Beer and Bramboraky

If there is one thing we have grown to love about Prague it would be the 'Beer Garden' culture here. Sunday afternoons spent at the Letensky Sady beer garden overlooking the beautiful city is fast becoming a favourite, when the weather is right. The garden is shaded by big beautiful chesnut trees and is situated right in front of a neo renaissance mansion which (I think) is a restaurant. The garden is full of all kinds of people, from families with children, people on rollerblades stopping for a beer on their way through the park, business people, couples, expats and of course lots and lots of dogs!! A pint of beer will cost you about 33Kc which is about $1.50 Aus. :) 

We also visited the Prague Beer Museum, which is not as big or as boring as it sounds! It is a little bar in Old Town with about 30 local Czech beers on tap. All of the beers are boutique and are very interesting...I had a blueberry beer (which was delicious) and Jon had a dark ale. There are all sorts of beers on tap, including cherry and carmel honey as well as high percentage stouts and dark ales (not for the faint hearted). This is a great place to go if you are getting just that little bit tired of the all to popular Pilsner Urquell or Gambrinus. 

While out with some friends, sampling another beer garden, this one in Reigrovy Sady (a large and shady park in Prague 3), we decided to try some of the local Czech food. A friendly bar tender told of us of a good place just around the corner where the meals cost an average of 150Kc, or $8.50. This is a pretty standard price for a good meal in a nice restaurant here. Czech food is meaty and starchy...and little else. I am not sure if there is any nutritional content to the food, but it tastes amazing! We shared a traditional starter platter which included pickled sausage, game pate', ham off the bone, fried camembert cheese and brawn. Everything expect the brawn (which was meaty chunks in a fatty jelly...kind of like cat food) was quite nice. I think Jon was more a fan of it than me! Dinner consisted of a plate sized pork schnitzel, goulash with bramboraky (a fried potato pancake), beef and cream and sauerkraut. We were incredibly full after dinner that we could only manage one more beer before we needed to lie down. It was a good night though :)

Eating and drinking in Prague is both enjoyable and affordable. It is a large part of the czech culture so it makes more sense to go along with it than fight against it...Beer anyone? :)