The Palladium Mall

"I want to explore the world. I want to watch TV in a different time zone. I want to visit strange, exotic malls. I want to live, Marge! Won't you let me live?"

-Homer Simpson

A strange, exotic mall has opened in the center of Prague.The Palladium mall is certainly big. It is certainly an eye-popping architectural expression of modern design, a vast amalgam of concrete, escalators, and glass.People will argue about whether this is a great addition to the Czech capital. Or a tragedy.

Does Prague need more H&Ms, C&As, and Marks & Spencers? That's a debate for another time and place.

I'm here to talk about food and drink.

So, after you walk into the Palladium, hop on one of those escalators. And then another one. And then another one.

And they are not all next to each other, so you have to do some walking. Past some shops, of course.

The top floor of the Palladium is where you will find the restaurants and most of the food. I hesitate to call it a food court.

The Palladium website calls it "Patro Gurmán," meaning Gourmet Floor.

For the most part, these are not fast-food places. In fact, you will have a hard time finding a cheap meal at this high altitude.

There are mostly a lot of sit-down restaurants with ambitious aspirations. And at many, you will pay fancy, sit-down restaurant prices. I saw more than a few main courses in the 300 CZK range and full meals at many restaurants could easily hit the 500 CZK mark.

Here's an exhaustive and exhausting tour of what you will find.

At the top of the escalator is Tretter's Cafe. This is an outpost of the trendy and expensive Old Town cocktail bar.
This Tretter's is for people who have graduated from the original bar's pickup scene. There is actually a small play area for children.

If drinks and coffee at Tretter's feel too upmarket for you, then head over to Harley's Cafe Bar.This is a miniature, mall version of the subterranean den of late-night drunken dancing on Dlouhá. But something tells me they will be serving more cappuccinos than caipirnhas. And I believe they'll have much less dancing.

There is another place for coffee and cakes called Daylong Cafe. At the back, it has a disco, but I walked by once in the evening, and it was packed with teenagers.The main decorative features here seem to be blue lighting and crudely cut sticks lined up around the cafe.

There is a fancy buffet restaurant called Taste the World.

It has a salad bar where you can serve yourself, a grill station, a pasta station, a bread station, and a dessert station.

The salad bar had a lot of different offerings, not just basic stuff, and wasn't too expensive. But I wouldn't eat it. I know they've just opened, but the lettuce and rucola was sadly wilted when I was there.

The grill station offered a pork steak for 199 CZK and included potatoes or grilled vegetables. A beef steak was 249 CZK. The dessert station said the sweets were "homemade." In a mall? Seemed like they were playing a little fast and loose with the term. All the cakes looked a little too uniform and perfect.

Anyway, you throw in a dessert and a drink here, along with your grilled meat, you are looking at a pretty substantial tab.

There always seemed to be big lines at a place called L.A. Finger Food. This was probably because it is one of the cheapest outlets, making a variety of fried items, sandwiches, and wraps.The line at the counter was also probably a result of the fact that only one or two people seemed be putting together the food for everyone.

A little further along, there is a Mediterranean restaurant called Uno.I had a brief look at the menu. It was a fairly short document, and not too much jumped out at me.

There is an Indian restaurant called Chanchala.It is fairly small inside, but like many places, there is more seating out in front amid the crowds.

Amid white, hanging curtains is a restaurant called El Emir, which serves Middle Eastern cuisine.Lamb is a specialty here. So are some fairy high prices, with some over 300 CZK . But there are a few sandwich/wraps that are more affordable.

An Italian place called La Piazzetta looked quite popular.Most of the menu is devoted to pizza, but there are also a few pasta dishes and other Italian basic choices.

There is an Uruguayan steak house called Las Ruinas. The restaurant looks like something you might find at Disneyland.Angry, stone-faced gods stare down from the walls, demanding that you eat your meat.

The steak prices don't look too crazy at first, especially for imported beef. But I noticed that almost everything from the sides to the sauces have to be ordered separately, and they are not cheap.

A full meal will cost you mucho dinero.

Las Ruinas may also have some potential competition nearby. There is an Angus Burger-Angus Grillhouse just a few meters away.

Despite the name, this appears to be a Czech owned and operated establishment. The website links to a Pension - Angus Farm and Steakhouse in Nepomuk and the Aberdeen Angus Steakhouse in Plzeň.

For seafood, you can drop in on Nordsee. I noticed a wider variety of offerings than I'd seen at the Nordsee at Flora mall.Many items here are sold by weight, so it is another place where things can get expensive fast. V saw a man with a small tray of food pay 500 CZK. I saw a plate of lobster tails that cost much more than that.

The Asian restaurant Makakiko was quite popular. I'd attribute this the fact that it offers a fair number of Thai, Japanese, and Chinese style meals for 100-200 CZK.There are dishes like chicken teriyaki, red curry chicken with coconut milk, and fried rice or noodles.

There is also sushi. A single piece of salmon nigiri is 55 CZK. There is not a wide selection.

I tried a couple of hot main courses. It was decent food, but nothing too special. Just know that the take-away box they gave me was leaky.

If you decide to eat in, there is a quite a view from Makakiko's mall-side tables.I ate there once already. The service was frustratingly slow. I discovered that one reason for this was that my food was freshly prepared. So, I relaxed a bit. However, getting the bill was an ordeal.

There is an eye-catching conveyor belt sending hot and cold items around the restaurant. It is 298 CZK for all you can eat at lunch, 398 CZK for dinner.

You cannot eat a la carte from here, which confused at least one person I saw. I looked carefully at the various items on the belt and, honestly, it didn't look worth it to me.

If all these international choices get your head spinning, and you don't know where you are anymore, Kasárna might remind you. This restaurant and pub serves actual Czech food.There are classic dishes like pork knee (koleno), and the prices are a bit more reasonable than other restaurants in the mall. They serve Staropramen, Stella Artois, and Hoegaarden.

But there is more to the food and drink at the Palladium than just the top level. If you are having a caffeine withdrawal crisis, a cup of coffee will always be a few steps away. There is Fashion Cafe, Face Cafe, and Taboo Cafe.

The only one that mildly interested me was the Yessi Cafe.This is a mini version of a place with the same name just down the street on V Celnici.I like that place because it has sandwiches made-to-order with lots of really nice ingredients to choose from. The one in the mall has some decent looking sandwiches, but no made-to-order option. Too bad.

There are a few places worth noting at the very bottom level of the mall.

Au Gourmand is a French bakery and pastry shop that is connected to the place with the same name on Dlouhá.There were lots of nice looking cakes, croissants, quiches, salads, and sandwiches.I'd say this would be a favorite place to go, except the prices are pretty steep. I lusted after a piece of Black Forest cake, but the 98 CZK price tag put me off.I did notice later that the cake is the same price at the Dlouhá shop. For comparison, a slice of fancy cake at the Half & Half shop on Wenceslas Square goes for 60-70 CZK.

There is small a wine and spirits shop. The limited selection of wines tended to be on the expensive side.What caught my attention here was the large selection of single malt scotch whiskeys that took up one whole wall. There were several varieties of Macallan, Lagavulin, Talisker, and Glenmorangie, just to name just a few.

Fresh fish are not the easiest commodity to find in Prague, and I saw a pretty nice-looking fishmonger in the Palladium's bottom floorIt's called Seafood Shop. The fish I saw there were very clear-eyed, indicating freshness. There were also clams, mussels, and a variety of oysters. Some were 60 CZK each.The shop was also selling meats like a whole rack of lamb.

For somewhat more pedestrian tastes, there is Centrum Delikates.Here, you'll find your hams, salamis, sausages, salads, cheese, chlebíčky, which are Czech open-faced sandwiches.

Finally, there is an Albert supermarket on this level. Albert is not my favorite chain in the city, but it will do in a pinch if I need to pick up some basics.

When you are all done shopping, you can easily jump on the metro to get home. The Náměstí Republiky metro station for the B Line is right under the mall. Plenty of trams stop nearby

But I figure a few people who eat at the Palladium will have their driver fetch them out front with the limo.

The Gulfstream V and exotic malls await.

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U malé velryby (Little Whale)

"Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."
-Groucho Marx

Speaking of time, another birthday has passed. That's not a surprise.

But my party was.

V organized a special dinner and invited a bunch of friends to U malé velryby (Little Whale), a new restaurant at Maltézské náměstí in Malá Strana. It opened just a few months ago.

This is a very small, cool place. So small, in fact, that we took over the whole restaurant for the evening. There are only about eight tables.Because of the location, the restaurant often pulls in tourists and people working at nearby embassies. I think the often-high quality and reasonable prices will keep its few seats full for the foreseeable future.

It has an "open" kitchen. This is not an über-cool, modern design concept. This is just a very small space for a restaurant, and the kitchen opens right into the dining room.

It gives Little Whale a homey, intimate feeling -- like you are eating next to the kitchen at a friend's house.

And the Irish chef and owner, Jason, is quite a friendly guy. He's often hard at work, but he'll also be out and about, talking to diners, describing and explaining the food.

For the party, V had pre-ordered some tapas and starters from the restaurant's short menu. As friends arrived, they had something to chew on as they began talking by the bar.

The calamari ceviche was my favorite (45 CZK). It was marinated with chili, ginger, and lime. The slices of squid were served warm.

I also liked the creamy duck rillette with onion jam (45 CZK), the very sour marinated white anchovies (35 CZK), and the roasted red peppers with pesto on fried polenta (35 CZK).There were plenty of other choices.

We had black olive tapenade (35 CZK), which I didn't get a picture of, but it had big chunks of mushrooms mixed in.

Inhouse toasted almonds come with black olives (35 CZK). The nuts had a very nice flavor, but were a little on the oily side.

And there was cold, rare roast beef wrapped around green beans with sesame (45 CZK) and a special appetizer of salmon pate on bread with a sweet pickle.

V is a big lamb fan, so she ordered one portion of the seared lamb fillet with green beans, feta cheese, and pesto (115 CZK).

I had half of this dish and it really was outstanding. V agreed. She knows she will have this again.

We finally sat down for dinner pretty late. I order a special, the venison with roasted butternut squash and mixed herbs.

The meat was very rare, very tender, and not gamey. In fact, it did not have a strong venison flavor at all. The meat could have been mistaken for beef if you weren't paying attention. But I very much enjoyed it.The butternut squash was served fairly plain, with basically its slight, natural sweetness. The mixed herbs on the plate were very salty. I opted for dabbing the meat with some really nice, spicy and sweet red chili sauce that I found on the table.

V absolutely loved her crab papperdelle (295 CZK). This dish was made with real king crab meat, fresh pasta, lemon, and crushed pepper.The amount of pasta was not very large and, generally, main courses are not full meals by themselves. The final bill can climb when you add sides and starters, but I thought the prices were more than fair.

Anyway, it was an real extra pleasure to eat the generous portion of real crab meat, after so often seeing imitation "krab" in so many so-called crab dishes in Prague.

On an earlier visit, I enjoyed the char-grilled sirloin steak with onion tarte tatin with cherry and red wine sauce (315 CZK). I was wishing for more of the sauce on the side.The tart was a nice touch and quite good, but the plate looked a little empty as it was. I'd recommend ordering another side dish, perhaps grilled vegetable or some potatoes.

There were a number of other main course that I saw pass by, but I didn't get a chance to try.

There was a char-grilled salmon steak with a lemon-herb crust and panzanella (tomato, cucumber, olive, and fresh basil). That was 265 CZK.

The Englishman ordered the Little Whale Seafood Pie for 265 CZK. I wish I had tried it.

Someone else got the crispy roast duck with potato-herb stuffing and apricot sauce for 285 CZK. This is another one I didn't taste, but sounded quite good.

I thought apricot would be a good combination with the duck. A fork got into it before I could get a pristine photo.On an earlier visit, V had the creamy seafood chowder with homemade brown bread (90 CZK). It was a fine soup, and left me wanting more. We'd order it again.For dessert at the end of our first visit, we had the apple tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream (85 CZK). It was not a classic version and just a few bites, but a nice little treat at the end of a meal.For the end of the birthday dinner, there was only once choice: A birthday cake. And V, knowing me, knew that it would have to be chocolate.

This is not on the menu and the chef made it just for this special evening.

It should be on the menu -- it was great.I didn't ask exactly what kind of cake it was, but the chocolate was intense, and it was very light and moist, covered with roasted nuts. It was served with a little whipped cream and fruit on the side.

Little Whale has reasonably priced wines to choose from. But all evening, I was drinking half liters of Pilsner Urquell (40 CZK).

I did have a digestive at the little bar at Jason's suggestion -- Fassbind La Vielle Poire -- a brandy with a very intense pear flavor. I can recommend it.

I'd also recommend reservations if you want to be sure to eat at U malé velryby.

Yes, in part, because it is so small.

But when you add in the decent prices for some good cooking in Malá Strana, it also means that on some nights, you could have a whale-sized problem getting a table.

I'm not talking about a little whale.

U malé velryby (Little Whale)
Maltézské náměstí 15
Prague 1
Tel. (+420) 257 214 703

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Guardian Unlimited

“I wanted to get angel wings tatooed on my back, as a guardian thing.”

-Kirsten Dunst

If you need a guardian thing, I have one to recommend.

Guardian Unlimited, the online version of The Guardian and The Observer newspapers, has published a post with the title "Blog by blog guide to ... roving gourmets."

A good read.

There are short descriptions of interesting foodie blogs that have posts on Paris, Tokyo, New York, and Jakarta.

Oh yeah... and the Czech Republic.

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Thai's Asian Food Shop

"Great acts are made up of small deeds."
-Lao Tzu

At my home, at this very moment, sits a pot of homemade tom kha gai soup. V makes it a few times a year. Love the stuff.

But cooking Asian specialties at home in Prague is not so easy. Getting the proper ingredients has often required a scavenger hunt around the city and occasionally necessitated the import of ingredients from abroad.

But Thai's Asian Food Shop is making things a whole lot easier. Even more so for us since it moved from Gorazdova in Prague 2 up to Francouska in Prague 10.The shop is just two small rooms, but in that limited space, you'll see a respectable selection of hard-to-find stuff.

In the front room, there is a freezer holding a wide variety of seafood. There are some treasures in that chest.You will usually find one kilogram packages of frozen shrimp (prawns). These are special for a few reasons.

First, a bag only costs 250 CZK. That is about half of what a similar-sized bag of frozen shrimp will cost you at the fancy shop, Seafood, on Zborovska.

The shrimp at Thai's Asian Food Shop have been cleaned and shelled and frozen -- uncooked. That last part is key. These shrimp are terrific for cooking.

The pre-boiled shrimp you'll find elsewhere are problematic if a recipe requires that you put them on the stove. Heat will often cause them to shrink and get hard.

The pre-boiled shrimp are fine if you want an instant shrimp cocktail after they defrost.

I saw frozen, uncooked shrimp at Tesco this week, but they were uncleaned, with shells and heads on.

In this front freezer, there was another fantastic catch: Barbecued eel. I'd never seen it for sale before at a market. The big unagi costs 250 CZK. This seemed like a great bargain to me.

Previously, the best deal I'd found for barbecued eel was at the Japanese restaurant, Miyabi. There, it costs 390 CZK. It comes with rice and miso soup, but the eel is half the size of the one I bought at the shop.

I defrosted the eel when I got home. Since it was already cooked, I heated it up in the microwave. It was absolutely delicious. Such fine meat. I mixed up a little sweet soy chili sauce on the side and ate the whole thing.I regretted not buying the second one I saw in the freezer. I went back the next week, but it was gone. I was told they'd get more the next day.

In the front freezer, there are many other types of seafood, including cuttlefish, small shrimp, mackerel, and fish balls.

Next to this freezer, are two stand-up coolers that have a wide variety of Asian roots and greens for cooking.For tom kha gai soup, you can get galangal. This ginger-like root is one of the harder to find ingredients in Prague.They also have packages of kaffir lime leaves. This is one of my favorite flavors in Thai cooking.The shop has lemon grass, Thai basil, cilantro, green peppercorns, bean sprouts, and several things I had never seen before.

Trying to figure out what some things are can be a bit of a challenge. More on that later.

There is another freezer in the back room.We picked up some frozen spring rolls from there. These were vegetarian. I fried up a few.

They were very simple, just filled with shredded sour cabbage. But I'll say they were very good.

I can't tell you how many times I've had spring rolls that had off-tasting filling. Not a problem with these. The had a fresh, clean taste.The shelves in the back room are filled with a great variety of products you won't find too many other places in Prague.

It really is quite impressive how many things they fit into such a small area.

There are rices, beans, noodles, and nuts.

There are all kinds of sweet sauces, soy sauces, oysters sauces, curry pastes, and soup mixes.

There are cans of exotic fruits and vegetables, and jars of little fish. I can't begin to name them all.

There are many things I think I'll probably never try. But then V will find some exotic recipe calling for something I've never heard of before, so you never know.

You can even find some soybean pudding or more ordinary rice pudding if you want.

On a recent visit, we came back with several items we needed for our cooking.There was masaman curry paste (59 CZK), unsalted peanuts (39 CZK), a liter of coconut milk (59 CZK), sweetened cream of coconut (39 CZK) -- they also have unsweetened, Indonesian tamarind soup paste (39 CZK), and hoisin sauce (45 CZK).

One favorite little snack we found was their wasabi broad beans. They're not cheap at 65 CZK for a can. But these are the most addictive little things I've found in a while.

Someone shared their wasabi peas with me recently and I found they didn't taste as nice. T

These flat beans have plenty of that great sharp, sweet flavor.

One problem at Thai's Asian Food Shop is the man I always see working there. He is friendly enough. But he doesn't speak English. Or Czech. So, don't expect him to answer too many questions.

But if you speak Vietnamese, then you are in luck.

Another problem is that they do run out of things I must have like cilantro and eel.

It is possible to make a trip to the shop on the Vinohrady-Vršovice border and come away disappointed.

But I'd say these are minor problems that are far outweighed by the benefits. There are a lot of goodies there. Even I am surprised that I've had so much to say about so little a space.

Yes, Thai's Asian Food Shop is small, indeed. But it is a great act to follow.

Thai's Asian Food Shop
Francouzská 66
Prague 10
Mon-Sat: 10 am-8 pm
Thu: closed
Sun: 3 pm–8 pm

Dedicated to Max and Will

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Tesco Eden - International Section

"I never make a trip to the United States without visiting a supermarket. To me they are more fascinating than any fashion salon."
-Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor

You said it, sister.

I, myself, have made the personal pilgrimage to the renowned Whole Foods Market in the Time Warner Center at New York City's Columbus Circle.

Just to look. Food is my thing. I could wander around in that vast and varied space for days.

In Prague, the lack of a really super supermarket can be frustrating because V and I do a lot of creative cooking at home (which is somewhat ironic, considering the fact that I write a restaurant blog).

What it means is that we are always searching for a variety of exotic international ingredients.

But there is good news. Things are changing. Progress is being made.

Witness the international section at Tesco Eden. It used to be pretty pitiful.

However, I just got back from a visit and found the offerings in their international aisle have greatly expanded.

For example, it is no longer just a small, neglected section of shelves. Products from around the globe now fill an entire side of one whole aisle.They have a lot of things that have been available in Prague before. But the selection is now much wider. Instead of traveling around to many specialty shops, Tesco Eden makes one-stop international shopping less of a dream.

Let's take a brief tour, shall we? This is far from an exhaustive list, and I could hardly remember everything there, but here goes:

There is a North American section. There you will find items such as real Canadian maple syrup, even in one liter jugs, Tabasco sauce, generic barbecue sauce, and steak sauce.There is a Latin American section that has many kinds of flour tortillas, salsas, peppers, and sauces.

There is a Japanese section with a "sushi kit," wasabi powder mix or in tubes, pickled ginger, rice wine vinegar, and tonkatsu sauce. We bought miso soup mix. It was not so cheap, but apparently makes a number of portions.Next to that is an Indian section. There are a multitude of spices and prepared sauces. We picked up some tandoori paste.

There is a Thai section with red and green curry, and many Thai sauces.There are Italian and Mediterranean sections as well, with tomato sauces, balsamic vinegars, olive oils, cooking wines, and spicy ajvar.So, anyway, I'm a little crazy about supermarkets. Other than that, I have very little in common with Wallis Simpson.

Unless you include that brief, little encounter I had in Vienna with another Prince of Wales.

But that's a story for another time.

Tesco Eden
U Slavie 1527
Prague 10

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Masala Indian Restaurant

"Playwrights are like men who have been dining for a month in an Indian restaurant. After eating curry night after night, they deny the existence of asparagus."

-Peter Ustinov

This quote works for me on two levels.

First, we just visited Masala, the new Indian restaurant in Vinohrady.

Second, I like Indian food, but I don't really have a deep understanding, and I don't really understand what the quote means.

So, it makes a lot of sense.

Masala is just a few minutes walk from the top of Wenceslas Square. It is in a small space below street level.
There is no smoking in the restaurant's dining room. But smoking is allowed in the small bar area in the next room. There was no beer on tap.

There was Pilsner Urquell for 35 CZK and Gambrinus for 26 CZK in half-liter bottles, several wine choices, and even a double vodka lassi for 90 CZK.The decorations on the wall were on the kitschy side. There were a few Indian prints and decorations, but many others don't really have anything to with India.

I believe they were left over from the Balkan restaurant that previously occupied the space.
With the straw hats hanging there, it looked more like Mississippi Masala.

There were only seven tables in the restaurant, and more than half of them had "reserved" signs on them. Lucky we got there early.

The instant popularity of Masala is a tribute to the charm and cyber-marketing skills of the Indian owner, Bobby Jain.

Before officially opening, he started a lengthy, friendly, and humorous discussion on the Expats.cz Food & Drink board to solicit advice. He got plenty of it. There are a lot of expat experts on curry out there.

So, he's gotten plenty of friendly "advisers" coming in to satisfy their hunger and curiosity. He also invited a number of them for special tastings to get feedback.

But Bobby's charms are not just virtual. He often stops by tables to have real chats with customers, crack jokes and ask what they liked and what they didn't.

The meal started with a couple of complimentary papadoms and some pickled onions. The popadoms come rolled up rather than flat, which can get a little crumbly when you bite into them.

V loved the onions. Perhaps they won't be to everyone's taste, but there was something addictive about them. We ate them all.

We also received an herbal drink that's supposed to get the taste buds working. Many people on the Internet said they didn't like it.

I didn't love it but, expecting the worst, it was better than I thought it would be. V didn't like it, but I just thought of it as a broth and finished it.

We shared two starters.

We had two veggie samosas for 45 CZK. I thought they were quite good -- with a good, flaky crust surrounding the filling. I'd never had them with peanuts in them before. I liked them.It also seemed that they were different, with one that had more potato, and the other seeming to have more peas. The Masala menu says they have dried fruit, but I didn't notice much. They came with a tamarind sauce for dipping.

We also shared the vegetable pakora for 60 CZK. These were OK, but definitely on the greasy side. Our favorite was the eggplant (aubergine). It came with an Indian sweet and sour sauce, not the usual bottled type.I think I scored the winning dish of the main courses. I got the Chicken Fenugreek for 165 CZK. Fenugreek is a plant and seed used in seasoning and is also known as "Greek hay."

Tandoori chicken was covered with a very thick tomato and onion sauce. The onions had been cooked to the point where they basically melted, but still thickened the mixture.

It reminded me of a good, Italian red sauce until you taste the spices. Still, it was not spicy at all . I was not asked how hot I wanted it, and it came mild. I didn't mind.The menu said there is coriander in the dish. Although the menu didn't say so, V thought she detected the strong flavor of whole cumin. The addition of small ginger slices was a nice touch.

Anyway, we thought the result was delicious. I'd get it again.

V ordered the Lamb Korma for 180 CZK. The menu describes it like this: "Mild lamb curry, firstly marinated in youghurt then sauteed with sliced onions, tomatoes and fenugreek finished in a lightly spiced coconut sauce."Honestly, it was hard to detect much of the marination and flavors from the preparation of the meat. Under the sauce, the taste of the lamb, itself, dominated.

It was not the finest cut of lamb, but it had been cooked into a tender state. There was just a light amount of coconut in the sauce. Compared with the other main course we had, it seemed very bland.

We got two orders of white rice at 30 CZK each. One serving was a lot of rice. Next time, we'll share one order. And there will be a next time.On another night, some friends went to Masala, and I dropped by to join them after work.

My friend, The Englishman, ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala for 149 CZK. The menu called it "tender morsels of boneless chicken, smoked over charcoal then finished in a classical rich tomato onion and coriander sauce."
I thought it was similar to the Chicken Fenugreek, but with a stronger flavor of onions. Perhaps some other subtleties were lost on me, but I liked it.

Since I got there late, I can only show you the remnants of the Lamb Saagwala, which goes for 180 CZK.

It was ordered medium hot. I had a taste and thought it was nicely spicy. It is made with pureed spinach and fenugreek in the sauce.

I liked the lamb in this dish better than the Lamb Korma from the earlier visit.

I also had a small taste of what was left of some Butter Chicken. That dish goes for 119 CZK.

I thought it was a bit boring (it was ordered mild), and my colleague who ordered it didn't like it so much.

She also decided to have dessert and got the homemade mango ice cream for 45 CZK. This was the loser of the night.

Maybe I don't know much about Indian ice cream, but this stuff showed classic signs of defrosting and re-freezing. It was full of ice crystals. No smoothness. We both tasted it and agreed the flavor of mango was pretty weak. My colleague didn't finish it.

There are plenty of other dishes I want to try. A number of tandoori appetizers are on the list, along with all the king prawn dishes, mint chicken salad, and lentil soup that someone on the Internet highly recommended.

Speaking of which, the rave reviews of the afore mentioned expats experts have rolled in. Since I'd say they know more than me about Indian food, and I love quotes, I'll share a few:

• "It was certainly the best Indian food I have had in Prague." - Ledni Tonda
• "The food was very good, though the Tika Masala wasn't quite as flavorsome as others I have had in Prague." - JAM70
• "1) the tandoori appetizers (two kinds of chicken and prawns) were absolutely brilliant. I couldn't believe that wasn't the main course! 2) the black lentil soup was the best soup I've ever had in my life. I want a bucket of that next time!" - Praguelodyte
• "Lovely place and one I will certainly be going back to a lot. The only problem I foresee is over-popularity and not enough room to accommodate everyone." - Roving Anglican
• "Went there last night.. food was yummy and prices fine.. very nice and homey atmosphere ." - dolphingirl
• "The samosas were as good as any I've had outside of India, very good. The masala tea was REAL. The mushroom shaslik was the star of the show, I could have eaten a bucket full." - nomadness
• "All in all a great little place with great food and great service. While it wasn't the 'absolute best' indian food i've had in Prague, it was damn near close to it. I think it could be a winner in the near future." - coco
• "This is just what Praha needs - reasonably priced curry" - morpheus

Except for one flat-out bad mini-review, this internet lovefest goes on and on and on.

But this last point by morpheus, among others, is worth repeating. The prices are excellent. Masala also has nicely-priced lunch specials.

It doesn't get much cheaper for a real sit-down Indian dinner in Prague. The feeling of value for money is a key factor in deciding on a return visit.

Of course, you can eat Indian for a whole lot more.

We used to eat fairly often at Taj Mahal, back in the day. It is not far away.

But with many main courses there hitting the 300-400 CZK range without rice, we just stopped going. We lost our appetite for spending 1500 CZK for an Indian dinner for two.

I'll go a little against the Internet flow and say Masala is far from perfect. It didn't knock my socks off.

But the restaurant does have that winning combination of price, location, decent atmosphere, and a few curry dishes I'd go back for.

Check back with me later on the existence of asparagus.

Masala Indian Restaurant
Mánesova 13
Prague 2
Tel. (+420) 222 251 601
(+420) 722 907 666 (English)

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Deminka

"I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly."

-Winston Churchill

The full title of the restaurant is Pilsner Urquell Original Restaurant Deminka. Like the beer they serve, it is quite a mouthful.

It is similar in design and cuisine to other Pilsner restaurants like Kolkovna, Olympia, and Celnice.

Deminka is in a beautiful old building that dates back to 1886. Back then, I'm sure the horse and buggy traffic out front could get pretty hectic. Now, the street is full of cars on what has become a very busy road through the center Prague.

There have been a few restaurants in the location in the last 10 years. I tried a couple of them. They are all history. The new version of Deminka opened up just this summer.

Pilsner Urquell Original Restaurants seem to have a fairly successful formula, and Deminka appears to be doing better than it used to, but after three visits, I have yet to see it close to full.

Despite the history of the building and some nice accents in the dining room, I can't say I like the interior. I'm sure others will disagree, but taken as a whole, I think it lacks for style and atmosphere.

For one thing, the furniture doesn't fit the room. But the main problems for me are that it is too brightly lit, and the walls are painted unpleasant shades of light green and salmon pink. The paint is the biggest sin to my mind.

I can see why they want the lights up so bright -- the ceilings are quite nice. But the same lights and high ceilings also kill some of the atmosphere. Plus, some of the light fixtures on the walls use bare bulbs that are just ugly and glaring.They should really take a lesson or two from Cafe Savoy if they want to see how to do proper lighting in a historic restaurant space with beautiful, high ceilings.

The menu at Deminka is very Czech oriented. I went with V the other night, and we decided to explore a few of these offerings. We sat in the non-smoking room, which has a flat-screen television. On this night, it was showing the Sparta versus Slavia football match.They start you off with some basic types of bread, and a very Czech spread to go with it.

A tourist might mistake this delicacy for some sort of pâté. It is not. This is škvarková pomazánka -- spreadable pork fat.

We began with the sliced Prague ham with horseradish and mustard for 75 CZK. It was better quality ham than you'll find at a supermarket, but it was processed.The perfectly shaped slices were arranged in a circle on the cutting board, along with sweet pickles, mustard, and horseradish. It was tasty, but won't fill you up very much. The price seemed a little high for what you get.

For a main course, I decided to get the pork ribs in a spicy marinade (Pečená vepřová žebírka v pikantní marinádě) for 176 CZK. These are done Czech style. Do not expect them to come with barbecue sauce. They come with two types of mustard and horseradish.The ribs certainly looked nice, but they were fairly salty and not spicy at all. They were cut cross-wise, so that the three pieces on the cutting board contain many small pieces of rib bone.

They were very fatty. I used up a lot of napkins getting the grease off my hands. I could have used a knife and fork, but it didn't seem to be the most efficient way to separate the meat from the fat.

The meaty parts were overcooked to the point of hardness, especially at the tips. The ribs come with pickled pearl onions, pickled peppers, and sweet pickles.

I wouldn't get them again.

V went to the fish section and ordered the dorado on rosemary with ratatouille (Pražma na rozmarýnu, zeleninová ratatoule) for 325 CZK.She thought the fish was excellent, and I agreed. She thought it was a little too salty, and I disagreed. She liked the ratatouille. I thought it was OK, but a little too heavy on the green peppers for my taste.

She had half a liter of Müller-Thurgau for 90 CZK. She said it was very good. I had a couple of .2 liter bottles of Coke for 30 CZK, which I thought was too expensive. I was taking a beer break on this particular evening.

The restaurant does charge 10 CZK each for a cover, which apparently is for the bread and pork fat.

On another visit, I tried the penne filletto di manzo for 175 CZK. It had a nice basil flavor and decent quality beef, but otherwise, it was quite bland.It needed a lot of salt. The sauce was also pretty thin. A friend had the same dish on a different night, and it was better.

The Michigan Man got the spaghetti al tonno for 150 CZK. This is something I would never have ordered myself. I prefer my tuna raw or lightly seared. MM loved it.I had a bite and was quite surprised that I liked it, too. It had fresh zucchini slices. It was very nicely seasoned and full of flavor. No salt required.

But enough about the food.

The main reason I'd make Deminka a regular stop is the beer. It is a tank pub (tankovna) that gets its beer fresh from the factory, which is stored in a tank on the premises.A half liter is 30 CZK. It is good stuff, and it is good to have it available just a few minutes from Wenceslas Square.

I've heard at least one complaint about the service, but it has always been pleasant and efficient during my visits.

I may not stop too often at Deminka for the food. I may come more often with some friends for a drink. I may even get drunk. But in the morning, I'll still think Deminka is ugly.

Pilsner Urquell Original Restaurant Deminka
Škrétova 1
Prague 2
Tel. (+420) 224 224 915

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R.I.P. Bohemia Bagel at Újezd

The original location of Bohemia Bagel is dead.

Bohemia Bagel at Újezd as it lived and breathed

It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to meet its maker. It's a stiff. Bereft of life, it rests in peace. Its metabolic processes are now history. It has kicked the bucket, shuffled off its mortal coil, run down the curtain, and joined the bleedin' choir invisible.

The expat favorite on Újezd is now an ex-bagel shop.

A scene you'll never see again

Since 1996, it was the place to go for American-style breakfasts and, like, you know, American-style conversations over coffee.Its demise came suddenly, with little warning. I walked by last night and saw its interior already being torn out. Rumor has it that the building was sold and will be turned into a hotel.

I pass by at least once a week, and I often stopped in at the Újezd shop to pick up a brownie or have a slice of apple pie. And now (sniff), no more.

There are still other locations around the city: Lázenská 19 near the Charles Bridge in Mala Strana, Masná 2 in Old Town, Tylovo námestí near I.P. Pavlova, and the newest one at Šimáckova 21 in Holešovice.

I recently wrote a post not too long ago about the bagels and bagel sandwiches at the Bohemia Bagel Express location. It's close to where I live, and I'll still be going there.

Signs in the window at the Ujezd location direct people to the rather small Lázenská location, some 500 meters distant.

Since I rarely walk through that crowded tourist area, my feelings are similar to those of Mr. Praline (John Cleese) when offered a mute slug in exchange for his late Norwegian Blue:

"WELL, IT'S HARDLY A BLOODY REPLACEMENT, IS IT?!?!?!?"

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Culinaria

"To enjoy the things we ought, and to hate the things we ought, has the greatest bearing on excellence of character."

-Aristotle

Culinaria is a fancy food shop that people hate to love and love to hate.

At least the people I know.

The gourmet emporium has a long list goods for sale, especially American and British, that are hard or impossible to find anywhere else in Prague.The list includes Ben & Jerry's ice cream, Doritos, Newman's Own salad dressings and tomato sauces, Hershey's chocolate syrup, Oreos, Cheerios, HP Sauce, Coleman's Mustard, and Walker's crisps.

I saw a small bottle of vanilla extract, which we use in a lot of recipes, for 200 CZK.

This list just scratches the surface. For example, they also carry a few Asian items. There is a longer rundown of goods on the website under the "Other Products: Imports" menu.

This type of selection is a dream come true for many expats. So, what's not to love?

Well, since Culinaria has a near monopoly on the sale of some of these products in Prague, they are priced accordingly. While I understand the mostly astronomical prices, I can also hate them.

One day, I had a powerful desire for Philadelphia brand cream cheese. Culinaria was selling small tubs of the spreadable version, imported from Italy. The price: 129 CZK.

Oof! White gold.

Confession: I bought some. But only because I already had a bag of cinnamon raisin bagels from Bohemia Bagel Express. I had already visualized toasting them in the oven and covering them with real cream cheese. A Czech cream cheese substitute was not part of the dream.

Unfortunately, I was recently told that Philedelphia brand cream cheese has started appearing in regular markets around the city at a fraction of the Culinaria price.

Since I was in the full throes of an American breakfast obsession, I also bought two boxes of Bisquick to make American pancakes.

They were 99 CZK each, which was a little easier to swallow. You can get quite a lot of pancakes out of one box.

I suppose it is possible to make pancakes with regular flour, milk, eggs, salt, and some rising agent. But there is a reason they calling it "branding." That Bisquick logo was burned into my brain long ago, and it brings back some fond memories.

Culinaria also sells baked sweets. I once had a very nice cappuccino cake. It had a sinful buttercream icing that had a powerful coffee kick.

Almost all the cakes, pies, and tartes are 69 to 79 CZK. There do a variety of cheesecakes, including strawberry, peanut butter chocolate, and apple walnut.

Or you could get Black Forest cake, Death by Chocolate cake, and Devil's Food cake.

Want to tarte it up a bit? They make a caramel honey nut tarte, a lemon tarte, and even an Earl Gray tea tarte.

Feel a little fruity? How about an orange cake, a maple pecan fig cake, a banana pie, or a key lime pie.

The wildest sounding dessert on the menu is the Asian Chocolate Wasabi Ginger Cake. Personally, I wouldn't buy it without getting a sample taste first.

They also do carrot cake and a variety of cookies. Around Thanksgiving, you can get pumpkin pie and they even sell canned pumpkin. Whole cakes cost between 759 and 869 CZK.

Culinaria also makes a number of pre-prepared meals on one side of the shop to eat in or take out. I used to get some of their salads, like Asian noodle salad. But they don't seem to have the ones I like in the refrigerator case anymore.They also have more serious foods like Beef Wellington, poached salmon with dill and lemon, pork with soy and ginger, and barbecue glazed chicken thighs. I haven't really tried these offerings. I can only say they look pretty good.

On the other side of the shop, there is a coffee bar. An espresso goes for 35 CZK, macchiatos and cappuccinos are 55 CZK, and cafe lattes are 60 CZK. You can get it on ice for 55 CZK.

Next to the coffee bar is a refrigerator case with cold drinks. There, you can find exotic American beverages like Arizona iced tea and Canada Dry ginger ale. There are some very fancy bottles of water. I don't recall the prices, but it ain't cheap.In the same case, there are sandwiches. These are what I stop for most often at Culinaria. They don't have a wide variety that are ready-made -- sometimes there are just three or four to choose from.

There is a menu with a lo