Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: restaurant

I've often visited Galaxie Pizzeria before a flight out of Prague's Ruzyne (now Havel) airport, and in this case it was a layover, as I had just flown in from Paris, and would take another flight out to Bristol the next day, ultimately trying to get to Cardiff in time for New Year's Eve. This restaurant has been renovated since I took this (I think during the closure for Covid), but when I last visited it a few months ago, it was still in business. It's called Galaxie for the complex of buildings it's a part of, including the Haje Metro station. The complex was supposed to have a space exploration theme, and because it was constructed under communism in 1980, the metro station was originally called Kosmonautu.

Pragomost were a Czech soft drink brand, generally producing a higher-end alternative to the obvious brands like Coca Cola, Pepsi, RC, and in the Czech Republic, Kofola. The company was owned by F.H. Prager, who specialize in alcoholic cider. "Sipek" means "rose hip" in Czech, although what that has to do with the famous Russian-American anarchist Emma Goldman (the woman pictured on the bottle) I have no idea. Many people might wonder what she might think about being a brand, although having said this, she actually owned an ice cream shop for a time, albeit not in Prague. Emma Goldman actually isn't the only far-left political figure to be portrayed on a Pragomost bottle, actually, as Frida Kahlo and Kathleen Cleaver were used for other varieties of Pragomost soda. As of this writing (2024) it looks like F.G. Prager are no longer using the Pragomost brand, although they have now branched out into soft drinks under their main brand.

The original Prague Vytopna restaurant was actually this one, on Vaclavske Namesti. I've actually forgotten if I've ever been inside, but I don't think so. There was also a location in Brno, which is said to have been the original location in 2009, but it has since closed. The Vaclavske Namesti location was still open when I researched this caption in 2024, however.

There are actually two Vytopna locations in Prague, one here, in the Palladium Shopping Centre, and another one on Vaclavske Namesti (plus another one in Vienna, in Austria). This is a railway-themed restaurant, with mostly American-inspired food like burgers (even if the trains are mostly Czech and European), and a large G-Scale model train layout integrated into the restaurant. This is the case in both the Palladium and Vaclavske Namesti locations. The trains are computer-controlled, using a similar system to that used on the (real-life) Docklands Light Railway in London, with a signal wire down the middle of the track. This is so that they can be used to deliver drinks to the tables, although they are too small (in spite of being G-scale) to deliver food. One thing their small size doesn't impact much is their speed, as they can operate at up to 20 Km/h, comparable to real 19th-Century freight trains (at least in the United States). This means that they're hard to photograph without a good camera with a fast sensor or film. This is one of my better shots from this visit in 2015, where I managed to catch one of the gondolas loaded with two full 500ml beer glasses. Empty beer glasses also generally return to the bar via rail.

The model railway in Vytopna also has station buildings, although they're purely decorative. This station is for "Stare Brno," which is probably a reference not so much to the city of Brno (as Brno doesn't have a station by that name), but more likely the Starobrno beer brand. Despite this, when I was there Vytopna was mostly serving Krusovice, which is brewed in the city of the same name (historically, from 1581 to 1685, Krusovice was the royal brewery of Bohemia, and has passed through various owners since).

Cafe Platyz, while it inhabits on older building (you can tell from the ceiling), dates to the 1930's, and has old photos on the walls showing that it hasn't changed radically since. I took a number of cameraphone shots on this particular day, but this was the one I settled on for iPernity. Anything I was going to post would be a crop, and even this one took some effort to crop attractively. I haven't been able to determine 100% why Platyz is hard to photograph. It may have been that I was using a cameraphone.

This is maybe the dish most associated with the Czech Republic, "Smazeny syr," or fried cheese, with tartar sauce and one or another potato side, in this case baked potatoes. Usually it's served with beer, but it was a work day when I was having lunch at Havelska Koruna, so I ordered some kind of cola. In this case, I think the cola was Kofola, which is another traditional Czech product. Havelska Koruna, incidentally, is a traditional Czech "jidelna" or fast-food restaurant, serving traditional Czech pub food. Havelska Koruna is and was unusual in that it's located close to Mustek in the tourist area of Prague, and not in a working-class neighborhood where these types of restaurants would normally be located. More impressively, it's survived for the long-haul, as it is still in business today: www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g274707-d2018223-Reviews-Havelska_Koruna-Prague_Bohemia.html

Someone sharper on the history of art (or the history of this building, which is now occupied by the Alchemist Bar, on the corner of Na Mustku and Provaznicka), would know the century of this ceiling. I'm guessing it's pre-18th Century, probably pre-17th Century, but beyond that I'm just guessing. I was happy to see that it was preserved, though, even in a chain restaurant like Costa Coffee. This is actually on the 1st (or in American terms, the 2nd) floor, although Costa Coffee used both floors. Today, the ground floor is used by the Twenty4Seven Wine & Food Store, one of many similar businesses that emerged in the wake of Covid-19, and the partial rollback of tourist-oriented businesses in the older neighborhoods of Prague.

This was the menu sign at Horska Bouda Ruzohorky.

This restaurant is also called the "Mountain Shed Ruzohorky" in English. It is a restaurant, though, and so we stopped here on our way down Snezka.

This was the sign for the restaurant, next to the entrance.

This old weather station, built in 1974, hasn't fully functioned as such since 2009, when there was a partial structural collapse due to snow (since repaired), and when I visited in 2015 there was already talk of selling it off or repurposing it. There was also an automated weather station nearby, which will likely replace it when and if it's fully retired. There was already a (by appearances) popular restaurant in the weather station when I was there, called Sniezka Restauracja-Kawiarnia. Allegedly, this restaurant closed in November 2015, soon after I was there, but the Polish Institute of Meteorology and Water Management contradicted this report. Getting current information online (at least on the restaurant) is surprisingly difficult, as a number of Polish restaurants, sweet shops, and cafes also use the Sniezka name.

I only took this picture because this restaurant on the ground floor of this building has a sort-of amusing name, "Hamburger Hof," or "Hamburger House." As far as I know, it isn't a pun, but it looks like one.

The Therapy restaurant is obviously a joke, as you can say "We're going to Therapy," or "We're at Therapy," or We're in Therapy," etc. Still, it's a decent place for a light meal or a night out.

This is later, at the Carpenter's Arms. I tried this shot with and without a flash, and this is the one without.

This was the first pub on the hiking route, but we continued in order to save daylight. We returned later.

This is the end product of the Novomestsky Pivovar, which although a brewpub literally translates to "New Town Brewery." This beer, while light (in the Czech sense), is nevertheless cloudy due to its being unfiltered. It's rich in taste as well, which is typical of its also being unpasteurized. Pasteurization of beer is more to increase shelf life than to improve food safety, so although its generally safe to drink, it isn't economical to bottle it usually, so a brewpub or brewery is usually the only place you can drink it.

This is one of the fermentation vats at the Novomestsky Pivovar, a brewpub on Vodickova in Prague. Most of the brewpub is located underground in medieval cellars thought to have long been connected to brewing, although the current business only dates to 1993. These vats are unusual for places like this in that they're fully modern, as in stainless steel, while most brewpubs pride themselves on using very old fashioned methods in order to improve quality. To be fair, though, these vats are open, which is old fashioned, although they're protected behind glass.