What to Eat in Prague: Goulash, Beer Gardens and Local Tables

Prague is one of those cities where the food sneaks up on you. I arrived thinking it would be cheap beer and heavy meat, and the beer part is true, but the eating turned out to be the thing I kept talking about once I was home. So if you are wondering what to eat in Prague, here is what I would put on your plate, and where I would send you to find it.

What to eat in Prague: start with the classics

Czech food is built for cold weather and long evenings. The dish I came back to again and again was svickova: beef in a smooth, slightly sweet sauce made from root vegetables and cream, with a spoon of cranberry, a slice of lemon and a stack of bread dumplings to mop it all up. It sounds strange written down. On the plate it is the sort of thing you order once and then order again the next day.

Goulash is the other one you cannot skip. The Czech version is thicker than the soupy kind you might expect, usually beef cooked slowly until it gives way, sometimes served inside a hollowed out loaf of bread. Order it with a dark lager and you understand why nobody here is in a hurry to leave the table.

Knedliky and the art of the dumpling

You will meet knedliky, the Czech bread dumpling, next to almost everything. They are soft, a little spongy, and their whole job is to soak up sauce. At first I thought they were filler. By day three I was ordering extra. There are potato versions and fruit filled sweet ones too, usually with plum or apricot and a dusting of sugar. Have the sweet ones as a dessert at least once.

Trdelnik, and the truth about it

I should say something about trdelnik, the spiral of dough grilled over coals and rolled in sugar that you see at every stall around the old town. It smells incredible and it photographs well. It is also not really a Czech dish, and most locals roll their eyes at the idea that it is. Have one if the smell gets you, but do not think you are tasting a national treasure. The version stuffed with ice cream is pure tourist theatre, and fun for exactly one bite.

Beer gardens and where Czech beer shines

You cannot talk about Prague food without the beer, and the best way to drink it is in a Prague beer garden. The one up in Letna park, on the hill above the river, is where I spent a long afternoon doing very little. You get a half litre of fresh Czech lager, a plate of something fried or a sausage, and a view over the rooftops. The beer is genuinely cheaper than bottled water, which never stopped being funny to me.

Eat where the locals eat

The restaurants right on the old town square are fine, but they are priced for visitors and the food plays it safe. Walk fifteen minutes in any direction and everything changes. Neighbourhoods like Zizkov, Vinohrady and Karlin are where I found the best restaurants in Prague for my money: plain pubs with a Czech only menu, a few regulars at the bar and a cook who has made the same goulash for years. If a place has pictures of the food outside and a menu in six languages, keep walking.

What it costs

Prague is kind to a budget once you leave the centre. A pub lunch with a beer costs very little, and even a proper sit down dinner with a couple of drinks rarely feels expensive by Western European standards. Lunch menus on weekdays are the best value of all, so eat your big meal in the middle of the day and keep the evening light.

A few practical notes

Czech portions are generous, so order less than you think you need and share. Many pubs expect you to flag the waiter rather than wait to be served, and you usually pay at the table at the end. Tipping a little is normal, often by rounding up. Come hungry, drink the local lager rather than anything imported, and give yourself a few days so you can eat your way through more than one neighbourhood.

Planning the rest of your trip? My Czechia guides go deeper on the country, and if you are heading on to Vienna afterwards, my Austria guides cover that leg.