MBS & U Dědka

Let's say you are walking around Prague's fashionable Vinohrady neighborhood and looking for some light bites and drinks on a Friday night.

Or let me put it a better way.

Let's say I'm walking around Vinohrady looking for some light bites and drinks, and I'm with V.

Here's that story.

It was a long week, we worked late, and we wanted to unwind. For our first stop, we met friends at a neighborhood pub calls MBS – Miluj Bližního Svého. This loosely translates as "Love Thy Neighbor."

There's not too much to say about this place. The room is not too large, and a few people who showed up after 9:00 pm couldn't get a table.

It's pretty smoky, and seems to pull in a Czech, 30ish crowd. They serve Bernard beer. The 10-degree beer was only 23 CZK for a half-liter, but it was on the flat side, and I didn't enjoy it. The Bernard semi-dark beer was much better for 25 CZK.

For a snack, we shared a steak tartare (tatarák). It was OK, and came with six slices of fried Czech bread (topinka). There are cloves of garlic on the side for rubbing/grating on the fried bread. It is decadent and delicious. I can't remember exactly what it cost, but it wasn't too expensive.

It was getting late. We decided that home was a walkable distance, and we thought the cool air would do us good after the smoky pub.

And after drinking a fair amount.

And V had a restaurant-bar she wanted to show me along the way.

We headed up Bruselská toward Americká and wound up at Na Kozačce. There we found U Dědka. This translates roughly as At Grandpa's or At the Old Man's. This is a fairly rich neighborhood, but I didn't spot too many other foreigners this night.

The upstairs area was pretty full when we got there. It was pretty empty as we left and I took this picture.

We went downstairs and found a free table. We decided to have a few drinks to finish the evening, along with dessert.

I was feeling full from the beer, so switched to a less voluminous option. I ordered a shot of Fernet Stock Citrus (30 CZK) with Bonaqua sparkling water (25 CZK). V got her usual glass of Müller-Thurgau (28 CZK). Our waiter was very friendly and efficient.

For dessert, V ordered the orange sorbet (pomerančový sorbet) for 60 CZK. It comes inside a real, hollowed-out, frozen orange. It's sitting atop a bed of ice. V thought this was very cool. And the sorbet was good, too. It had in intense orange zing. It did seem to be just a little creamy, though, so I wondered if it was really a true sorbet.

Since I'm something of a chocoholic, I got the chocolate cake (čokoládový dort) for 55 CZK. It was pretty good, but could have been great if it wasn't on the dry, crumbling side. It came with whipped cream, and a sour berry sauce on the side.

I remember that the menu looked interesting, though I don't remember much about it. I do remember it said they have fresh oysters on Tuesday. That's about it.

V said she had a nice tuna tartare there once. I read the review in The Prague Post from December 2005 and it said they had an excellent hamburger. I'll have to go back and check it out for dinner.

So, let's just say, if you're walking through Vinohrady on a Friday night, looking for a drink and a bite, and you stumble along in our footsteps, you might say it's a pleasant way to go.

Good company certainly helps, though.

Miluj Bližního Svého (MBS)
Lublaňská 11
Prague 2

U Dědka
Na Kozačce 12
Prague 2
Tel. (+420) Tel. 222 522 784

Downstairs at U Dědka