CAFES
AU GOURMAND
Dlouhá 10, Prague (00 420 222 329 060; www.augourmand.cz). There are three branches of this French-style café in Prague; this is arguably the nicest. Serves fresh sandwiches, soups and salads, plus home-made cakes and pastries. There are great fresh juices on offer. They will also custom-make cakes for any occasion. CAFE SLAVIA
Smetanovo nábřeží 1012/2, Prague (00 420 224 218 493; www.cafeslavia.cz). The windows of Prague's most fabled café, Slavia, look out onto both the Castle and the bustle of NárodnííTrída, just opposite the National Theatre. Dissidents once gathered here, but it's been slicked up since then - too much, say the nostalgic. But Slavia is conveniently located; it serves a decent espresso and salmon toast; and the view of Prague streetlife can't be bettered. Open 8am-11pm.
GLOBE BOOKSTORE AND COFFEE HOUSE
Pštrossova 6 110 00, Prague (00 420 224 934 203; www.globebookstore.cz). A California-style café, serving soups, rolls, home-made cakes and good coffee. There is a daily changing menu and a special brunch menu on weekends and holidays. The balcony features a monthly changing exhibition of pictures or photos of young artists or art students. Good selection of new and second-hand books.
RESTAURANTS
BELLEVUE
Smetanovo ná brezí 18, Prague (00 420 222 221 443; www.bellevuerestaurant.cz). Prague's star restaurateur, Sanjiv Suri, considers Bellevue to be the flagship of his four-restaurant empire (which also includes the nearby V Zátisí, Circle Line and Mlýnec). None of the others can compete with Bellevue's view of Prague Castle, on the opposite bank of the Vltava; but to choose between them for the quality of the food would be a tough call. At Bellevue, the foundation of Czech cuisine, soup, becomes an art form; yet it is only a prelude to new interpretations of Bohemian classics: duck in slivovice (plum brandy), beef fillet with fiery horseradish. Prague's waiters have a well-earned reputation for rudeness, but the service at Bellevue is generally solid.
COWBOYS
Nerudova 40, Prague (00 420 296 826 107; www.kampagroup.com). Restaurateur Nils Jebens, best-known for haute cuisine at Kampa Park, opened this, the city's first proper steakhouse, just below Prague Castle. The cellar dining room has exposed brick arches and an airy, spacious feel, as well as an outdoor terrace. Steaks include tender filet mignon, entrecôte, rib eyes, and perfectly charred T-bones, plus Buffalo wings, Portobello mushroom burgers and Caesar salads. There is also an extensive wine list, evidenced in floor-to-ceiling displays of Rhône, Languedoc, and Burgundy vintages.
KAMPA PARK
Na Kampe 8b, Prague (00 420 296 826 112; www.kampapark.cz). The flagship restaurant of the stylish Kampa Group of restaurants (which includes Cowboys, above) owned by restaurateur Nils Jebens. Watching the Vltava from a heated terrace table at Kampa Park, just downstream from the Charles Bridge, has been a favourite pastime of visitors for years. The newly renovated riverside bar and seafood restaurant serves dishes including seared scallops with cauliflower, nuts, raisins and capers beurre blanc, and crusted halibut with spinach purée, vegetable foam and foie gras chips, coupled with over 150 wines.
KOGO
Havelská 499/27, Prague (00 420 224 210 259; www.kogo.cz). A chain of chic, inexpensive, Italian-style restaurants with great salads, antipasti, pizzas and pasta.
MLYNEC
Novotného lávka 9, Prague (00 420 221 082 208; www.mlynec.cz). From the same group as the more formal and expensive Bellevue (see above), Mlýnec offers high-quality fusion and Czech cuisine at the foot of the Charles Bridge, in a wonderful riverside location. Chef Marek Purkart is the only Czech chef to have been awarded the Michelin Bibendum, in 1999, 2001 and 2003. The alfresco dining terrace is ideal for summer months.
PALFFY PALAC CLUB
Valdstejnska 14, Prague (00 420 257 530 522; www.palffy.cz). The restaurant is one the first floor of the baroque and elegantly faded Pálffy Palace, which also provides the original porcelain and crystal they use here. The menu at times leans towards the more gimmicky end of fusion food (tiger prawns with green foam; ostrich carpaccio), but the cooking is good and the candle-lit, open-air terrace, with its fantastic views across the roofs of the Little Quarter and music filtering up from the conservatoire next door, pretty much defines the term 'romantic'.
U MALTEZSKYCH RYTIRU
Prokopska 10, Prague (00 420 257 530 075; www.umaltezskychrytiru.com). Cramped but cosy cellar restaurant in Mala Strana. Among its specialities: roast duck, wild boar and venison Chateaubriand.
U MALIRU
Maltézské namestí 11, Prague (00 420 257 530 318; www.umaliru.cz). Originally opened in 1543 and a favourite of Rudolf II, U Maliru has a vaulted ceiling decorated with frescoes of merry Bohemian maidens, and it serves a mix of traditional Czech dishes (potato and thyme soup, grilled pike-perch, strawberry dumplings), and haut-bourgeois French cuisine. An extraordinary wine list offers premier cru claret, fine Burgundy and vintage Champagne at prices that will make your credit card howl in protest. There's also a nice selection of Moravian wines for those who feel one mortgage is enough for the time being.
U MEDVIDKU
Na Perstyne 7, Prague (00 420 224 21 19 16; www.umedvidku.cz). It's impossible to imagine a traditional Czech night out without veprové, knedlíky a zelí (pork, dumplings and sauerkraut), served on heavy wooden tables alongside half-litres of Pilsner. The steamed dumplings are topped with shredded bits of bacon and usually made from potato dough, though bread dumplings are preferred by some for their gravy-absorbing qualities. In Prague, you will find the dish served with gusto at the city's own most traditional pub, U medvídku, in the Staré Mesto area, which is still frequented by hundreds of locals.
U ZLATE HRUSKY
Novy Svet 3, Prague (00 420 220 514 778; www.uzlatehrusky.cz). A stately wood-panelled restaurant in a gothic building, just opposite the Czech president's villa, 'The Golden Pear' serves food in the grand Habsburg manner. Starts include Iranian caviar (for those who can afford it at £100 for 30g) and game ragout with wild-mushroom roulade; for main courses there is duck with pears, cabbage and dumplings, and fillet of beef with duck livers, and curd cheese dumplings with plum sauce or chocolate soufflé for pudding. In fine weather you can eat outside, underneath the chestnut trees in the garden.
V ZATISI
Liliova 1, Prague (00 420 222 221 155; www.vzatisi.cz). Owned by the Zatisi catering group (who also own Bellevue, see above), V Zatisi has an excellent location and refined ambience. The food is a mix of Czech and international.
ZAHRADA V OPERE
Legerova 75, Prague (00 420 224 239 685; zahradavopere.cz). This stylish restaurant near the Opera House serves beautifully-presented fusion food, all served with edible flowers, from South African to Indonesian. Starters may include bobotie, a traditional Cape Malay dish of minced beef with spices, raisins and almonds, or king prawn grilled in salt butter, with flower salad and aioli wasabi. Main courses include pork noisettes wrapped in bacon, in prune and tomato marinade or beef sirloin with parsley yoghurt, orchids and potato puree. Good post-Opera choice.
CAFES
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