Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Czech Beer
Czechs are among the world's most enthusiastic beer
(pivo)
drinkers—adults drink an average of 80 gallons a year. The pub
is a place to have fun, complain, discuss
art and politics, talk hockey, and chat with
locals and visitors alike. The
pivo
that was
drunk in the country before the Industrial
Revolution was much thicker, providing
the main source of nourishment for the
peasant folk. Even today, it doesn't mat-
ter whether you're in a
restaurace
(res-
taurant), a
hostinec
(pub), or a
hospoda
(bar)—a beer will land on your table upon
the slightest hint to the waiter, and a
new pint will automatically appear when
the old glass is almost empty. (You must
tell the waiter
not
to bring more.) Order
beer from the tap (
točené
means “draft,”
sudové pivo
means “keg beer”). A
pivo
is
large (0.5 liter, or 17 oz); a
malé pivo
is small (0.3 liter, or 10 oz).
Men invariably order the large size.
Pivo
for lunch has me sight-
seeing for the rest of the day on Czech knees.
The Czechs invented Pilsner-style lager in nearby Plzeň
(“Pilsen” in German), and the result, Pilsner Urquell, is on tap
in many local pubs. But be sure to venture beyond this famous
beer. The Czechs produce plenty of other good beers, includ-
and beer. Sandwiched between the two red-light-district streets,
and now filled with tourists rather than Czechs, the restaurant
somehow maintains its charm (200 Kč for three courses and beer,
serving original Pilsner Urquell, piano or accordion music nightly
until 23:00, under an arcade, facing a tiny square between Perlová
and Skořepka streets, tel.
224-221-692
).
Restaurace u Pinkasů,
with a menu that reads like a 19th-
century newspaper, is a Prague institution, founded in 1843. It's
best in summer, when you sit in the garden behind the building,
in the shade of the Gothic buttresses of the St. Mary of the Snows
Church. But its waiters could win the award for the rudest service
in town (daily 9:00-24:00, tucked in a courtyard near the bottom
of Wenceslas Square, on the border between Old and New towns,
located on map on page 122, Jungmannovo Náměstí 16, tel. 221-
111-150).
Restaurace u Provaznice
(By the Ropemaker's Wife) has
all the Czech classics, peppered with the story of a once-upon-a-
time-faithful wife. (Check the menu for details of the gory story.)
It's less touristed and less expensive than the other restaurants in
