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Prague Restaurants Introduction

Hearty, robust fare is perhaps an understatement for Czech food. Head towards a traditional style restaurant and you'll enter a world of waist-enhancing bread dumplings, rich butter sauces, cream, eggs and animal fats. Sounds bad? Well no, Czech food is actually pretty tasty - just make sure you go easy on the apricot dumplings and beer!

Needless to say, vegetarians fare pretty badly in such places. After all, any nation that offers dumplings for pudding as well as main course is likely to be meat-oriented, with the Czech Republic (and Prague) being no exception. And, much like Hungary, vegetarianism is seen almost as an ailment rather than a way of life, so quite often it's best to plump for a modern restaurant serving international fare.

Fortunately, most major cuisines are represented in the city, with good quality French, Italian, Japanese, Indian and Mexican restaurants. Indeed, a good number of Prague's more upmarket eateries compare favourably with those in London, Paris and Berlin, especially on price.

Menus are printed in German and English, often with photos to show how the dish will look, while credit cards are now widely accepted. If prices aren't clearly listed, or appear higher than those on a Czech language menu then go elsewhere. Moreover, wherever you dine, check the bill carefully as overcharging is commonplace. For more details on Czech cuisine click here.

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Prague Cafés

While Prague's café culture lags behind that of Vienna and Budapest, the city still boasts some excellent turn-of-the-20th-century coffee houses, along with café-cum-brasserie style premises that offer light lunches as well as traditional pastries, cakes and puddings. For the low-down on the best places in town see our café pages.

Prague Bars & Pubs

Beer is very much the lifeblood of Czech society, with a rate of consumption that easily tops the world league table. Visit a typical Prague pub (pivnice or hosposa) and you'll find simple wooden benches, beer sold by the half-litre, and an atmosphere that (thankfully) makes few concessions to foreign visitors. For wine drinkers, wine cellars (vinárna) are the place to head, with good quality South Moravian reds sold alongside cheaper - more potent offerings - that will almost certainly give you a hangover the next day!

Venture into a Czech bar and, along with beer and wine, you'll find a range of traditional spirits which include becherovka (an acquired taste), slivovice plum brandy (warming to say the least) and the French invented, but now adopted absinthe (a hallucinogen in large doses).

So take a look at our bar and pub guide which lists some of the best (and worst) places to drink in Prague. Enjoy!

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