Villa Richter Brunch

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value." Thomas Paine

You want to have Sunday brunch at a beautiful spot in Prague? You don't want to spend a lot?

Waddayagonnado?

Dining in fancy digs like the InterContinental's Zlata Praha or the Radisson Blu's La Rotonde will cost you more than 1000 CZK per person on any given Sunday. Depending on what you drink, it could cost a lot more.

But there's a cheaper way to go. Recently, a bunch of my friends decided to meet for brunch at Villa Richter, near Prague Castle. The cost per person: 400 CZK.

On the appointed day, I went to Malostranská metro station and walked the short distance to bottom of the Old Castle Steps. That's one of the entrances to Villa Richter.You can also get there by walking out of the Prague Castle exit near the Golden Lane.

From the steps, there are quite a few stairs to climb up through a small, working vineyard.There's a great view of Mala Strana and the St. Nicholas church.

Villa Richter has a number of different dining and drinking options.There's the Panorama Pergola were you can get Czech wines and light snacks.There's also the Piano Nobile restaurant, which is the upscale option.I've never eaten there, but I've heard both positive and negative reports about it.

Below that is Piano Terra. That restaurant has a terrace where they have the brunch. It has a roof over it and clear plastic walls that can be opened in good weather.Most of the food was served buffet style. Don't expect anything too gourmet at this price point. There's quantity if not always quality. It's all you can eat.

There were salads, including rucola, pickles, and sausages.There was a nice spread of Caprese.One of my favorite options there were the cheeses.They offered a wide variety and some were excellent.

The best warm option was the ham, which a chef carved off a rotisserie.I had this tender, smoky meat, along with the cheeses.On the side, there was balsamic syrup and a very spicy, sweet fig sauce. Everyone who could stand the serious sharpness of this sauce really loved it.

There were several other hot dishes served from heating trays. These were less successful. The chicken and pork ragout had great flavor, but the meat was tough and overcooked.I had it with mushy gnocchi that tasted like balls of mashed potato. Meh.

There was roast duck with red cabbage.It had a soggy skin and the meat was overcooked. The cabbage and green beans on the side were good.

I wasn't drinking that day so I ordered a bottle of water.The price of that tiny bottle of Bonaqua really surprised me at the end. It was 59 CZK.

Friends said the wine they had was good. I didn't catch what kind it was. But .15 liter glasses of Czech wine can run from 81 CZK to 115 CZK.

I also didn't get the price of the Bloody Mary my friend had, but I can say it was not worth the money, whatever it cost. It was bloody awful.It tasted like it was just tomato juice, a little Tabasco, vodka, and a few ice cubes. Totally boring and bland.

The desserts were a mixed bag, with a few bright spots. The blueberry cake was dried out.I didn't try the circles of strawberry cream cake.

The Medovnik (honey cake) was standard, but fresh. The cheesecake was not American-style, but it was sweet, gooey, and still tasty. The squares of chocolate mousse-like cream on top of chocolate cake were intense, rich, and my favorite.I had a couple of those chocolate devils.

But the apple strudel was seriously dried out. Nobody liked it.So I'd disagree with Mr. Paine. It is not only dearness that gives value.

If you don't drink too much at Villa Richter, you get a filling brunch at a restaurant with one of the best views of Prague.

The food is certainly not anything special. But I'd recommend this brunch, especially for visitors, because it is relatively cheap. And to me, that's what gives it value.

Villa Richter
Staré zámecké schody 6/251
Prague 1
Tel. (+420) 257 219 079

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Zlatá Praha - InterContinental Hotel Brunch

"The quality of food is in inverse proportion to a dining room's altitude, especially atop bank and hotel buildings (airplanes are an extreme example)." Bryan Miller, former NY Times restaurant critic

Don't let this ugly exterior fool you.The InterContinental Hotel is much nicer inside.

Last week, V took me for brunch at the hotel's restaurant, Zlatá Praha (Golden Prague).Years ago, we used to be hotel brunch regulars, hitting all the big ones. But prices and times have changed, and we don't do it much anymore.

We always considered the best to be the one at what is now known as the Radisson Blu Alcron . I wrote about it almost two years ago. The price there is now 1099 CZK and includes unlimited wine, beer, and a welcome glass of sparkling wine. That brunch focused on excellent, freshly prepared seafood.

Our past experience with Zlatá Praha was that the food wasn't as good, but the atmosphere in the dining room was much better.And the view of Prague's Old Town could not be beat.A spot by one of the big picture windows is a front row seat for beautiful buildings like Old Town Square's Týn Church.Of course, Prague is known as the city of 100 spires (or 1000, depending on whom you ask).You can see quite a few from here.

We received mimosas on our arrival, and then the Bohemia Sekt started flowing. Zlatá Praha's Sunday brunch was 990 CZK per person. But free-flowing wine and sparkling wine was 350 CZK per person extra.

And that's for the cheap stuff, Bohemia Sekt. For better quality French champagne, it was 500 CZK extra per person.

As for food, there was a gourmet à la carte menu to go along with the standard buffet service.I started at the buffet table with some amuse bouche-style items.

I had a large spoon with sliced roast beef with sliced chili pepper. The meat was good, with a tangy flavor we both thought was ketchup.There was a spoon with a cheese cube salad, which was OK. And there was small dish with a slice of smoked butterfish over undressed lettuce.

This was plain unpleasant. The fish had a desiccated, mealy texture.

Behind the plate, I had a lidded jar containing gazpacho. It tasted more like plain tomato juice, with only a hint of pepper. It was boring and bland.

There was a salad bar with mostly basic choices.You could mix your own lettuce, tomato, peppers, cucumbers and dressings, but not too much more.

I then went for the table with limited sushi offerings. I tried one of each type they had available -- tuna and salmon nigiri and maki.If this sushi were served to me anywhere, I'd consider it bad. But at a first class hotel, I considered it shockingly bad.

The chef cut the raw fish in ugly, jagged little pieces. Even worse, all the flesh was wrinkled from dryness. The rice under the nigiri was crunchy and freezing cold. The maki was even worse. Yet, the tuna and salmon did not taste old or spoiled.

My conclusion: The sushi had likely been made long before the brunch and then stored in an industrial-strength refrigerator. Talk about disrespecting the fish. Frankly, the mall sushi at Makakiko Asia and Sushi Restaurant in the Palladium is far superior.

In more positive buffet news, raw oysters were available.This is one of V's favorites, and she liked these. I think she had a dozen, making two trips to the table.

I moved on to the à la carte menu. You can order as much as you want from this. The first thing I had was the Eggs Benedict.I'd call it not bad, but still sub-par.

The egg, itself, was perfectly poached. The Hollandaise sauce was thin. The ham was a very ordinary, thin cold cut slice. And the English muffin was more like a round circle of bread.

From there, things improved. I tried the seared tuna with sesame sauce. It was a medium-size, very fresh tuna steak.I prefer it very red, so it was cooked a little more than I like. The exterior had a nice salt-sesame flavor. But there really was no sauce. Just sesame oil.

By itself, I found it too dull. I kicked myself as I was finishing it for not going over to the sushi table and picking up more soy sauce and wasabi.

Then, I got the beef tenderloin with grilled vegetables. Unlike the sushi, this warm meat was very red and rare from top to bottom.It could have been more tender, but the flavor was nice. I liked it. It came with a sauce that was remarkably like that which came with the Eggs Benedict.

The grilled vegetables were well-prepared. But I wished for less red and green peppers and more of the other stuff, like the mushrooms.

The last thing I ordered was the veal roast beef with what the menu, in Czech, called "chocolate salt."This was the winning dish of the day. The absolutely delicious, very tender meat came with a salty, chocolate-based sauce that was like a very rich gravy.

I think they meant "sauce" on the menu, rather than "salt," but no matter. I wished I had room for several portions.

However, it was time for dessert.They had impressive displays of a multitude of cakes and pastries, along with the usual warm chocolate fountain with fruit.

I picked up a small crème brûlée and a chocolate mousse. V got glasses with pistachio cream topped with baked apple, and also one with fruit and vanilla cream.The crème brûlée and a chocolate mousse were disasters. Both were old, tired, and dried out. The crème brûlée's sugar top had gone soft and merged with the sugar-gritty bottom. The mousse had a chalky texture and an off-taste that we, veteran mousse-makers, could not identify.

V's choices were better. The green cream had a very enjoyable, rich flavor that reminded me of the great pistachio crème brûlée at La Finestra in Cucina. The other was more like a standard crème brûlée, but fresh-tasting.

We finished our second bottle of Bohemia Sekt just to feel like we got value from the 700 CZK surcharge, and we were done.

My assessment was that if food is the first priority, I'd go to the Radisson Blu for brunch every time. The food was far superior, and their 1099 CZK price includes unlimited beer and wine.

At the InterContinental, for 1380 CZK a head, you get unlimited wine, fantastic views, and the serious possibility you are going to eat something unpleasant.Even so, you might be surprised to hear me say I'd still consider taking out-town-guests there. They'd most certainly be wowed by the scenery.I'd just have to steer them carefully away from the many disappointing dishes. I'm sure we could be happy with just oysters and the à la carte items.

So, it could be a memorable meal for a visitor, in spite of the problems.

But if I ever find myself going up the InterContinental hotel's elevator again, I'll be counting the floors, thinking of the Bryan Miller Rule.

And I'll be dreaming about the dining room at the Radisson Blu.

Which is on the ground floor, by the way.

Zlatá Praha - InterContinental Hotel
Pařížská 30
Prague 1 - Old Town
Tel (+420) 296 631 111

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La Rotonde - Sunday Jazz Brunch at the Radisson SAS Alcron Hotel

"Nothing is more fatal to happiness than the remembrance of happiness."
-André Gide

Years ago, we'd go every month or two for a fancy buffet brunch at a big Prague hotel.

What can I say? We were young and hungry.

Back then, it seemed like a pretty good deal: All-you-can-eat for around 600 CZK, if memory serves.

Our favorite brunch was at the Radisson SAS Alcron Hotel, near Wenceslas Square. The Interconinental Hotel had a better dining room with better light and a fantastic view of Old Town.

But the Radisson always had the best and the most seafood. And that's what we cared about most. Times have changed, and we pretty much stopped with the brunches. Prices in Prague have been sky-rocketing. There just isn't as much money lying around to blow.

We hadn't been to a brunch in about a year. And not long ago, the Radisson raised their prices significantly. It now costs 999 CZK per person.

I'm a hard guy to get a Christmas present for, but V knows what I like. So, this year, my gift was a return trip to the Radisson's Sunday Jazz Brunch. It is in the hotel's restaurant, La Rotonde.

We had a great table with a view of the whole restaurant and the lovely backside of a replica of a statue that stood there in the 1930s.V was quite surprised when the waiter stopped by. He did not speak Czech. Guests were expected to speak English.

We each got a complimentary glass of champagne, and then we set off to cruise the salad tables.There was quite a variety salads and cold meats to choose from.I put together my first plate with some of my favorite items. The seared tuna was very fresh and perfectly done.There were also individual raw scallops, marinated salmon, and salmon tartare mixed with onion.

V went straight for her all-time favorite: Fresh oysters. They remind her of her favorite place to be: The sea.We hit the salad tables a few times at the beginning.On one side of the room, there were two chefs who cook any requested combination of shrimp, scallops, salmon, tuna, and vegetables.

We were disappointed that, unlike our previous visit, they did not have lobster.In a small space, next to the chefs, a good jazz band with a female singer went through its set.

The chefs also cut a variety of meats, which are kept under heat lamps.

There were also some nice-looking sausage. I decided to save the heavy stuff for later.

When it comes to the freshly-cooked seafood, you have to time your visit to this table carefully. A lot of people put in orders at the same time and overwhelmed the two cooks.

I asked for a plate of sauteed shrimp and scallops. The seafood itself was great, but the seasoning was basic and unexciting.

In the middle of the room, there were shiny, covered heat tables. Usually food from these things is dried out and/or over-cooked.V tried the duck with red cabbage and was surprised at how good it was.

I looked in one and found it had oxtail ravioli with baby tomatoes. I'd never had this before.It was really tasty. It really didn't require any sauce.

I offered some to V, but she refused to try it. She is usually more adventurous than me, but she said it reminded her of a dish she didn't like when she was young.

There was a whole table devoted to sushi and sashimi, with a chef making basic nigiri and maki. There weren't so many options. They had salmon, tuna, shrimp, scallops, and maybe one or two other kinds of fish.The sushi chef was not great. The pieces were awkwardly cut, and the nigiri rice was formed into big, almost round balls.There was a heavy amount of wasabi on the rice, which I like.

From the carving table, I decided to try the roast beef. It was not too warm, but nicely rare. The meat was a little fatty and needed salt, but I liked it.While I was in beef mode, I had to get another round of the oxtail ravioli, I liked it so much.

We made a few plates with our favorites of all we tried. V had a little of the duck there in the middle, along with melon and prosciutto, and a lot of the different fish.

Finally, it was time for dessert. There were two different tables.There was a chocolate fountain, chocolate mousse, ice cream with various toppings, fresh fruit, creme brulee, various cakes, chocolate truffles, and on and on and on.V went for some stuff on the fruitier side of the table.As usual, I leaned toward the chocolate.You have to be careful here. You could throw yourself into hyperglycemic shock if you get carried away.

Although it was a self-service buffet, I should talk a little bit about the service.

It was not very good. Waiters do have responsibilities, such as removing old plates and checking on drink needs. We were ignored for long stretches. Empty oyster shells sat on our table for half the meal.

It's not cheap, so we expected better service. The bill came to 1998 CZK.

The good news is that the price included bottled water, red or white house wine, beer, and those glasses of Czech champagne.

The house white was very light, and we thought it was a good complement for our huge afternoon feast.

Overall, we enjoyed a lot about the brunch, but I don't think we'll be doing it again for a long time.

It had a very familiar feeling, a remembrance of things past. But the big price increase was, perhaps, fatal to our happiness.

La Rotonde Restaurant
Radisson SAS Alcron Hotel
Štěpánská 40
Prague 1
Tel. (+420) 222 820 000


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