Where to eat in Prague: a foodie tour of some of the best restaurants and cafés in the Czech capital

Dumplings, dumplings and more dumplings. Swimming in a sea of creamy gravy. That’s probably the common image you have of food in the Czech Republic. Like all stereotypes, there is a grain of truth to it: go into any traditional ‘restaurace’ in the country and you’ll be able to find an abundance of stodge, usually in ample enough servings for three people, never mind one. But more than three decades on from the Velvet Revolution, the nation is really starting to forge its own culinary identity.

“It’s all about a new generation of Czech chefs, who have travelled abroad, worked in Michelin starred kitchens, and brought this knowledge back home,” says Nikola, who’s taking me on a food tour of Prague. After the fall of Communism the traditional ways held firm for years, she says, as people in the new country adjusted to a more aspirational lifestyle with the freedom to discover their own tastes. But over the past decade or so, with a commitment to experimentation, provenance of local ingredients and broadening palates among the public, Czech cuisine is really catching up with the West.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the capital, Prague. While the Old Town has been blighted by tourist trap bistros and identikit chain restaurants, all you need to do is hop on a tram or bus to discover where the locals go, and that’s what my tour is all about, with a focus on the post-industrial, up-and-coming neighbourhood of Karlin, to the north-east of the centre.

Before we do that, we start with a warming cream of pumpkin soup at ​​Masaryčka, a smart diner that’s opened inside one of the city’s oldest train stations. The Czechs love to start with soup, no matter the time of year - but it’s especially gratifying in December when it’s just a few degrees above zero outside.

A short tram ride takes us into the heart of Karlin. Until the 1920s it was a separate town, and it still retains an energy and identity of its own. There are far fewer tourists, for one thing. Despite this being traditionally one of the cheaper places to live in Prague, the 19th century apartment blocks of different colours are grandiose and elegant, and smart, modern developments have also sprouted up since the area was regenerated following bad flooding in 2002.

We grab a quick bite of Pochoutkový salad bread rolls (that is, deli salad of the thick, creamy Czech variety) in BUFET, a fast-paced diner that’s packed with lunchtime office workers perched on stools around wooden tables. It’s just across a courtyard from the Dva Kohouti brewery, and so the beers on tap here as fresh as you’ll get. We try their Místní lager, which is a , crisp pilsner for which the Czech Republic is renowned.

A five-minute walk along the main street in Karlin lies KRO, another bustling local favourite that’s the brainchild of chef Vojtěch Václavík. He trained at the Michelin-starred Fauna restaurant in Oslo, and brought hallmarks of Scandinavian cooking like fermentation, combined with Asian influences, back to his native Prague. The big attraction here is the rotisserie chicken, which falls off the bone as all the best roast chicken should, but is also seasoned to perfection. We order some fermented potato pancakes and baked vegetables with butter and smoked mayo to complement it.

Two blocks away you’ll find another establishment that’s serious about doing things properly and authentically. Eska is a restaurant and bakery over two levels inside an atmospheric former steam boiler factory, and it quickly becomes clear why it was ​​awarded a Bib Gourmaud in last year’s Michelin Guide. Inside the curtained door on the ground floor is a space that houses a deli, café and kitchen, with bread piled high and fridges full of every ingredient you could possibly need. Head up the stairs and you can take a sneak peek down on the cooks at work before you take your seat at the restaurant above. We try a dish of potatoes perfectly cooked in ash, which comes with a creamy potato foam, smoked fish, kefir, dill and egg yolk. It’s the definition of comfort food. To make a change from beer, we wash this down with a fermented mišpule lemonade, made with tibi crystals.

After a succession of filling and inventive dishes, what we need is a coffee. Having bagged a couple of typical Czech pastries (a poppy seed koláčky and a cream puff) from the tempting cabinets of the Antonínovo Pekařství bakery, we head to an utterly unique cafe: Kavárna Bazén, also known as ‘the swimming pool cafe’. It’s housed inside a former military barracks, in a literal (and now thankfully empty) swimming pool, and we enjoy a coffee from Candycane roasters just next to the shallow end.

From here it’s just a short bus ride back to the city centre. Although you’d hardly need more food after this, a visit to the Červený Jelen (Red Stag) restaurant is highly recommended. Housed inside the impressive Špork Palace building, tables are clustered around a central atrium where you can look down at their beer tank tower over three floors, and have a nosey at the chefs at work in the open kitchen. It’s all about the grill here, and while the steaks are tempting, I opt for a wagyu burger that comes with red onion marmalade, followed by dark beer cake, which feels like a fitting way to top off a foodie trek around Prague.

• We took a food tour with Prague City Adventures (www.praguecityadventures.com, around £90 pp). This did not include the evening meal at Červený Jelen but covered everything else.