A bit of France in Prague


We were attracted to this place by the fact that the menu – next to Czech - is in a language that we master, namely French. We saw lots of free tables inside, but quickly found out that most of those had been reserved. Still we managed to be seated at a rather small table by the windows in the ground floor section they call the brasserie – the basement being the "restaurant" section.

Aperitif was a Kir of Bourgogne Aligoté and Pêche de Vigne (peach liqueur) for myself and for my wife a Communard, red wine with Crème de Mûre (mulberry liqueur) served chilled.

The set menu seemed value for money as it had several choices for every course. Most of what we chose from it we might have picked separately anyway: a starter of lukewarm smoked salmon with an avocado puree and sour cream - pretty good, not too voluminous – and a Vichyssoise soup.

We picked a Czech wine, the Tanzberg Mikulov 2003: it is a Müller-Thurgau, and I have fond memories of this grape variety from long time ago in the Cologne (Germany) area. Ah, to be young again! (I’m over thirty now :-)

Our main courses: my wife picked the grilled vegetables – about all vegetables you can think of were represented – covered with roasted Parmigiano chips. Although the dish was quite tasty, the veggies were not cooked sufficiently to qualify for “al dente” :-(

I chose monkfish - prepared under a thin slice of ham - with green lentils and beetroot. This was quite a nice dish, although the red wine sauce was a bit scarce.

The chocolate mousse - more pudding than mousse - with orange sauce was served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate-covered whipped cream.

Cappuccino’s rounded off the meal.

If one thing has to be said about the interior, it must be that the wooden bistro-style chairs – yep, they are trying to create an atmosphere of a French brasserie from the olden days - were a bit hard on the old sitting bones ;-)

If a second thing must be said, then I would mention the musicians trying to make their way between the tables that are rather packed together.

To our standards the service was on the fast side: we are used to finishing one course before the next one is delivered to the table.

All in all not above average, but not below either.    [01 May 2006 19:12:00]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­flurk, ChefMoz Editor