During one of my first nights in Prague I set out to get dinner having not eaten all day. I had originally planned on getting something to eat at a small outdoor cafe that I had spotted earlier during my randomly walking all over the city. However, when I returned in the evening it wasn’t looking too lively and may have even been closed… who knows. Facing this set back I dealt with it as I usually do in these situations; I started wandering aimlessly down side streets looking for an alternative.
I recall my father remarking frequently when I was younger that in choosing restaurants you should simply go by the one with the most cars out front. There may have been something about local license plates in there as well. Anyway, having nothing else to go on I applied this method to my search for a place to eat. I wandered away from the more touristy parts of town and started looking for places that seemed to draw a good crowd. That’s how I came upon Bredovský Dvůr. The restaurant is (or at least appeared to me) a rather authentic Czech beer hall. I feel correct in this assessment because the staff did not speak English as they tend to around the major tourist attractions.
After burning up my very limited Czech and rigorously augmenting it with some desperate pointing at the taps I ended up with a very good Pilsner that I believe is brewed on site. Despite being from Colorado I’m no beer connoisseur but I thought it was good anyway. However, the real stand out was the entree I ended up ordering:
This is venison in a red wine sauce with walnuts and potatoes… I can’t be more specific than that because the rest of the words on the menu were outside of my limited vocabulary. I was able to gather that the venison is slow roasted over the course of 8-10 hours which meant I was able to cut it with my fork. The whole thing was excellent.
On top of this I loved the atmosphere of the place. The front room had more of a bar feel to it, but heads up people can and do smoke in here. I had forgotten that people used to do that and while it doesn’t bother me, I know it is a turn off for some. I happened to arrive during a soccer match that had the bar area full and quite excited to boot. Behind the bar area is more of a restaurant setting and there is even a nice patio outside which I didn’t get to experience.
But the best part was that for two (very large) beers and an excellent entree I managed to walk out spending approximately $16… and that includes the generous tip that I left for their having to put up with my limited Czech vocabulary.
Bottom line, if you find yourself in the neighborhood I’d highly recommend stopping in. It’s not upscale but it is a great value for the money.
