Czech Cuisine

About Czech Cuisine

By the ULTIMATE Prague Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

What to order in Prague, from the Bib Gourmand pubs to the grand cafés, and why the Czech table is built around sauce, dumplings and beer: our guide to Czech food.

Czech cuisine

Czech cooking is the food of a country of fields, forests and fishponds: slow-cooked sauces, dumplings to soak them up, cabbage, game and freshwater fish, and a glass of beer beside it. It is generous, warming and made for long tables, and Prague is the place to learn it.

Svíčková na smetaně

The dish to order first is svíčková na smetaně, marinated beef sirloin in a cream sauce, which CzechTourism lists among the classics of the Czech kitchen. The beef is braised with root vegetables, which are then puréed into a smooth, sweet-sour sauce; it comes with sliced bread dumplings, a spoon of cranberries and, often, a swirl of whipped cream.

Sauce, dumplings and a glass of Pilsner: the generous table of Prague.

Goulash, roast pork and dumplings

Goulash came to the Czech lands from Hungary and stayed: a thick, paprika-red beef stew served with bread dumplings or bread. Roast pork with dumplings and cabbage, the famous vepřo knedlo zelo, is a classic of the Czech table; potato pancakes, seasoned with spices and fried in lard, are its snack.

Pub food

In the pubs, look for the snacks made to go with beer: fried cheese with tartare sauce, utopenec, the “drowned man”, a sausage pickled in vinegar, spices and hot peppers, pickled Brie-style cheese in oil, and, for the brave, the pungent tvarůžky cheese of the Olomouc region, all of which CzechTourism lists among the pub specialities.

Soups and fish

Lunch often begins with a soup: rich kulajda soup is among CzechTourism’s classics. Czech fishponds give carp and pike, prepared in countless ways, and carp is the centre of the Christmas Eve supper.

Sweet things

Koláče, round yeast buns filled with poppy seed, curd cheese, plum jam or apricot, are the Czech pastry above all others. In summer, quark dumplings are stuffed with fruit and topped with melted butter.

Christmas

At Christmas, fried carp with potato salad is served in the majority of Czech families, says CzechTourism, a tradition from the mid-19th century; the braided vánočka has been part of the Christmas menu since the 14th century. Families bake trays of cukroví, the Christmas biscuits, with vanilla rolls the favourite of all. See our page Christmas in Prague.

Beer and Becherovka

Pilsner Urquell has been brewed in Plzeň since 1842, when Josef Groll introduced the world to the first golden pilsner lager, in the brewery’s words; the brewery is about an hour from Prague. Becherovka, the herbal bitter of Karlovy Vary, has been made since 1807, when Josef Vitus Becher launched it, to a secret recipe of herbs and spices. On St Martin’s Day, 11 November, the first young wines of Moravia and Bohemia are opened with roast goose; Prague celebrates on the Rašínovo embankment on 14 November 2026.

Where to taste it

For Czech cooking with a MICHELIN Bib Gourmand in 2026, go to The Eatery in Holešovice, Výčep in Vinohrady, U Kalendů on the embankment, Na Kopci in Smíchov or U Matěje in Dejvice. Café Imperial cooks traditional dishes in its tiled hall; Lokál Dlouhááá pours tank beer with pub classics; U Zlatého tygra is the pub for a glass of Pilsner.

Our advice: order svíčková at lunch, when the kitchens are at their freshest, and leave room for koláče with your coffee.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Czech Cuisine before you go.