Top 6 Czech Dishes You Should Try

Top 6 Czech Dishes You Should Try

No matter who you are, food will always be an essential part of your life. In the Czech language, we have a saying: “Láska prochází žaludkem.” Or in English it goes:

“The way to a (wo)man’s heart is through his (her) stomach.”

That means that to fall in love with someone, you have to share the same tastes for food with that person. Primarily, you have to please your beloved one by what you cook. And vice versa – you have to love what the other person would offer to you. And, most ideally, you should create a great couple when preparing a meal together.

I believe that this concerns every single culture, however, to fall in love with a certain country, you should definitely try at least one of the local dishes.

Interieor of czech pub from circa 1930. Technical museum in Brno, Czech Republic. Photo sourced from WikimediaCommons

Customs

Before entering a Czech restaurant note that in the Czech Republic, we eat – not strictly but still quite often – at certain times only.

We eat our lunch at noon or at around 1 pm…

At this time, the Czech restaurants that I will recommend below offer a special deal for the lunch menu. That means that all the meals would then be cheaper than if you’d come later on that day. The price could be around 5 euros or lower. On the other hand, as the lunch menu varies every day, you never know what will be on the list. You then still have the possibility to order a normal, full-priced meal, but trust me, this culinary roulette game is a lot more fun.

We eat our dinner at around 7pm…

If you desire to avoid any junk food during your trip, try to order your dinner preferably sooner than later, because by 9 pm a lot of restaurants would close their kitchens and would tell their cooks to get some rest after a long day. From 9 pm, the chance of getting a warm dish becomes less and less probable.

Remember, there is still a chance to get your meal right in the center of Prague. Photo sourced from Flickr

Find a full meal and drinks for under 12€ in Prague’s city centre…

Try to avoid the tourist traps and follow our tips below. Trust me, like in every big city, it is always better to get into the backstreets, rather than close to the main tourist attractions. However, if you are searching for a good-quality restaurant with reasonable prices right at the Old Town Square, there is still a chance. Just a few steps from the Astronomical Clock, there is a restaurant called Mincovna. A lunch would cost you around 150 CZK (EUR 6).

Address: Staroměstské náměstí number 7

The tip is not included in the bill!

If you enjoyed your meal and the service, a sufficient tip would be around 10 to 20 percent of the whole price. The tips are not a must, but it is a good habit to leave them, considering the quality of the service that should be directly proportional to your satisfaction.

KNEDLÍKY! An important part of your local dish. Picture sourced from LibreShot. Author: Martin Vorel

Czech food is not the best choice for those who are on a diet…

Or for those who would like to lose their weight during the trip. A lot of our meals are based on meat, a lot of our dishes are fried, and our portions are very big compared to other destinations – except for Texas maybe… On the other hand, once you try Czech cuisine, you just fall in love with it. It is delicious just like any other cuisine in the world.

Try our local beer

There are around 500 beer brands in the Czech Republic! From the best known, you can try Plzeň (Pilsen), from the less known, I will vote for Svijany, Únětice or Kácov. Lately, they’ve been quite often on tap.

Beer is a Czech local drink you should try. Photo by George Hodan. Sourced from PublicDomainPictures.net

Number 1: Start with a soup!

One Italian friend of mine that lives in Prague once told me: “I can’t imagine eating a soup before every meal. I can’t eat anything but a salad in the summer.” Well, the Czechs are brought up in a different manner.

Potato soup. Picture sourced from PublicDomainPictures.net. Author: Cristie Guevara

Since childhood, we are taught to eat a warm soup as a starter. According to our school teachers and grandmas, it would help us digest the upcoming main dish. Of course, you are not obliged to eat the soup in a restaurant. But once you are invited to a family lunch or a school cantina, you’d definitely have to seek for some excuse.

Anyway, even in a restaurant you should give it a go at least once. There are plenty of soups that you could try – my mother’s favorite bramboračka (potato soup with barley and mushrooms), my dad’s favorite zelňačka (cabbage soup with a sausage), or my favorite kulajda (a creamy dill soup with an egg and mushrooms).

A Czech soup will help you survive during a though winter. Picture sourced from Pixabay

Go and get some polévka (soup), and enjoy the cozy feeling it gives you especially in the winter time! You can get it in almost every restaurant. If you do not feel like eating a lot, polévka is a great way to skip the main dish.

Zelňačka. Picture sourced from WikimediaCommons

The price of one polévka varies between 40 CZK (EUR 1.70) to 75 CZK (EUR 3). Fun fact – etymologically, the word polévka is derived from a verb polévat – to spill something.

Hence it is sure that a soup is served in a liquid state, just be careful not to get it on your clothes!

Number 2: Try our roast pork with dumplings

 “Vepřo-knedlo-zelo” is roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut. The name consists of abbreviatons – pork is vepřové, dumplings are knedlíky and sauerkraut is zelí. Luckily, the Czech language made it possible to shrink all these words to a shorter version that is, unluckily, almost unpronounceable for the foreign visitors.

I am 160 cm tall and I weigh around 50 kilos. Trust me, if I ate a vepřo-knedlo-zelo every day, my proportions would double after one fortnight. Vepřo-knedlo-zelo is a great way to gain some energy especially in the winter time.

Vepřo-knedlo-zelo. Picture taken, food eaten & beer drank by Alžběta.

Despite the fact it is caloric and huge, it is still my favorite dish. The pork could be sometimes replaced by a duck or by a rabbit, the cabbage could also be changed for spinach, but the taste should remain excellent whatever the ingredients would be. Knedlíky (dumplings) are normally made of flour and potatoes, and they provide a tasty tool you can soak up the sauce with. Like this, you leave your plate bright clean. This is our way to show how much we actually liked the dish.

Lokál on Malá Strana. Just a few steps from the Charles Bridge. Picture sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Author: Michal Kmínek

The prize of one vepřo-knedlo-zelo varies between 200 CZK (EUR 8) up to even 400 CZK (EUR 16). To get a good and still priceworthy vepřo-knedlo-zelo, try Lokál! It is a very popular chain of restaurants that the Czechs really enjoy. You can try the one in Dlouhá street 33, or the one in Míšenská street 12. Both are in the heart of Prague and you should not miss them. Ask the locals to teach you how to pronounce the letter Ř. It is a letter that exists only in the Czech language and you will need it when ordering this particular meal.

Number 3: Order a plate of guláš

 When travelling to the Central Europe, be aware that all of the countries were once a part of the great Austro-Hungarian Empire. This means that, from this era, there are some cultural, culinary and linguistic similarities that you can spot on your trip.

Some buildings might look similar, some words are almost the same, and the locals might look as members of a very large family.

Guláš (goulash) is thus not an originally Czech meal as it is deeply rooted in a Hungarian culinary tradition, but we liked it so much that we had to appropriate it in our manner. This means that we use less spices than the Hungarians do. The basics remain the same.

Czech Beef Goulash. Picture sourced from WikimediaCommons

Guláš is made from beef, and if you’re fond of French cuisine, it could remind you of the Beef bourguignon. Other ingredients are onions, paprika and knedlíky – unlike in vepřo-knedlo-zelo that uses potato dumplings, the guláš knedlíky are based especially on flour.

Give it a try and do not forget to use the knedlík-sponge to absorb all the sauce, because that’s how we do it. The price of one guláš varies between 200 CZK (EUR 8) up to 400 CZK (EUR 16). I usually get my guláš in the restaurant called U Staré paní (By The Old Lady).

U Staré Paní restaurant. Picture sourced from WikimediaCommons

You can get one guláš for around 240 CZK (less than 10 Euros).

Address: Michalská street number 9

Number 4: Try the our vegetarian dishes!

“Smažák” aka May the vegetarians not starve!

 You can say that the Czech cuisine is not necessarily vegetarian friendly (I’d rather not even speak about the vegans). Surprisingly, there is a lot of vegetarian bistros notably in Prague.

Fried cheese or smažák. Picture sourced from PublicDomainPictures.net. Author: Vera Kratochvil

One of the meatless dishes I’d like to mention is “smažený sýr” (fried cheese), also known as “smažák”. It is a slice of Edam coated in what we’d call trojobal – a triple cover made of eggs, flour and breadcrumbs. Once ready, the slice is fried on a pan and later proposed with French fries or potatoes.

It is a very popular summer meal and we often eat it in a beer pause that intervenes our bike ride – just to be sure that we won’t lose too much weight when doing sports.

I enjoy my fried cheese in a spacious restaurant called U Vysmátého Zajíce (By The Laughing Rabbit). For smažený sýr, you shall pay around 180 CZK (around 7 Euros).

Address: Michalská street number 13

Number 5: Finish with our sweet dumplings! 

In Czech we say “ovocné knedlíky” to order.

The Czechs literally eat sweet rounded dumplings filled by some warmed seasonal fruits (strawberries, plums, apricots). We all eat it as a main dish. Yes, I know you’re thinking we’re crazy.

Ovocný knedlík with an apricot. Picture sourced from WikimediaCommons

Sweet dumplings have a topping made of dissolved butter and curd cheese. Four pieces give you a sufficient energy source that would make you explore all the main Prague monuments within three hours.

Unless you are not looking at the children’s menu, “ovocné knedlíky” are not often offered in the restaurants. If you crave for them, get invited to a Czech household and ask for them. And if you do not have the courage to do this, seek for Café Savoy, a restaurant close to the Petřín hill and to the riverbank.

You will get your “ovocné knedlíky” for less than 8 euros. After eating them, you will have enough energy to climb up the hill and see a nice view of the city.

Address: Vítězná street number 5

Number 6: Halušky, a tribute to the Slovak cuisine…

No need to mention that the Czechoslovak Republic ceased to exist in 1993. Since this time, there are two separated countries – the Czech and the Slovak Republic. Despite the separation, the Czechs and Slovaks remained very good friends and do not quarrel. Since I was born to a partly Czech and a partly Slovak family, it is my obligation now to pay a tribute to my Slovak ancestors and mention a Slovak dish that you can order in the Czech Republic.

Halušky, an excellent Slovakian dish. Picture sourced from Flickr.

The dish is called “halušky”. It is a gnocchi-like meal covered by bryndza, a traditional salty Slovak cheese. As Slovakia is a lovely country, I’d recommend you to order your halušky there. On the other hand, the last time I had my halušky in Prague, I had no regrets. I ate them in Malostranská beseda, enjoying the view at the Saint Nicholas Churhc. I paid around 200 CZK (EUR 8) for the meal.

Address: Malostranské náměstí 21

Indeed, Czech food does not have to be necessarily everyone’s piece of cake. But still, it was a pleasure to share my piece of advice with you. I bet that after reading my list you now know which meal you should pick when coming to the Czech Republic. Dobrou chuť! Enjoy your meal! Bon appétit!