Prague Food and Drink

At a place called Beseda, in Mala Strana, which claimed
to be the original Pilsner Urquell restaurant, we stopped
for a snack that became a meal; he's pouring my mug of
PU; note bar...an old vat

Prague restaurants are branded, in the sense that
they serve only one brand of beer; Urquell is by
far most prevalent; one also sees Gambrinus,
Budweiser (the Budweiser), Staroplamen (Prague
brewery), Birrell; the lager version of beer was
invented in nearby Pilsen

I am no connoisseur of beers, but, let me tell you, this is not
Coors or Bud light! Very flavorful, especially the hops; and
very cheap, relatively speaking; Vicki and I practiced the
Czech mode of toasting, that is, clicking the tops and the
bottoms of the mugs, setting them (briefly) on the table, then
drinking

We shared an assortment of Czech cheeses and a bowl of
cream of garlic soup; best cream of garlic soup ever for me

Restaurant decoration; OK, Mozart, who did a
lot of time in Prague, obviously did not drink
Pilsner Urquell

A few nights later we dined at the Staroplamen brewery
restaurant in Sicha, recommended for high quality local
dishes and few if any tourists; this is goulash and the
bread-looking things are dumplings; plain brown sauce
and chunks of beef; Vicki had a similar pork dish; this is
hearty fare, as they say; the beer was good, and the
cigar list actually appeared on the menu

The Staroplamen Brewery in Sicha, across the river from
Nove Mesto ("new town"; founded in 1348)

Prague has a very lively international restaurant scene, with
French, Italian, Asian, everything really, well represented;
the reason for this is that Czech food is so, um, hearty; you
can't eat it more than once or twice a week; in the Jewish
quarter, a few days later, we ran into a credible Belgian
restaurant, called Les Moules, and pigged out, me on the
moules (it's been since Annecy, I think, that I had moules),
Vicki on the largest pork T-bone ever seen; even had Duvel
and other great Belgian beers

Moules at Moules'

Later in the week, however, we had to go back to Beseda for
the garlic soup, this time with a roast pork, duck, beef assortment; and PU