Reflections on Praha I
We’re in Wien (Vienna) now, but here are some reminiscences on our time in Praha (Prague), specifically as they relate to eating (and drinking).
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First night – Turkish at Istanbul Kebab just down the street from our hotel on Krakovská. Simple food: minimum fuss. Crackerjack Kofta sausages. Perfect.
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Second night – We stumbled across the Trattoria Cicala on Žitná by accident. It looked empty, but authentic and promising, so we ventured inside.
“Do you take card?” we asked the wiry proprietor, who had hung up the phone to welcome us. “Of course”, he replied. “Why does everyone ask this… do you take card?”.
It was likely too hard for us with our pigeon quasi-Esperanto to explain our experience in Furth im Wald, so we acknowledged defeat before being directed downstairs into a spectacularly appointed brick-arched cellar where diners were already dining and any vacant tables appeared all to be reserved.
Pictures on the wall suggested that luminaries of the big screen had been here: Morgan Freeman for one.
Books, covers and all that: despite the unpretentious and understated exterior, this was all very positive. The eponymous Aldo Cicala and his family-owned business clearly have a solid reputation.
We were quickly made welcome by the hostess, who we might assume to be related to Aldo, and before we knew it, we had a half-litre carafe of vino rosso and a glass of vino blanco on a table that was now not reserved. Kerrie ordered the Lasagne and I went for Penne al Arrabiata. Both were properly excellent.
And then we came to pay. With cards. Four of them. All were rejected. So Kerrie ‘ran’ to the ATM to withdraw cash, leaving me to idle by the bar with thoughts about doing the washing up. But even this inconvenience came with benefits. The hostess cracked open a bottle of Grappa to keep me entertained and then produced a refreshing Limoncello to reward Kerrie for her exertions when she came back with cash. Both drinks were unexpectedly complementare.
It was coincidence that we had asked Mr. Aldo about paying by card, but maybe we weren’t the first to experience problems making payment.
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Third night – Italian again, but this time at the Pizza Paradiso back on Krakovská. Kerrie had a spectacularly colourful vegetarian pizza, while I had a delicious lasagne which came served sizzling in an iron pot. Real Betis v Sparta Praha was showing on the tv, and was 1-1 after eight minutes, although we found out later that the Spanish team had prevailed 2-1.
