What’s to Eat?
One of the great joys of travelling is trying the local cuisine.
Czech food is hearty and filling for the most part; meat, potatoes and dumplings are common in Czech dishes. As such, Czech meals are mostly a sit down affair to take your time with rather than something to have “on the go”.
In this section of the website, I’ll highlight some Czech culinary specialties that you can look for when you visit. Where possible, I’ll also link to a recipe so you can prepare it for yourself if you are not in the country or planning to visit soon.
Dining out in the Czech Republic
If, like me, you come from a country where the serving staff at a restaurant fall all over themselves in insincere pleasantries in hopes of a bigger tip, then the typical Czech restaurant experience may be a bit of a shock to the system.
Generally, the waiter or waitress will take your order, bring your food and maybe come around once during your meal to make sure everything is OK. Beyond that, they leave you to dine in peace until you tell them you’re ready to pay.
If the menu you’re given is not multilingual, it is worth asking if they have a menu in another language; English and German menus are not unusual in my experience of restaurants here.
With regards to tipping, it’s a pleasantly straightforward process of rounding up to the next reasonable larger number from your bill. For example, if your bill was for 132 Crowns then tipping to 150 wouldn’t be out of line.
If you’re more comfortable dealing in tips by percent, a tip of 10% to 15% is generally considered acceptable.
Tipping not mandatory in Czech restaurants, but certainly appreciated.
As mentioned before, Czech cuisine can be quite heavy. Many restaurants will also give quite generous portions. As such, I don’t advise planning any high energy activities immediately after a Czech meal.
Many Czech restaurants feature daily or weekly lunch menus, usually advertised prominently outside. These can be a very good deal indeed, it’s not unusual to find places where you can get a bowl of soup and a hearty lunch for around 180 Crowns or a bit more, price of drinks is typically not included. There’s really no excuse to take fast food when better can be found easily for less.
Etiquette in Czech restaurants is not a complicated thing. This article, while written from a Prague perspective, will give you some good insights of what to expect and what’s expected of you in the average Czech dining establishment:
Link to Radio Prague Article on Czech Restaurant Etiquette
Dining Smoke Free
Finding places to eat and drink smoke free used to be a challenge in the Czech lands. Happily that changed in May of 2017, when a nationwide smoking ban came into effect in the country.
Smoking is banned in all public indoor places including restaurants, pubs and public transit areas among others.
Failure to observe the legislation could result in fines as high as 5,000 Czech Crowns.
An overview, in English, of the legislation and what it entails can be found at this website:
Beyond Prague 