VINOHRADY – wine and dine part 1

I would like to dedicate this post to my dear nan who passed away in her sleep this week. To be honest over the last 2 decades I have spent a lot less time visiting her than makes me feel comfortable, but my memories of her still strike firm in my mind, so this week we hiked around the densely populated area of Vinohrady looking for things that reminded me of the times that we spent together during my childhood which means cukrarnas as when we used to pick her up from the cake shop that she worked at. She would bring home a large assorted box of cakes which me and my sister would happily devour.

Vinohrady is so populated that I decided to split it into 4 parts so that we can reveal a sensible number of interesting sites because it would be unfair as well as too difficult to decide on what should be included and dis-cluded. The name Vinohrady means vineyards and in its history grapes were grown for the production of wine so it would hardly be surprising if we didn't find any wine bars in this area and surprise surprise we were not disappointed. Though what was surprising was the number of bio shops and also more interestingly the majority of the streets in this area are named after countries so we shouldn't have been so surprised to find a lot of shops selling home grown produce which of course we did.

Review no. 1

Vinohrady is chock a block of food and wine related businesses so many that it was hard to choose 2 to review and also the short list that follows. The first choice was a cake shop/cukrana because I wanted to find a place like the shop that my nan used to work at and there was also a strange coincidence that they sell the same strawberry bonbons that my nan loved, personally I favoured the lemon bonbons but that is our little secret. We really liked the place because it was small, individual and you could feel the passion that went into establishing this business.

They had a great choice of cakes, home-made quiches and pastries as well as Italian and Chilean wines, coffees, teas and traditional sweets. We liked the décor, the atmosphere and the general welcome that we received from the owners who were working there. Basically this is a very cool place to go to and the food is really really yummy.

SVG

Review no. 2

The second place that we visited was admittedly a popular style of restaurant in Prague but we loved it because of its ambience and the quality of its food. It was a Mexican café/restaurant but a lot different from some of the more well known and established ones around and the plan with this pilgrimage is to find places that are under the radar. Although it is predominately a Mexican restaurant they also have steaks and spicy chicken wings but we went 100% Mexicano. I started with the nachos and guacamole which was spicy, chunky and very yummy and tested my heart with a chicken chimichanga which was not the cheapest that I have tried but filling and plenty of chicken all in all a very nice experience, not the sort of place for large groups. It is also a duplex which is great for those who want a modicum of discretion.