this post is filed under Cuisine - Czech

During one of our sightseeing days, we decided to eat lunch at Pravda, a hip-looking restaurant near the Jewish Quarter. It turns out Pravda is on the "nice shopping street" - that is, the street with the fancy stores, like the Hermes across the street. During the day, the room is bright, modern and comfortable. The place boasts an international menu, with different countries each represented by individual items. The place flirts with the dangers of being a bit trendy, but I think it ended up being a pretty good place to grab lunch.

borsch - vegetable soup with beef, beet-root, cabbage, and a dollop of sour cream - Kč 225

This soup had a more tangy flavor to it than most versions I've tried - a bit too sour for me. I did enjoy the plentiful diced beets. It was sort of refreshing in a weird way. I kinda wish I got the mushroom cream soup that Mike got though - that was fabulous.

Czech Stroganov - slices of tenderloin with tomatoes and cream served with jasmine rice - Kč 425

When I saw this on the menu, I immediately had flashbacks of the excellent Stroganoff made by Auntie Margie, which is one of my first true food loves. This version wasn't quite as good, but I guess I wasn't expecting it to be. The sauce had a great flavor to it nonetheless, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I don't know if a Czech-style Stroganoff is supposed to be distinct from a typical one, but at Pravda they replaced mushrooms with olives. Not bad, but I like mushrooms better.

Again, not a very cheap meal considering it's lunch... I will say that the location is great, and offers some interesting people-watching out the window. The menu is very diverse, and the food was generally pretty good. I'd go back.

Hi Arthur, I'm enjoying the blogs about your food abroad. Did you try any of the smaller taverna style restaurants/bars in Prague? In my experience, they were pretty good too. It'd be nice to see a blog praising the good, honest, home-style cooking coming out of these smaller establishments, they're so often missed. Keep it up though, and when will you be visiting London..? :)
Adie x

posted by Adie on April 4, 2006 05:02 AM

Adie - we did have a couple of little meals and street food experiences that unfortunately went unphotographed. I do wish I had a few more days to try more of the bar-type food. Next time, perhaps!

No plans for London, at least not any time in the near future... :(

posted by Arthur on April 8, 2006 05:49 PM