Come Along My Little Strudels on a 2016 ABD Trip Report - Cloud 9 Sky Bar

[FoodieFriend]

Wandering Around Prague

loving your newest installment, unfortunately, the 1st set of pics which may be your breakfast at the hotel are not showing for me. it appears to be a dead link in photobucket? otherwise, I'm happy to be following along. an ABD trip to Europe is on my bucket list & reading your trip reports help in the decision to take that step!

 

[mare1203]

loving your newest installment, unfortunately, the 1st set of pics which may be your breakfast at the hotel are not showing for me. it appears to be a dead link in photobucket? otherwise, I'm happy to be following along. an ABD trip to Europe is on my bucket list & reading your trip reports help in the decision to take that step!

Huh. Well, we can't have that now can we?! My dad said something similar. Photobucket has not been kind to me today, so I'll definitely go in and see if I can rectify the situation.

 

[sayhello]

Ah! This brings back some great memories! I meant to spend more time in the Jewish Quarter, but after the whole cruise and everything, it totally didn't click that my extra day in Prague was on the Sabbath, and nothing was open! I've heard the museums there are fascinating. Guess I'll just have to go back some time! Looking forward to your report about your food/history tour!

Sayhello

 

[disneyphx]

Thanks for bringing back memories - that 'street meat' by the hotel was our first meal in Prague!

 

[Heidi Lou]

I was shocked when I stumbled upon your TR and when I saw the pictures was like...wait she looks familiar! I have read your sister's reports and I feel like I know you haha, I had no idea you had tr's of your own. So now I have some catching up to do!

 

[mare1203]

I was shocked when I stumbled upon your TR and when I saw the pictures was like...wait she looks familiar! I have read your sister's reports and I feel like I know you haha, I had no idea you had tr's of your own. So now I have some catching up to do!

Ha, I totally understand the feeling of "knowing" someone after reading a report or being on the boards. Hope you enjoy the report!

 

[kanadar]

Yay! The pictures are working now! The food looks yummy, can't wait for more from the food tour!! Food porn!!

 

[mare1203]

Eating Our Way Through Prague, Part 1


When deciding what to do in Prague for our free time, there was no shortage of options. Most of them included some sort of tour component, because I really feel as though you get a better understanding of the history and the people of the city when you have a guide giving you information. Prague has a high number of tours visitors can book, and a variety of tour types. I knew we would be going on a “must-see” city tour with Adventures by Disney, so many of the basic city walking tours were thrown out. Although they have become banned at more and more places around the city, Segway tours continue to be a popular way to see the sights, but not my cup of tea, so also a no-go. A beer loving country doesn’t start to describe the CR and I would have loved to do a Prague Beer Tour, but unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out. And then I came upon my holy grail...Food Tours, designed to combine history, culture, and cuisine. Now, food tours are actually nothing new, and I actually read my first account of one here on the boards. When user khertz went on the Dis Exclusive Viva Italia trip in 2014, they did a food tour of the Roman neighborhood of Trastavere and loved it.


We ended up booking with Eating Prague Tours. On their website they state their mission as: “leaving travelers with an unparalleled, non-touristy, food-related experience in undiscovered neighborhoods of the most fascinating cities in the world”. Also, their tour started at 12:30 and was listed as lasting for 4 hours. Sounds amazing and works into our schedule??? Book it! As a note, I booked the tour online about 2 weeks prior to our arrival with no problem. Also, that 4 hours it turned out to be not-so-perfect because our guide, while awesome and wonderful, allowed us to linger and stroll, and we ended up having to duck out a bit early to make it back to the Marriott. We didn’t miss any food locations and had our final dessert bagged up to go, but, something to note if you’re thinking about doing a tour yourself. Spoiler alert: the Eating Prague Food Tour was one of our absolute favorite experiences of the trip!



As mentioned previously, our food tour began at 12:30 and we were asked to meet 15 minutes ahead of time. While we had breakfast earlier in the day, we were feeling hungry and excited to explore some of Prague’s local cuisine. Our meeting spot was Pernickuv sen, a lovely and wonderful smelling gingerbread shop tucked away near the center of town.


We were the first of our tour companions to arrive.





The shop has two main areas - the bakery and pastry displays and a second room full of gingerbread for purchase along with a small, round table. The table was already set up, along with a gingerbread gift and water if we wanted it. There were 10 foodies in total, and the tour allows a maximum of 12. All of our other companions were couples and they were from Australia, Canada, and around the US. I thought it was a great mix of people and everyone was very friendly.


Once everyone had arrived, Eva proceeded to introduce herself further. She is from the Czech Republic and has been involved in food for quite some time. She has a wealth of knowledge about the country and the area. She also had a great sense of humor that we all enjoyed. She discussed that it had been a hot summer and not too rainy, so recently in the paper, they had actually run an article about fearing the ability to go mushroom picking this season. Mushroom picking is a highly popular pastime in the Czech Republic and, in fact, is considered a national sport. It’s not called hunting because there really is no hunting to be done as mushrooms are everywhere in the forests surrounding the city. Similar to Germany, the people of the Czech Republic find it relaxing to go out and hike or be around nature to unwind and many people have houses in the country for that purpose. There is a wide variety of edible mushrooms in the Czech Republic and most citizens know and can easily spot the few poisonous varieties. The picture above is a well-known poisonous variety.







Greeting us on our table was an Eating Prague gingerbread from the shop. The shop itself, run by 2 women, specializes in reviving the strong gingerbread tradition of the CR. Their gingerbread is fresh made using an Armenian recipe consisting of only honey, butter, nuts, and the special spices for which gingerbread is known. The recipe is Armenian, because those were the spices being transported on the ancient spice roads that winded through the CR. Gingerbread has been a part of the Czech culture since the 1300’s! Since it is fresh, it expires in 6 months.


That the shop is run by 2 women is also noteworthy, since women could not own businesses during the communist regime. This shop has been popular and in operation for 27 years. The newest generation is passionate about local businesses and want to eat fresh, domestic products, adding to the success. The picture above shows one of the owners. They were having a great time while we were there. I also enjoyed that all of our other travel companions were photographing their food along with us. Usually it's just me, awkwardly pulling out the camera before we dig in!


Our first actual tasting consisted of 3 Czech pastries. Starting with dessert??? Why not?!


The first pastry we sampled is called “sakra”, or damnit cake. It was not very moist and is made using gingerbread dough, walnuts, and plum jam. The cut sort of looks like biscotti, but I’ve eaten very little biscotti in my life, so I can’t comment on any further similarities. I thought this was tasty.


The second pastry will be familiar to many of my Eastern European friends: kolace. Being of Polish heritage Kolache have been common at many a dinner party. This version was a bit different, made using gingerbread pastry with a poppyseed filling. I thought this one was scrumptious!


Our final pastry was the Vanilikove Rohlicky, or vanilla crescent, and is a traditional Czech christmas cookie. It is similar to a shortbread, this one made using almonds and confectioners sugar. I thought this one was also delicious.


While we were eating the vanilla cookie, Eva told us a little about the food traditions in her home country. In the CR, they celebrate on Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas Day. The traditional meal is carp with potato salad. Eva said that the tradition is to have a live carp and then kill it just prior to preparation so it was as fresh as possible. Today, you can find fresh carps all around the city prior to Christmas, and they will kill and filet it on the spot. She also lamented the carp, because, as she said, “it’s really a terrible fish”. In the CR it is tradition that they don't eat meat on Christmas. Eva also lamented this, because while they share many traditions with Slovakia, the Slovaks do eat ham and other meat on Christmas.

All in all, this was a wonderful first foray into the culinary world of Prague! ​

 

[mare1203]

Eating Our Way Through Prague, Part 2


Once we were finished with our pastries, we had a chance to buy something if we wanted and then headed out to our next location. Even the manhole covers in Prague are pretty! It was a short 5-7 minute walk and we actually ended up hitting 2 in one.

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The walk took us through some buildings that had been turned into apartments. This may not seem like a big deal, but since Prague has become a Republic rather than under Communist rule, it has allowed greater wealth in the city. Now people have the ability to build and afford more than ever before. Eva mentioned that the area we were headed was on the ground floor of some fancy renovated and repurposed apartments. Along the way we also saw a wine shop and chocolate shop. Definitely lots of cute little locally owned shops in this area.
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Our second edible location was Sisters Bistro for their open faced sandwiches. It is located at the ground floor of an apartment building with a breezeway and is actually quite small. They set us up outside the shop where we could talk and not interfere with the other customers. The shop is run by a famous female Prague food journalist. Open-faced sandwiches are a staple for residents, as the concept was invented in Prague in the 1920’s. Sisters Bistro is locally known as a must-stop. The shop is located almost across the street from the Prague Beer Museum, which is actually a pub and not a museum, but easily found on the map.


We tried 3 open faced sandwiches here.


The first was beet root with goat cheese and a caramelized walnut. This one was both beautiful and tasty. The flavors were as bold as the sandwich, but didn’t overwhelm the palate at all. More than one of our foodie companions was unsure at first and impressed after tasting.


The second was a celery root with mayo, tarragon, and tomato. I enjoy celery, so this was another win for me. The flavors mixed well and it wasn’t overly dressed.


Our third was a prague ham with hard boiled egg and one other thing I cannot remember. This was the heartiest of the three and while it was delicious, I liked the other 2 better, for nothing other than the flavors were more surprising.


Bob is blocking the actual drink, but you can see the glasses in the above picture. To wash it all down we had an elderflower spritzer. This was light and refreshing. Ours was virgin, but you can also add some liqueur or other alcohol to pack a different kind of punch.






Handily located directly across the walk through was our third location, the Nase Maso. Nase Maso is a traditional Czech butcher shop with glass windows so you can literally take a peek at how the sausage gets made, though, we weren’t actually allowed into the room where it happened.


To start, we sampled the traditional Prague Ham, as well as a beef ham. It was served with bread and pickles. I preferred the Prague ham, but the beef ham was quite tasty as well. Prague Ham is original to Prague and a brine-cured, stewed, and beechwood smoked boneless ham.

On the other side of things, we sampled a bacon sausage and a kielbasa paired with bread and a nice mustard. These were both scrumptious! I love sausages, and both of these stood out.


Bob with some of his meaty spoils!


These guys are clearly doing some high-end, great work and are worth the stop. There is a small dining area, so it’s not all takeaway. Like Sisters Bistro, Nase Maso is incredibly busy and highly popular with the locals. We saw many people going in to buy their meat for the weekend while we were there. They also supply a number of restaurants in the area.
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[kanadar]

All that food looks so yummy!! But I wanna be in the room where it happened, the room where it happened.

 

[sayhello]

Wow, this looks like a fabulous tour so far! I'm beginning to wish I'd checked with you before signing up for my Prague tour! Yummy stuff! (Actually, I'm mostly kidding. I did a wonderful walking tour of Prague that went to a lot of places that weren't on the ABD tour. Our tour guide also covered a lot of recent history that was not really covered by our ABD local guide. I had the advantage of doing it *after* the ABD tour, so I already knew what they covered). Looking forward to more report!

We were given the gingerbread cookies with the poppyseed center during our walking tour of Bratislava, Slovakia. Yummy!! I assume it's the same recipe!

Sayhello

 

[disneyphx]

This tour looks great. How did I miss having a kolache when I was there?!

Of course the 'room where it happened' took me to one place.....I just checked the lyrics - never noticed the reference to sausage making?! I know you are always intentional!

 

[sayhello]

Of course the 'room where it happened' took me to one place.....I just checked the lyrics - never noticed the reference to sausage making?! I know you are always intentional!

Ha! I never caught that, either! There are just SO many words to Hamilton....

Sayhello

 

[tgeorge]

Hahaha, yes, SO many words and hard to catch! I'm going to NY in January and I've been trying to get tickets. Eek, man, I could go on an ABD for the price they want

That's interesting about the gingerbread recipe being Armenian. My grandma was born there and I have a few family members who still go over to visit. I wonder if she has the recipe and if they could get me the spices? That would be awesome for some Christmas cookies this year.

 

[sayhello]

Hahaha, yes, SO many words and hard to catch! I'm going to NY in January and I've been trying to get tickets. Eek, man, I could go on an ABD for the price they want

I'm going in Chicago the end of this month. I bought from the venue, but it was still a chunk of change!

Sorry for hijacking your Trip Report, Mary!!

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[sayhello]

whoops

 

[tgeorge]

I'm going in Chicago the end of this month. I bought from the venue, but it was still a chunk of change!

Sorry for hijacking your Trip Report, Mary!!

Sayhello

Sorry Mary...I had to respond and then I PROMISE no more interruptions

I was going to buy a ticket for the 25th of October since it was my birthday and I was just looking for one ticket. But, I have a work obligation that I couldn't get out of. I figured Chicago was the only way I was going to see it before 2020. Have fun!!

 

[mare1203]

I'm going in Chicago the end of this month. I bought from the venue, but it was still a chunk of change!

Sorry for hijacking your Trip Report, Mary!!

Sayhello

Sorry Mary...I had to respond and then I PROMISE no more interruptions

I was going to buy a ticket for the 25th of October since it was my birthday and I was just looking for one ticket. But, I have a work obligation that I couldn't get out of. I figured Chicago was the only way I was going to see it before 2020. Have fun!!

Ha! Hijack away; I love Hamilton!

I'm just glad people can appreciate my lyrical paraphrase in the narrative that I chuckled and patted myself on the back about for hours before posting!

 

[mare1203]

All that food looks so yummy!! But I wanna be in the room where it happened, the room where it happened.

You weren't even on the tour where it happened.

This tour looks great. How did I miss having a kolache when I was there?!

Of course the 'room where it happened' took me to one place.....I just checked the lyrics - never noticed the reference to sausage making?! I know you are always intentional!

Yup, entirely intentional! I happen to know the lyrics to that song particularly well and loved that it fit perfectly.

I don't know how you missed kolache, but so long as you replaced with trdelnik, then it evens out!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Ha! Hijack away; I love Hamilton!

I'm just glad people can appreciate my lyrical paraphrase in the narrative that I chuckled and patted myself on the back about for hours before posting!

Too funny! We're going to see it in NY in a few weeks. Can't wait.