The food in Prague gets better each time I visit. I haven’t even scratched the surface in terms of the city’s best places to eat, but I’m slowly chipping away at my massive list — especially these days, as I’ll be here for the remainder of June.
Exhibit A is Artic Bakehouse, an Icelandic bakery with five locations throughout the city.
They specialize in breads, particularly sourdough, and Nordic-style pastries. I’ve yet to have something bad at Artic. Even their sandwiches, which range from a pesto grilled cheese to a spicy, jalapeno-infused tuna salad — both on sourdough — are incredible.
Brooke and I are slowly eating our way through the bakery and usually devour whatever we’ve ordered before I have any time to take a photo (i.e. their incredibly buttery peanut butter cookie). But here are two. Note that they are both half-eaten.
Next, last Saturday, I took a trip to Prague’s weekly farmers market. I’d been once or twice before, and it’s a really special market. They’ve got everything from fresh produce to meats, cheeses, oysters and champagne, fresh baked goods, and traditional Czech dishes — all served on little to-go trays to enjoy under the sun (or clouds) beside the Vltava River. There are always a few artisans selling their handmade items, and there’s a great musician named Tony Rose who serenades the whole thing with his country-twinged acoustic sound.
It’s impossible for me to decide what to eat at places like this, where there are so many options, so I made myself get the first thing that intrigued me. That day, it was these: obložené chlebíčky, Czech open-faced sandwiches.
They were invented in the early 20th century in Prague, during the First Czechoslovak Republic, by a man named Jan Paukert, a deli owner. Painter Jan Skramlík, who was painting Paukert’s wine cellar, asked him to make something bigger than a canapé, something of “two or three bites,” rather than one– and the rest is history. He began to sell them in his deli and they were a success. Today, chlebíčky are found all around the Czech Republic in delis and cafes.
They are traditionally made with veka, Czech white bread, and are topped with a wide range of ingredients from mayonnaise to ham to potato salads and beetroot spread. They’re sort of like the Czech version of Scandinavian smørrebrød, or Italian bruschetta: a small burst of flavor, always sure to satisfy.
I spotted a stand at the farmer’s market that had a variety of them. I’ve been wanting to try these for a long time, so I pulled out a hundred crowns (equivalent to $4.39 / 4.05 EUR) and ordered two.
The purple one is, of course, a beetroot spread with horseradish. It was topped with some micro greens and a baby pickled onion. The horseradish provided just the kick I needed to start my farmer’s market crawl. The green one is a parsley remoulade topped with shaved carrots and some pumpkin seeds and greens. I liked this one the most and would love to try to recreate that delicious, peppery remoulade.
While I ate my chlebíčky, I stood beside a stand that was frying vdolky — sweet, doughy cakes — in a big vat of oil. The smell was tempting enough; for a moment, I felt like I was at a fair back in the States, ready to indulge in all the fried food my body could handle.
The same stand also had a variety of different štrúdl, but I went for a vdolek. They’re like little fried dough balls, and they aren’t filled with anything, like you may expect. Instead, they’re topped with some sort of jam and some sort of cheese or cream; the one I had was topped with tvaroh, or quark cheese.
I got one of the last strawberry ones, because I was tempted by the fresh strawberry on top (the strawberries here right now are really good). I was by myself and was a bit worried that it’d be too rich and I wouldn’t be able to finish it — but looking back, this fear was just my persistent preparation to feel like absolute s!&% following any sweet (thanks, America).
I devoured it, and I almost ordered a second. Because they’re yeast-raised, they are so, so light. They aren’t overly sweet, either. It was the perfect dessert to follow my savory chlebíčky.
Brooke is preparing for exams and her thesis defense, so I’ve been accompanying her to an array of cafes every day. Prague has so many of them that it’s often hard to pick which one to go to. But we both have our favorites.
mamacoffee is one, particularly their location in New Town.
I love their coffee (and they serve it in the cutest cups), but I was feeling ginger tea on this visit. I tried their pastry with tempeh and carrot and potato, and it was lovely and reminiscent of Thanksgiving.
Cafedu is another favorite and the best one for getting work done since they are, technically, a study-cafe. We were on an iced dirty chai kick for a while, and their blueberry crumble cake is literally what dreams are made of…on my last day here, I’m going to beg their staff for the recipe because it’s actually ridiculous how good it is.
KRO Kitchen is a recent discovery. In Vinohrady, their cafe has a big window that opens up when the weather’s nice. The view into the street is simple but lovely, occupied by the occasional red tram that passes by, and garnished by a bit of greenery.
Their coffee’s okay, but their pastries are unmatched. We tried this strawberry cream pastry, which reminded me of the strawberry cream brioche at my beloved Marigold, back in Rome.
Perhaps the best for last is Version. They don’t have the best food, but I can’t get enough of their coffee. I have to force myself to savor it and not chug it because it’s that good. Plus, the vibe in there is always perfect for studying.
Another honorable mention is Dos Mundos. It’s a coffee roaster that supplies many of the local coffee shops, but I finally checked out one of their cafes up in Prague 7 a few days ago, and it was a cute little spot.
Don’t worry, now; I eat more than just sweets. (Though I mostly eat sweets.)
I eat burgers and fries, too!
For real, though, we went out for dinner at Dish, a super popular burger place in Vinohrady, and I tried their veggie burger. We got watermelon spritzes and garlic fries, too.
I’m always delighted when places make veggie burgers with care and don’t just throw a Beyond Burger on the grill and call it a day. This one was made with sweet potatoes and chickpeas – how cool! It was great, and the cucumber sour cream spread was super fresh-tasting.
I was doing some research on Prague 7 the other day, and I came across Dim Sum Spot. Immediately, I began to crave dumplings and knew I had to go after my breakfast at Dos Mundos. They had a really interesting selection of vegetarian ones to choose from.
I ordered two types: one was tofu with chili oil and peanuts (a little too spicy for me, but still delicious), and the other was potato with fried onion and parsley (10/10!!). They also had an extensive tea list, and I ordered some jasmine tea.
And last but not least, we went out for a few Czech appetizers and beers at Mlsnej Kocour. We split a side of horseradish pancakes and a selection of mini Czech sausages — both of which tasted great with our Kozel.
That’s all for today. I’m feeling really lucky that I’m able to stay in Prague for the next few weeks and that I’ve been able to enjoy some of the best food it has to offer now that I have some free time to explore. It’s really an incredible city, and I hope you can visit someday.
If you want to see more of what I’ve been eating / what I’ve been up to, check out my food page on Instagram for more. And if you’re heading to Prague anytime soon, check out my Prague food guide, which I am constantly adding to!
Happy Saturday, and happy June, and happy pride!
Studio Josie 