Taste of Prague Food Tour // Prague
My radio silence the past few days is because we have been in Prague! We had an absolutely wonderful weekend with what I would say perfect weather. That pleasant fall temperature calling for long sleeves, sunglasses and encouraging drinks al fresco. I have lots of wonderful pictures to share (fall in Prague rivals Southwest Virginia colors) so keep an eye out for posts to come.
To start, I wanted to share Dan and my Taste of Prague tour. Oh my. I have never ever participated in such a well-organized, enjoyably-informative tour. Our guide, Karolina, was a complete delight and our time with her was as promised- ‘like walking around Prague with a friend’. Not to tiptoe around it but we splurged on the tour because of the ridiculous amount of amazing trip advisor reviews but it was completely worth it. The quality of the tour was TOP notch, every restaurant we went to there was already a table set for our group of five with tastings ready to go. Not only that, the Taste of Prague team provides invaluable guidance on how to spend the rest of your time in Prague – cafes, restaurants, walks, shops, points of interest, you name it. The mapped recommendations (color printed in a sheet protector!) Karolina dispersed at the end of the tour set our course for the entire weekend. It was amazing.
Please note that much of the text below was copied from the follow-up email Karolina dispersed after the tour. Thank goodness too, I was in a food coma for hours.
We started our tour with a shot of home-made Slivovitz (plum brandy) and headed off to Cestr steak house in the old Communist Federal Parliament building. We had beer shots (dark Master lager – Pilsner Urquell head – malt biscuit), Pilsner Urquell “tank” beer (regular and “milk”-style), and Czech sourdough bread with a spread:
Shots from my end of the table: Czech trout roasted on butter with lentils and beets, fried “Olomoucke tvaruzky” cheese wrapped in bacon and breadcrumbs and served with home made mayonnaise and baked and grilled eggplant in horseradish sauce with a poached egg:
In those beautiful golden pans: beef golden muscle: cooked in goose fat for 16 hours, beef knuckle: slowly roasted on butter and dark lager, beef brisket: slowly roasted with marjoram and slow-grilled Prestice pork piglet head schnitzels with potato salad and mustard mayonnaise:
Karolina explaining the creation of each of the dishes. Throughout the tour she also incorporated an iPad to illustrate Czech history. Although complex with numerous modifications throughout the 20th century, her explanation was exceptional and helped us all to truly recognize the significance of each of the changes.
Then we headed to the “Svetozor” deli for “chlebicek” (pronounced “khlebeeczech”), open-faced sandwiches (baguette – potato salad spread – smoked ham or cheese – Czech pickle – hard-boiled egg). This is a local’s favorite with a line out the door to prove it, no worries for us though as Karolina darted inside and quickly return with a box full of yummy sandwiches.
The potato salad spread underneath the toppings seen really sealed the deal. So yummy!
We followed with Becherovka shots and three Czech sweets: “vetrnik” (round windmill chaux pastry with caramel and cream filling and caramel glaze), “venecek” (puff pastry filled with vanilla cream and topped in sugar glaze), and hazelnut nougat cake with crunchy bottom praline at the St Tropez Patisserie. Dan and my favorite, hands down, was venecek – creamy, fruity, and of so lovely.
We finished with three Czech wines and cheeses at the Vinograf Wine Bar at the Senovazne Square. After sampling three we each got to choose our favorite and were poured a full glass. My choice was a Morovian red.
The bottom line – when in Prague, do the Taste of Prague tour first thing.
Other tidbits:
-Not pictured but also sampled from Cestr: beef steak tartare with toasted bread and raw garlic, grilled chicken with truffle stuffing and juice from the grill with black truffles, braised spinach and carrots, potato dumplings, mashed potatoes boiled in whole milk, and beer ice-cream….. Yes, even Dan was full.
-St Tropez Patisserie was recently voted the best patisserie in the Czech Republic, well deserving of a visit when in Prague.