Where to eat in Czech Republic

Czech Food and Drink

Although Czech cuisine is not the best choice for vegetarians, everybody will most likely find at least a couple of meals "to die for". It may be the potato soup, the traditional roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut, the fruit filled dumplings, or the apple strudel. Czech cooking and eating habits have been shifting in the general direction of a healthier lifestyle, but traditional Czech recipes are still extremely popular - and those tend to be high in calories, fat and sugar. Sauces and condiments are popular.

• potato soup (bramborova polevka or bramboracka)
• garlic soup (cesnekova polevka or cesnecka)
• chicken noodle soup (kureci polevka s nudlemi)
• beef soup with liver dumplings (hovezi polevka s jatrovymi knedlicky)
• sauerkraut soup (zelna polevka or zelnacka)
• dill soup, made from sour milk (koprova polevka or koprovka)

The main course (hlavni chod) usually consists of meat (maso) and a side dish (priloha). The most popular meats are chicken (kure) and pork (veprove), followed by beef (hovezi), usually served with some kind of sauce (omacka). Fish is not very common although trout (pstruh) or cod (treska) are sometimes served. Salmon (losos) and seafood (plody more) are served in better restaurants. The mackerel (makrela) is a popular fish to grill over open fire in summer. Carp (kapr) is traditionally served on Christmas Eve.

• boiled potatoes (varene brambory)
• roasted potatoes (opekane brambory)
• mashed potatoes (bramborova kase)
• French fries (bramborove hranolky)
• rice (ryze)
• bread dumplings (houskove knedliky) or potato dumplings
• bramborove knedliky) with sauce (omacka)
• bread or potato dumplings with sauerkraut (zeli)
• potato salad (bramborovy salat)

Desserts (moucniky) come in many varieties and tend to be heavy and fatty because butter (maslo) and whipped cream (slehacka) are often used. Some popular desserts are:

• crepes (palacinky) filled with jam (dzem) or strawberries (jahody)
• and whipped cream
• honey cake called Medovnik
• blueberry dumplings (boruvkove knedliky)
• apple strudel (jablecny zavin)
• ice cream sundae (zmrzlinovy pohar)

As far as drinks (napoje) go, a Czech meal is often accompanied by the national beverage, which is beer (pivo). If you're not in the mood for beer, you can have a mineral water (mineralka), orange juice (pomerancovy dzus), apple juice (jablecny dzus), or a soda (specify its name because soda in Czech means "soda water"). Czechs also like to drink tea (caj) with sugar (cukr) and lemon (citron), and coffee (kava) with or without milk (mleko) or cream (smetana).