Oh boy, it seems that the weekends now seem to get busier than the weekdays, with all these food events happening in Prague on a regular basis. Sure, we know it’s the summer season but can’t we all just go on a cleanse one weekend this summer or something? And this very Saturday will not be different. We wanted to get some work done today, but heck - these events simply won’t let us. Here’s where you’ll meet us today, trying to stuff our faces to forget we should have been sitting at home behind our laptops.
Just like nearly every other Saturday, we will definitely visit the Naplavka farmers’ market at the Vltava riverside underneath the Vysehrad fortress. It’s our little tradition: we meet some of our foodie friends for coffee, either filters from BrewBar or espresso from Kavovy Klub. Just choose your poison. We like the filter a bit better for the Saturday morning kickoff, but some people swear by the cappuccino or flat white from the Coffee Club. They tend to be on the other ends of the market so make sure you check them both out.
Now, today will be different, because the market will be a part of the Pivo na naplavce (Beer on the riverside) festival of microbreweries. What? Are you saying that we had another microbreweries festival in Prague exactly a week ago? So? What’s your point? The festival starts at 10am because everybody knows that beer tastes the best before noon. DJs will be spinning records in between the stands and the hangovers, and food will be served, too: anything from Raclette cheese to artisanal hot dogs and carp fries. If you’re not having fun, it will be your own fault.
Next up, something complete different: the Jirak farmers’ market in the Vinohrady district just a short tram ride away offers something special today: the “strawberry harvest”, a celebration of the climaxing strawberry season. If you like strawberries, this is the second best thing to just going to the Kunratice fields in the south of Prague and picking them yourself, which we always promise ourselves we would do, but never actually get to it. They even have a chocolate fountain where you can dip the strawberries you bought for that chocolate fix you need. Perfection. Also, music and “the best of Fler” (Fler being the Czech answer to Etsy) will be there, so the market is a great opportunity to buy something for your loved ones at home and meet the makers.
After you’ve had enough strawberries, it’s time to move into the Vrsovice district and the Grebovka vineyard, a beautiful sight on its own and a vineyard-in-a-park that actually produces its own wine and that will accommodate the Apetit Piknik this Saturday. The picnic, organized by the people behind the Apetit magazine, probably the biggest food-related magazine in the country (think Bon Appetit or or Food and Wine Magazine) is a showcase for many usual suspects from the Prague food scene, including some true heavyweights, and Czech food bloggers who try to show that they can actually cook for a large number of people.
The event always used to be one of the food events of the year and the venue is beautiful, so we really can’t think of a reason not to go. We mentioned the heavyweights, so these include not one, but two stands by SaSaZu, one of the most popular Asian fusion venues, open-faced sandwiches by Sisters, Na kopci restaurant, a local favorite, Yamato, high-end sushi place, or La Bottega of the Riccardo Lucque’s Italian bistro empire. Coffee by Kavovy klub never disappoints, and you can finish on a sweet note with delicious creations by Votre Plaisir or something local from Simply Good.
And if you want to give a shot to the bloggers and aficionados, like we do, our shortlist includes wood-oven pizza by Albrecht Circus, pickles by Dobre nalozeno, burgers (of course, you know us) by Beef & Burger, or the Prestice pig pork belly at Booczech. Sounds like a healthy mix.
And after all this, just roll down the hill back to the river and digest all the food you've just had at the United Islands music festival. It finishes today! And tomorrow, we all should go on a cleanse. Really.
