I wrote a longer post four months ago about the breakfast Café Savoy. I have a quick update here after a recent visit.
I have a new favorite dish at this popular restaurant.** I decided I'd try the entrecôte. I had no great expectations, but it put a big smile on my face. These 200 grams of beef really made my day.
The meat itself was tender and flavorful, but I should note, had a fair amount of fat. I did add salt.
It also came with a pile of very thin onion rings and cost 278 CZK. I got it with fries for an extra 50 CZK. The menu says the thinly cut potatoes are fried in peanut oil.
But these things, while pretty good, are not what really raised this dish to a higher level of enjoyment for me.
That was accomplished by the boat filled with demi-glace on the side. You can see it hiding in the back of the photo. I have not had a richer, more delicious lunch in a long time.
This was not a light-hearted sauce. Perhaps I was clogging my arteries with every bite. Still, I liked it so much, I'd do it all again. And again.
It had the terrific flavor of reduced beef stock, but there also had to be plenty of butter. In this version, there appeared to be bits of either butter or flour or both floating in the boat. Those ingredients make up the roux that is used in demi-glace. It didn't look so pretty, but the taste trumped all.
V was still in the mood for breakfast, although it was well past noon. She got the eggs with Prague ham and cheese for 118 CZK. I have never had a breakfast with better quality ham.
Curiousity got the better of me, and I ordered the "recommended" vanilla milkshake for 74 CZK. It is quite small, but also intensely sweet. 
It was nice if you like that sort of thing, and I usually do, but I don't think I'd go for it again. My problem with it is that I don't think it was big enough for the price. Other items on order this early afternoon weekend meal:
- Escargot for 185 CZK
- Mimosa for 128 CZK
- Müller-Thurgau .15 liter glass for 75 CZK
- Mattoni sparkling mineral water 39 CZK
- Café au lait for 65 CZK
- Illy espresso (large) for 48 CZK
Café Savoy can get a little bogged down when it is busy, which is most of the time now. But we usually have decent service. We saw a somewhat entertaining service demonstration during our visit.
A man sitting by a window was stung on the back by a hornet that crawled under his shirt. He jumped up and, let's say, communicated vigorously to everyone that something rather unpleasant had happened. I saw the dead black and yellow bugger on the ground.
The waitress came over, immediately appeared to know what happened and very quickly brought over a tray with vinegar, ice, and a napkin to ease the pain. The prompt attention seemed to soothe the nerves a bit, as well.
It was a nice touch in a bad situation. But if they really wanted to make the guy feel better, I'd say a large dose of the demi-glace, taken orally, would do just fine.
Café Savoy
Vítězná 5
Prague
tel: (+420) 257 311 562
** I'm sorry to say this dish has been changed and the entrecote no longer comes with demi-glace. The new version is OK, but I don't like it nearly as much. (December 10, 2007)
3 comments:
Are you aware of the environmental impact of your hobby to go out to eat meat and write about it here? One kilomgram of beef uses up 100,000 litres of water. To bring just one cow to the market uses up as much oil as it would to drive a car for 4,000 kilometres. And here you spent some 20,000 litres of water and several hundreds of litres of oil to do this? Really smart.
I agree. Bringing just one cow to market is very inefficient. I would suggest they start cow-pooling.
Sally Amis, is that you?
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