Visitors to Prague often miss out on the best of traditional Czech cuisine (which is heavily meat-based but also quite diverse). Don't be one of them unless you are vegetarian. Typical national dish is "pork, cabbage, dumplings" which must be accompanied with a glass of beer, the most typical Czech beverage. 

If you avoid eating fast food and will be heading out to the restaurants or pubs then you can experience some great Czech traditional cuisine, with even better Czech beer at really low or at least say affordable prices. Vegetarians will not be that much pleased, as Czech cuisine uses a lot of fried or roasted meat, usually pork of beef and on special occasions game and fish is served with dumplings, potatoes or rice, in a sauce. But on the other hand one thing is sure; you will not go hungry as all the national dishes are incredibly rich and filling. Though you are not limited only to Czech food as there are all sorts of international cuisine to choose from. You can try Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Cantonese, Italian, Balkan or whatever you come up to your mind. One traditional Czech dish is vepřo-knedlo-zelo. It is composed of roast pork, bread-like dumplings (knedlíky), gravy and sauerkraut (pickled cabbage). Reason why it gained so great popularity is because of its balanced taste, with the sour taste of sauerkraut a perfect complement to the salty taste of the meat. Another popular one to try is roast duck. Czech cuisine has also adapted schnitzels (breaded and fried chicken or pork patties) from Vienna, goulash from Hungary and other thing like sour cream, vinegar, sour vegetables and pickles - probably from the East. As we said earlier most of Czech dishes are quite filling and quite mild, fresh salads are still rare except in some cafés which serve light meals. But there is one exception concerning fresh veggies, nearly on every menu you'll find ‘šopský salát’, also called ‘balkanský salát’ – which is a small bowl of chopped bell peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers in sweet vinegar with a salty white cheese shredded liberally on top. Czech’s enjoy Czech food and mostly eat in pubs, or recently fast foods & pizzas getting very popular too. But Czechs are not really keen to experience other international cuisines, some are conservative and for others it might not be affordable.  Among grab-and-go foods, bramborak (a garlic-seasoned fried potato pancake) is a quick, if greasy, local favourite. Ditto for smazeny syr (fried cheese). Fried cheese was, for a long time, practically the only vegetarian dish served at res¬taurants. Today, the range of meatless dishes is definitely much wider. The parek v rohliku (hotdog in a roll) is sold from kiosk windows around the city and is a reliable bridge between an early lunch and late dinner. Lunch is mostly served between 11:30am to 3:00pm. Cheapest food can be found in pubs during lunch time where you can have lunch with a drink for less than 100 CZK. Some fast foods like pizzerias can be also quite cheap, serving decent food. Don't forget, many restaurants are closed in the afternoons. Dinner is served from 6pm to around 9:30pm, but some city restaurants server food until late night. Cheap restaurants including ones in a centre will satisfy your belly with a drink for around 200 CZK. Mid range restaurants will charge from 250 CZK to 500 CZK for a meal, not including drinks. Top restaurants for dinner can hit the bill for 2000 CZK with wine. Booking is mostly essential only at well know restaurants in summer and upmarket restaurants. Don’t be surprised if you find some funny names on the menu, even we Czechs don’t know where some of them come from and an explanation is usually required. If you’re early bird, like many Czechs, you can go to a bakery, cafe shops or buffets and have breakfast from early morning for around 60 CZK. Self catering is available from many supermarkets or grocery shops called “potraviny”. If you want cheaper grocery shopping go out of the city centre to any supermarket, or even better to a hypermarket.

Mostly everything is prepared simply without hot spices. One of the most common dishes are pork served with dumplings and sauerkraut and pot-roaster beef in rich creamy vegetable sauce and cranberries. Sweet dishes, such as fruit dumplings, strudel and pancakes are also very popular. No one should miss a chance to taste Czech beer. Well known brands are Pilsner Urquell, Gambrinus and Prague Staropramen.Moravia wine and Czech spirits Becherovka, borovicka and Slivovice are also old favourites (doesn't mean that foreigners will find them very attractive).

Czech Soups.
Mostly Czech meal starts with soup.
- garlic soup
- potato soup )
- dill soup, made using sour milk
- chicken noodle soup
- beef soup with liver dumplings
- sauerkraut soup

Main Courses.
If you want to try some Czech food you find it mostly consist of some meat and side dish, usually without vegetables. The most popular meats are chicken  and pork, followed by beef , usually served with some kind of sauce. When we talking about fish, it's not Czech favourite choice. But still you might try a trout, cod, salmon, mackerel or at Christmas Eve we eat a carp. Side dishes are
- boiled potatoes
- roasted potatoes
- potato salad
- mashed potatoes
- French fries
- rice
- bread dumplings or potato dumplings  with sauce
- bread or potato dumplings with sauerkraut

Czech Deserts.
We have many varieties and tend to be heavy and fatty because butter and whipped cream. Amongst popular desserts are:
- apple strudel
- crepes filled with jam or strawberries and whipped cream
- honey cake called
- blueberry dumplings
- ice cream sundae

Can I smoke in Czech Restaurant? There is not a restriction on smoking. In some cafes and restaurants, however, smoking is forbidden. Check directly with a restaurant.

Did you know? Prague restaurants are known for heavy meals but as Czech population starting to concern more about healthy then ever before large number of vegetarian restaurants pop up. Czech are not saying good bye to their beloved traditional food, it is more like, yes we are aware and we are trying to make a change - but don't expect we can eat "meat free" dish more than one a week.


Fast food stalks on the Wenceslas Sq. - if you fancy a hot dog.

Links to Famous  Prague Restaurants:

U Fleku
www.ufleku.cz

Klasterni Restaurace
www.koton.cz

The restaurant Stoleti
www.stoleti.cz

Cervena tabulka
www.originalart.cz

The Nebozizek restaurant
www.nebozizek.cz

Ristorante Il Cardinale
www.ilcardinale.com

Hostinec u Kalicha
www.ukalicha.cz