Prague is offering a Valentine's Day package that includes a four-course dinner at their restaurant, Piano Nobile. Price per person: 1600 CZK, including dinner, welcome drink, chocolates and flowers, plus an invite to a screening of a romantic movie.

CzecHouse - A romantic five-course meal will be available at the spacious Hilton restaurant. Highlights: A trio of Valentine desserts - chocolate parfait with orange cream, mini pear tatin with port wine ice cream, and marinated pomegranate on honey yoghurt. Price per couple: 2950 CZK.

Essensia - The Asian-inspired restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel is putting together a five-course meal that includes a welcome cocktail (the "Valentini") and a small present for the lady. Highlights: Gratinated Fine de Claire oysters and caviar, crispy Peking duck and langoustine. Price per person: 1900 CZK.

Flambée - Two Valentine's menus will be offered from the 14th to the 17th of February: an afternoon dessert and champagne menu, and a six-course dinner. Highlights: Baked langoustine with truffle cream and caviar, and a selection of veal entrées. Price per person: 890 CZK (dessert and champagne) / 2990 CZK (dinner).

Kampa Park - Sit by the river and enjoy a candlelit three-course dinner. Highlight: Monkfish wrapped in bacon with celery-dill purée, leek confit, and salmon roe beurre blanc. Price per person: 1665 CZK.

La Provence - The French brasserie will serve a three-course Valentine's Day dinner. Highlight: Poached halibut with shrimp and asparagus risotto with vermouth sauce. Price per person: 1125 CZK.

maze - Gordon Ramsay's Prague outpost is preparing a seven-course menu for lovers' day. Highlights: Poached lobster with apple and fennel salad, pan-fried John Dory with crushed potatoes and white bean velouté. Price per person: 1700 CZK.

Monsoon - Three special courses will be available at the Dejvice fusion restaurant. Highlight: White chocolate Grand Marnier mousse in pistachio tuille cups. Price per person: 595 CZK.

U Emy Destinnové - No set menu, but special Valentine's Day dishes, red roses for the ladies, and live music will lend this cozy below-ground restaurant an even more romantic tone than usual. Highlights: Grilled scallops wrapped in bacon with red currant wine sauce, fresh-grilled lobster, shrimp, and langoustines.

V Zátiší - The long-standing Prague restaurant is planning a four-course menu, including a "sweet surprise." Highlight: Roasted Barberie duck breast with foie gras and mashed potatoes in bresaola, spring onion, and lavender sauce. Price per person: 1295 CZK / 1995 CZK with wine pairing.

For romantic after-dinner drinks, look no further than Bar and Books: both locations will be holding Valentine's Day celebrations. Buy a bottle of champagne and the lady will receive a strawberry fondue and cigar on the house; her man gets a flavored Durex condom. Formal attire is required.

And if you're in the mood to just stay at home and cuddle or whatnot, Bakeshop will be making all of its well-loved cakes in heart shapes next week. Especially recommended are the perfectly pretty marzipan-and-raspberry princess cake and the frosted heart butter cookies (see picture above). Happy canoodling!


images: williamssonoma.com, chateaumcely.cz, mandarinoriental.com, flambee.cz, gordonramsay.com, vzatisi.cz, praguespoon

Read More...

Summary only...