We’ve been writing Prague Christmas and NYE dining guide for a few years now. But just like with everything else, the guide in 2020 will be different - our current shutdown prevents us from eating outside during the holiday season, so we will be focusing on take-out and pre-made meals for the home.
Now, for the readers abroad: the vast majority of Czechs eat their Christmas Eve dinner at home in the circle of their closest family, and the dinner tends to steer towards fish, especially carp, which is the traditional fish for Christmas that is sold on the streets live in the days leading up to the holiday. Some people opt for salmon or other fish that may be easier to work with (carp is notoriously boney and requires heavy prep work) or for meat (think schnitzels).
But in our household, we began to eat out for Christmas Eve years ago, after a misfortunate Christmas Eve when Zuzi’s just about had it with all the preparations and family members showing up late or not showing up at all. It was a revelation: we realised that many families ate outside and we have thoroughly enjoyed the relaxing and trouble-free experience of Christmas Eve, as opposed to the stressed out and labour-intensive Christmas Eves we remember from our childhoods.
Now, this being 2020, things are obviously different. Restaurants were ordered to shut down about ten days before Christmas Eve and are unlike to open before… well… we’re guessing late January, early February? So eating out for Christmas Eve is out. But do you have to slave over the Christmas Eve dinner, or are there different options? Have restaurants come to the rescue?
We’ve done a bit of research, and the short answer is yes. Below is a summary of the take-out options and meal kits for your Christmas cheer. Enjoy the holidays whatever you do, okay?
Meal kits and take-out options for Christmas
Aureole, the swanky, jet-setting restaurant on top of a high-rise building, offers probably the most complete Christmas meal kits of them all - there are a few beautiful menus for two or four, which include fish soup, boneless Zander, potato salad, Christmas punch, foie gras paté, Xmas sausage and ruche de noel. They also have menus for Christmas Day with svíčková and buns in vanilla sauce. The first two years we dined out for Christmas Eve, it was at Aureole, and we loved it. This should be great.
The Eatery is another venue we visited on Christmas Eve one year. They offer a simple but super classic menu for one: traditional fish soup, carp or trout fillet from Kalenda fish farm ready for breading, and potato salad. Check out the vast selection of wines, something The Eatery has always been strong at. Unlike most other restaurants, The Eatery delivers on 24 December, too.
Speaking of wines, Vinograf has a nice Christmas menu, too, with two options - fish or meat - and suggested wine pairings at really nice prices (the bubbles by Gala have only a tiny markup on them). We’re talking rabbit rillettes, carp, carp soup and Xmas stollen, or chicken soup and turkey with stuffing.
Výčep has a nice meal kit that you can put together, too, going for venison: we’re talking boar schnitzels ready for breading and frying, potato salad, Xmas sausage and chicken stock. The show-stealer is their delicious chlebíčky open-faced sandwiches. We could eat them all day long. Great stuff!
U Matěje, the modern pub in the Hanspaulka area run by Chef Punčochář, may be closed for Christmas, but offers nice meal kits for take-out until Dec 23: carp fillets, potato salad, carp soup, boar terrine with pumpkin chutney and… wait for it… NYE boxes!!!
One of the restaurants that have always remained open for Christmas were Chef Pohlreich’s Café Imperial and Next Door, both being de facto hotel restaurants. Chef Pohlreich has not broken this tradition this year, offering some traditional dishes to be delivered on Dec 23 and 24. We’re talking fish soup, carp and potato salad, Xmas sausage, veal schnitzel, apple strudel and eggnog. Last delivery: Dec 24 at 3pm.
Kastrol, the great pub at the very outskirts of Prague and a local favorite, offers a nice and quite ample Christmas menu, to be served for take-out on Dec 24: the meals steer towards meaty comfort food and include the likes of venison paté, sauerkraut soup and carp soup, headcheese, svíčková, boar with rose hip sauce and the like.
The Bottega bistros have mostly remained in hiatus during shutdown, with Bottega di Finestra at Platnéřská tasking the lead. Christmas will be no different, and the restaurant will offer two Christmas specials: Italian fish soup and veal schnitzel with potato salad. These options seem pricey (the schnitzel is nearly CZK 500) but the cooking at BdF has always been solid, and you can buy wines and other delicacies in the store, so this might be a great option to buy food (either made or as a meal kit to be finished at home) and stock up for the holidays.
If you crave snails, which is another time-tested delicacy for Christmas Eve here in Czechia, La Gare and Les Moules got you covered with escargots delivered to your doorstep and some special price wine pairings.
U Bansethu, an iconic pub in the Nusle district, will be open between 11am and 2pm on Christmas Eve, and will offer just three dishes: beef broth, Xmas sausage, and goulash. Perfect if you daydream about sitting in a pub on Christmas Eve (don’t we all?).
Staying classy and luxurious whether open or not, Salabka, the beautiful restaurant in the middle of a winery in the Troja district, offers a luxurious Christmas box for two that includes two bottles of wines from their winery, fish soup, boar rillettes, foie gras paté, dear leg with rose hip sauce, dessert and an assortment of bread for CZK 3500. But many of these items can be bought separately. The Salabka experience is that of opulence, and this box is definitely on brand.
And then there’s the Ambiente restaurants. Let’s go through them:
Christmas pizza, anyone? Okay, probably not, but Pizza Nuova does offer sea bass or sea bream fillets ready for home preparation.
Lokál Hamburk offers a Christmas menu for two: 2x fish soup, 2x carp fillet (plus breading kit), eggnog and a scale for luck, all that for CZK 600. Beer optional.
Café Savoy does not offer a Christmas special per se, but they will be selling their Christmas dishes until Wednesday: the mushroom Kuba, the Xmas sausage and first soup - we tried all of them and especially the soup is delicious.
Eska and Bufet, two Karlín-based eateries, are selling fresh carp from their barrels, adding fillets and other things that may come in handy on Christmas Eve. Bufet actually sells a very nice Christmas Eve meal kit for two, complete with eggnog.
And finally, Kantýna is shedding its meat-centric focus with a beautiful meal kit for Christmas Eve: fish soup, 4 ham and potato salad chlebíčky, potato salad, breaded carp fillets, breaded veal schnitzels and Xmas sausage, all of which goes for CZK 998. Sounds excellent.
In any case, whatever you decided to do on Christmas Eve and Day, stay well and safe, and see you next year! May your holidays be calm this year. You deserve it.