Yesterday, we hit the streets of Prague with food writer and certified foodie, Jan, of the Taste of Prague blog. Jan walked us through some great restaurants, popular dishes, and about a hundred years of Czech history surrounding cooking and eating. We were excited to get a brief glimpse of the burgeoning Czech culinary revival, some quirky spots hidden in the city, and triple stops for dessert. After four hours, six stops, and countless bites, we thought we’d never eat again. Fortunately, that only lasted a couple of hours.
We had a great afternoon, and some of our students put together these blurbs of our good eats. Hope you enjoy the reading as much as we enjoyed the eating!
Marc Schorin of New York, New York, wrote:
Elisa of Washington, D.C., wrote:
Naše Maso, or the aptly translated “Our Meat”, is easily identifiable by the windows revealing sausages, ham hocks, and whole pigs hanging about the kitchen. These chefs follow recipes from the early 19th century and all of their products contain no artificial preservatives, colors, or fillers (supposedly, their ham would only last 2 days in a fridge before going bad). Here we tasted some classical central-European dishes, which America has adopted. It was fascinating to see the original form of meatloaf without breadcrumbs, hotdogs without sugar, and pork cracklings with lard atop sourdough bread. For our vegetarians, Naše Maso mad the Czech’s egg salad and radish with cram cheese, both of which Marc Schorin dubbed, “Quite delicious.”
Caroline of Yarmouth, Maine, wrote:
The Asian-fusion restaurant, Sansho, looked bright, airy, and cool, but was unequivocally hot. We sat down to cucumber water and were soon presented with steam bun sliders, filled with tempura soft shell crab or avocado, shaved green onions, and a thick, creamy sauce. Next was the specialty: a glossy pork belly and watermelon hoisin stir fry, which we were assured was the best dish in Prague. While the shy chef furiously worked on both a papaya ribbon and pork salad and a salty beef with roti, trying to remain unseen, the kitchen sent out a list of essential Czech phrases scribbled on a shred of blank receipt paper. Between videos of Communist-era Prague, we finished the meal with cream-filled donuts encrusted in sugar and a whole of well-worth-it guilt.
