When we wrote the wrap-up of new restaurants and food stops in Prague in Q1 of 2023, we closed it with a promise that some exciting openings would happen in Q2 and Q3 of the year. And boy, did Q2 and Q3 deliver! So without further ado, here’s the most exciting new restaurants in Prague that opened in Q2 and Q3 of 2023.
Alma
If there is one new restaurant in Prague you should visit, it’s probably Alma, occupying a former movie theatre building from the 1920s. „Damn, that must have cost a fortune“ is the first thing we said when we saw the premises - Alma is not just a restaurant, but also a coffee shop, a wine shop and soon to be wine bar in a space adjacent to the Cube Hotel in the New Town behind the National Theatre. It is truly a huge project and calling it a „restaurant“ undersells its scope.
But it was money well spent - the place is beautiful and modern, and minimalist in a Japanese kind of way - at least the restaurant and bar area. Talking about the bar - Alma is following in the footsteps of Karlín’s Kro branch in trying to combine food and cocktails, which is still a novelty in Prague where these two are mostly separate. The kitchen is headed by two chefs, Petr Židek and Michal Daněk, both with formidable pedigrees. The food is mostly a modern take on local classics and just like the wine shop, it sources things from small local producers with a focus on sustainability, organic food and wild animals. The kitchen also benefits from the large premises that allows them, for instance, to age their own fish and meats etc. So great food, cocktails, interesting wines, great outdoor seating, and young, casual service? Yep, one of the coolest places to eat in Prague right now.
Eska
Eska, the Karen district staple, got a refresh and a slight change of concept during the summer: what used to be a super-popular two-storey restaurant with a bakery and coffee shop on the ground floor and a 90-seat restaurant on top that served everything from brunched to set-menu dinners is now two separate restaurants: Eska on the ground floor that serves breakfasts and lunches, and Štangl upstairs that only serves fine-dining dinners.
So I will separate the next text and advice for visitors and locals.
If you’re a visitor, Eska is wonderful, modern and hip. It’s a quick-turnaround place with limited service (you order and pay at the cashier, and they will bring everything to the table) that is frequented by younger crowds, people who work in the surrounding offices of the Karlín district, aka Prague’s Silicon Valley, and the people who attend events in Forum Karlin across the hall. The coffee is great, as is the food, and the bakery turns out nice kolache and other sweets. A great place to stop when you explore the district or Vitkov National Memorial.
If you’re a local, and miss the old Eska, with the free bread and butter, the table service, and the seemingly endless hours behind a laptop while you sip tea, you better just get over it. Stop being an entitled little brat and finally realise that Eska is a combination of a brunch/lunch place, coffee shop and bakery where all of these components alone would rank in Prague’s top ten. Also finally come to terms with the fact that staffing restaurants in the post-Covid world is difficult, and staff is expensive, and that restaurants actually do need to make some money to repay the huge investments that went to a place like Eska. Celebrate it, enjoy it, and stop whining.
Stangl
So we’re done with the bottom, but how is Štangl, the new fine dining restaurant that is now occupying the top level of what used to be Eska?
Well, first things first: it’s beautiful. Three symmetrical counter tops in the kitchen will get you some serious „The Menu“ vibes. And the hydroponic herbs garden in the corner proves that these guys are serious. We know Mr Štangl, the executive chef that opened the original Eska and gave name to the new restaurant, to be on the quiet and pensive, and the food mirrors that: don’t expect jokes on a plate but carefully crafted dishes that mirror the chef’s obsession with local agriculture and nature. Štangl offers tasting menus only - one short and one longer - and pairs the food with mostly local natural wines and Champagnes. The place relies on a surprisingly high number of staff and it’s fun watching every member focus on their particular task. This is an adult version of Eska, and a very nice one.
Marie B
I know. When you describe the concept of Marie B like „you get a blank piece of paper and a pencil, and they don’t tell you what you’re eating and you have to guess“, it can feel like a very expensive prank at your expense. But the new restaurant by the Michelin-starred La Degustation does not feel like a prank at all. It feels like a cool restaurant for adults (although the bar seating only and cool art on the wall from Berlin predestines the venue to a bit younger audience) and a slightly more hip version of La Degustation itself. Named after Marie B Svobodová, the late 19th century Czech cookbook author that has been La Degustation’s constant inspiration, the dishes focus on the local, but don’t shy away from foreign ingredients, either. The bar seating is great for couples; bigger groups can get the table in Vin de Marie, the new wine bar next door, which doubles as a private dining room of Marie B after 6pm. This place is fun and tasty and comes definitely recommended.
Loka
Prague hasn’t witnessed many exciting coffee openings recently, so Loka is a welcome change. Opened by the people of Doubleshot, who run the OG of specialty coffee in Prague, Můj šálek kávy, and the popular Místo in the Bubenec district, Loka is unrecognisable from modern specialty coffee places in NYC, London or LA. And we mean it in the best way possible - Loka is seated in a modern office building being finished right next to the Masaryk station, and everything about it feels modern, yet sturdy and valuable: the bar is made of a slab of stone, the chairs and tables are custom made and the plush seats on the side add a sense of understated luxury.
The coffee portfolio includes all the usual suspects, including nitro coffee, two batch filter coffees to choose from, some coffee-based cocktails, and mostly natural wines. And some snacks and sweets to nibble on. So far, this area with modern offices on the edge of the city centre has been dominated by the venerable EMA Espresso Bar, but I suspect Loka will be wildly popular - it’s right there where the new offices are, and it’s clean, modern, and fun.
Sandwich Rodeo
Tomáš Oujezdský, has always had a knack for all things Americana. Case in point? Big Smokers, the mid-Texas BBQ place in Holešovice, which is spot on, or the iconic Letná US fast food institution, MrHotDog. Now he’s expanded his empire with Sandwich Rodeo, his take on the American diner. Of course, like of all of his places, Sandwich Rodeo does not literally mimic a diner, just transplants it into Prague - hence Czech craft beers etc. and other local aspects of the business. Sandwich Rodeo sits right next to MrHotDog, which allows the two places to share some common premises, like walk-in freezers or beer infrastructure. The decor is all brown wood, with seating boxes, diner-style. Thank he sandwiches are delicious: we had the spicy fried chicken and the shrimp sandwich and loved both, incl. their milk bread. The one gripe people had was that while the outdoor seating of both Sandwich Rodeo and MrHotDog seem to blend into each other, the orders are strictly separated and you cannot order from one business and sit in the outdoor seating area of the other one. But we’re sure this will iron itself out going forward.
Burgerman
Burgerman has become a bit of a covid wonder - starting from a take-out window from a shared kitchen in Žižkov in 2021, it moved as a burger stand to Betlémské náměstí in the Old Town and managed to attract a loyal following in the meantime. And now it has used that to build a successful crowdfunding campaign and open a new, permanent fixture in the Letná district.
We always liked Petr Návrat’s burgers, and the two we tried in his new place were no exception - the meat is seasoned and cooked well, and we have always loved the challah-like, crispy bun that the burgers come wrapped in. You can also get your fries and craft beers to go with those burgers. The bacon cheese sliders at MrHotDog were always our go-to when it comes to the Letná burger, but Burgerman gives them a run for the money. Great addition to the Letná district.
Hostinec na Výtoni
Jan and his high school mates used to drink at this place back in the day, so we were happy to see the little house just underneath the Vysehrad fortress coming alive again after years of abandonment. And alive it came - with a new owner and crew, this is, in some aspects, the traditional pub we have all always wanted: great pub comfort food (with a big focus on duck grilled in their huge Josper grill - the website of this restaurant translates simply as duck.cz) that is rooted in tradition but has a bit of a modern sensitivity and adds interesting touches to traditional dishes and ingredients.
Great outdoor seating in the summer, too, and the service is as friendly as pub service should be. The place is an interesting juxtaposition with U Kalendů, one of our favourites, three blocks away: where U Kalendů is minimalist, modern and „cheffy“ and does not hide its inspiration in London’s St John’s, Hostinec na Výtoni digs its heels in Czech tradition and can come out as a bit warmer albeit a bit less curated at times. Both restaurants are great, but they approach „the Czech pub“ a bit differently.
Kro VRSOVICE
The Kro management team has been busy this year - after opening the gargantuan project that is Alma, which contains a restaurant, a coffee shop, wine shop, soon-to-be-opened wine bar and a wine distributor, they have set out to open a new location of Kro in the Vršovice district, right in front of their kitchen and bakery over at Moskevská.
And we love it. The place is not huge but really smartly arranged: do you want to eat? Go left and have a seat. Do you want to buy bread os a croissant and get some coffee to stay or to go? Go right and order at the counter. The two functions of the place never really get in the way of each other, and you understand what to do immediately when you get in. And there’s also some outdoor seating that overlooks the generous space in front of the restaurant. The menu contains some usual suspects from other Kro locations (the chicken, of course) but also some dishes specific to this location, and a whole new breakfast menu, too. This is a winner, and a huge contribution to the Vršovice dining scene.
Mamam bistro
Speaking of Vršovice dining scene, Mamam bistro is a Vietnamese bistro with a difference. Open by a couple that happen to be actually veterans of the Prague dining scene (with experience from the likes of Dian, Taiko and The Eatery), the place is tiny and the menu is limited, but it is far from a cookie-cutter Vietnamese bistro found all over Prague. No Pho, no rolls, but a delicious shrimp burger, ribs, or mixed noodles. And beer, a few house cocktails and modern takes on Vietnamese coffee. The place is tiny, but the heart is big. Make sure you check these guys out for something a bit less ordinary.
Burger Service
In a town that can feel obsessed with burgers at times, when the ubiquitous Ambiente restaurant group opens a dedicated burger place, you pay attention. And they have been building a bit of a hype for months. And like with most things in Ambiente, they have built their own know how and adopted their own approach to burgers, building everything from the bun to the condiments and so on. So we went recently to the take-out only place… and our burger was not that great. We were expecting a Shake Shack or Copenhagen’s Gasoline Grill burger - simple, juicy, delicious. We got simple, but not the latter parts. At this point, we still prefer the butcher’s burger at Naše maso, another Ambiente outpost nearby.
So why do we write about it? Because it’s Ambiente. If there’s one group of people in Prague who will figure it out, it’s them. I am sure right now somebody has a meeting addressing the complaints. Given how huge they got, people in Prague tend to forget that most of them have built a benchmark of quality for anything from pizza to fried cheese to bread or the vetrnik pastry in one of Ambiente’s restaurants.
I remember when Eska opened, their bread was pretty bad, and they were giving loafs of it to take home when you went for dinner. We talked to Mr Karpisek, the founder of the Ambiente group - and our friend - and politely mentioned to him that the bread was far from ideal. „It is, now. But we’ll work on it, and six months from now, nobody will remember.“ And you know what? He was right - now Eska is in the top five for most people in Prague when it comes to bread. I expect the same from Burger Service. They have the capital to survive the first few weeks, and the skills and know how to perfect the product in the meantime. Mark my words.