The food and drink in Prague is one-of-a-kind as a tourist—it is both delicious and inexpensive. Prague has no shortage of cheap eats or beer.
Drink beer
If you love a good dark beer, Prague has plenty of delicious options. The stouts there are easy-drinking—not too heavy on the alcohol. I’m no expert in beer flavour notes but I do know one flavour note that is apparent in Prague stouts: deliciousness!
Prague also has plenty of other beer if you prefer less opaque, or lighter-coloured beer, though I found their stouts to be the ones worth blogging about.
Eat sausages
If you’re a meat-lover like myself, after a delicious stout or two you would be craving a nice, meaty snack. If the idea of pairing a stout with a couple of spicy sausages sounds intriguing to you, then you would have found your heaven in this beautiful European city. The Czech certainly appreciate good beer and sausages—stopping by a pub for a protein-rich snack is very enjoyable in Prague. Sausages are a common snack item on the menus of many pubs, and are perfectly paired with a locally-brewed stout. Such a pairing can also be enjoyed without spending too much—beer is cheaper than water, and the sausages are very economically-priced.
There is no shortage of delicious sausage in Prague, which is often paired with horseradish, dijon mustard, and bread. You can literally buy sausage anywhere—even at a hill-top park while overlooking the city.
There are so many great spots in Prague to enjoy a cheap snack and a beer, but don’t forget to look up at the beautiful views! The Letna beer garden is a great spot. After hiking your way uphill to get to the beer garden, after grabbing your beer and snack, don’t forget to look up at the beautiful sights. You can see the whole city from the Letna beer garden. It’s a really nice place you can hang out at, and you don’t even have to buy anything if you aren’t interested in a drink or a snack. It’s a public area with plenty of tables and bench seating that overlooks the city.
The architecture
The food and drink in Prague are not the only things to indulge in—the architecture is beautiful. This city definitely has an old, European feel to it. It’s beautiful, and there are definitely some unique buildings to look at.
There are new, unique modern buildings to look at like the Dancing House (Tancici Dum), but if you prefer the more classic European architecture, there is plenty of that also.
The coffee
The morning after a few beers, you’ll need to caffeinate in order to see everything the city has to offer. There are plenty of great coffee shops with high-quality coffee, as well as beautiful interiors and exteriors to relax in.
In the afternoon, to cool down, you’ll want to pause all your trekking around stop for an iced latte at one of the many high-quality cafes in Prague.
Prague truly is a beautiful city, with plenty of architecture, nature, and food and drink to enjoy.
If coffee isn’t your thing, you might enjoy a refreshing lemonade made with one of the delicious syrups Prague has to offer.
Syrups are much more common in Europe than they are in North America, and they are made of all-natural ingredients including berries and other fruits and herbs.
The lemonade I tried was so delicious, I had to get a second helping. There is often plenty of syrups to choose from.
Trdelnik
Trdelnik is a big deal in Prague—it’s everywhere! It’s a good snack if you’re craving something doughy and sugary while walking around downtown.
Trdelnik is a grilled doughy dessert, sweetened, and often contains interesting fillings like chocolate or pistachio spreads. Trdelnik is definitely worth a try if you’re trying to enjoy food and drink in Prague and want the whole experience.
The fine dining
This is what you came here for, right? Prague has delicious, high-quality restaurants that offer amazing food at prices that are an absolute steal! A three-course meal at one of the finest restaurants with wine can easily cost close to $50. In Canada, those prices are unheard of for high-quality steak with lots of wine and delicious sides.
One of the great restaurants I visited when I was in Prague was called Cestr. They were full and it was very difficult to get a table—we had to wait for approximately two hours before they would seat us. We had walked a long way, and they were one of the best in Prague, so we patiently sipped some wine on the patio while we waited for a table to be ready.
It was definitely worth the wait! After finally sitting down inside, we ordered even more wine, as well as some steak, and side dishes.
I thought the presentation of the fries was so adorable that I offered to buy the copper pot but they wouldn’t sell it to me. I enjoyed everything at Cestr.
Finding value like that is unheard of in Canada. Even finding a steak of that quality is unheard of—the steak at Cestr was absolutely delicious, tender, and perfect. They are serious about their steak here.They had their own beef hanging in a separate room, and have plenty of charts of cows with each part marked, educating diners about the different cuts of meat.
Another delicious restaurant I was fortunate to have visited is Eska. Their dishes are extremely creative and have lots of unique flavours. From unique butter with green salt, to cheese-based appetizers, to creative vegetarian options, and gastronomical desserts. Everything they had was amazing.
Nothing like starting a meal with some bread and the best homemade butter you’ve ever had, topped with green salt!
Eska offered some hearty vegetarian fare as well. Their grain- and mushroom–based vegetarian course was very flavourful, and was topped with a perfectly-runny poached egg, as well as green onions and herbs. It was very flavourful, and even a meat-lover like myself was not disappointed by the lack of meat.
The dessert at Eska was also quite delicious. I ordered ice cream, which had a berry syrup and was topped with salt and homemade rosemary merengue.
The flavours were so unique, I remember them months later. The combination of rich dairy, juicy rich berry, and rosemary, combined with the different textures of thick ice cream, liquid syrup, and crispy merengue were really great. The dessert was really a great experience in flavour, appearance, and texture.
Brunch in Prague
After so much wandering around the city and dining out, when you wake up later in the morning the next day, what else is there to do except go for brunch?
There are plenty of great brunch spots, and it took us two attempts to get into Cafe Savoy but we finally made it.
I ordered their signature breakfast, which included ham, cheese, and a soft-boiled egg. The presentation was great with the egg, and made me want to buy a soft-boiled egg holder as soon as I got home.
They also had delicious rich hot chocolate.
The hot chocolate was a build-your-own experience, where they served you a teacup of microfoamed milk, and a carafe of rich hot chocolate. That was my attempt at hot chocolate latte art. Not bad, eh? I was expressing my love of the city!
Would I recommend it?
Of course I would recommend Prague! It’s beautiful!
It’s also very inexpensive!
I would have to say that Prague was one of the least expensive trips I ever took. Now that direct flights from Toronto are available, there’s really no reason not to visit Prague. It really is a gorgeous city with plenty of delicious food and drink offerings.