The Cafes of Prague

After my plethora of Viennese cafe posts (which you can find here and here and here), you would have thought I was done with talking about cafes. On the contrary, I became a little obsessed after my visit to Vienna so I decided to scoop out the best ones in Prague. The best in my opinion, is Cafe Savoy. We came here twice for breakfast and once for an afternoon coffee and pastry. Almost everything was good minus a few slight misses. Cafe Savoy, now owned by the successful Ambiente Restaurant Group, is a Prague institution. It was considered a nouveau and decadent establishment in its day with its neo-renaissance ceiling (you can view some pics here). Now, its a somewhat tourist trap but still serves the best breakfast in the city.

+ the famous Cafe Savoy vanilla milk shake (very liquidy and different from your typical diner milkshake, good but probably wouldn't order it again)
+ the French breakfast which included french toast with maple syrup, sausages, french fries, a boiled egg, blue cheese (which I did not touch) and orange juice

I was very excited to see the french toast offering on the menu but alas it was not the usual Taphouse/Sabrina's type of french toast made with challah bread and covered in sugary/buttery goodness. However, it satisfied by severe brunch craving. The french fries were more like string fries and seasoned really well, and they even came with ketchup! (not something that happens too often in Europe). Not sure why this was dubbed a French breakfast as the only thing that was kind of French was the croissant but we were happy with the big selection of food :)

+Caffe au lait
+ Croissant (a part of the French breakfast)
+ Cheese omelet
+ Housemade bread with butter
+ A very exciting selection of mustards which came with the Prague sausages (not shown).

We also ordered the frankfurter Savoy, one of the cafe's specialties, but they really just reminded us of cafeteria hot dogs. They were also boiled like cafeteria hot dogs. What did make them different was the very interesting selection of mustards and fresh horseradish that came with the dish.  V was really not a fan although I thought they were fine. Put them on a hot dog roll with a bit of the grainy mustard and it would have been a rather classy hot dog.

NaschMarkt

So much fresh produce and so much color!

The Naschmarkt has put every other market I have ever been in to shame. 1.5km of produce, meat, spices, candy, cheese, wine, coffee and prop-up eateries. Sit-down restaurants serving sushi, sausages, pizza and everything in between. Fruit stands selling the most exotic fruits I have seen since coming to Europe. Asian stores stocked with every variation of soy sauce imaginable. Gyro stands paired with fried noodles and a whole bunch of olives and feta counters. 

And lots of dried fruits and sweets.
We dried some dried kumquats from a stand which had a very intense citrus flavor. 

Handmade pasta freshly made in this makeshift dining room/kitchen. SUCH GOOD PASTA. 

We passed by this pasta stand and just had to stop. The pastas were all freshly made and next it to them were an assortment of sauces including wonderfully aromatic pesto and the classic marinara. We opted for some tagliatelle and prosciutto ravioli. The owner took our selection and immediately bustled off to the kitchen. Behind the pasta counter was a dining room kept warm by heating lamps. 

And the pasta. WOW. I think this was the first time I had pasta cooked truly al dente. The marinara sauce was light but surprisingly flavor. It was an epic moment. 

Stand upon stand, and deli upon deli of cheese, wine, and cured meats 

We also knew that we had to sample some of the plethora of meats and cheeses...with wine, even though we really know nothing about wine. We settled on a great spicy chorizo that and truffle cheese paired with honey. The wine shop was quite accommodating and paired our snackies with a lovely red and white. Best part is, we got to eat it all on a barrel. :D

A sampling of
+ Chorizo
+ Truffled Cheese with honey
+ Red & White wine
...all on a barrel. SCORE. 

Apart from my absolute adoration for European cafes, I think the Nachmarkt was definitely my favorite foodie experience of the city hence why I saved it for last! Now I'm on to a whole bunch of Czech adventures and then some brief posts on Italy (why they are brief, I will explain later). But for now, auf wiedersehen Vienna!

T-day Feast

Welcome to the most gluttonous post of the year (except maybe for Christmas), and most of you are probably too full to want to look at these pictures, but it'll be a good post to come back to during the days when we are all cramming for finals.

As per my request, my parents went and got a leg of lamb to prepare because honestly, not that many people like turkey. While I thought the lamb would replace our colossal turkey, turns out it was just a supplement...ok, well no complaints there as long as I get my lamb. All of the immediate family visited and the kitchen was basically in chaos from morning until chow time. You would think we would learn by now to plan things out better so we are not scrambling to get the turkey carved, the potatoes cooked, and all of the Asian vegetables sauteed all at the same time. But no, haven't learned yet. At least the food never produces any complaints :)

 

Fresh lox, capers and whipped cream cheese on black russian bread (made by the house bread maker aka my dad)

Tofu with pork and tomatoes. Cue the asian influences.

Spinach, nutritious and delicious.

Potstickers! Too busy making mashed potatoes so I missed out on these :/

Sweet potatoes! Made these with butter, cinnamon, molasses, maple syrup, dark brown sugar and golden raisins.

Carving the turkey...with a cleaver...haha.

Leg of Lamb, marinated with basil, thyme, and rosemary.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with ginger bread crust.

So much better than pumpkin pie (in my opinion at least).

Best thing about home? Making my own espresso and cappuccino.

Tried to make my own design in the foam....didn't really work.

Happy Eating!

....and the bread is even warm

Last Friday, my pledge sisters and I journeyed to a semi-commerical joint known as Pietro's in downtown Philadelphia. The restaurant is located by the intersection of 17th and Walnut although there is another establishment on South Street. Despite some blaise reviews found on Yelp, my girlfriend's own enthusiastic reviews was enough to convince me to check out the Italian eatery. 

Look at all that cheese...mmmm...

Deciding to try a little bit of everything, we ordered 3 dishes to share:

• Fettuccine Carbonara - Spinach fetuccine with shiitake mushrooms, Pecorino and pork pancetta.
• Stuffed Mushrooms - With four cheeses, and spinach
• Barese - Wood oven pizza with sausage, hot pesto, tomato, basil, mozzarella

.... just because everything else had an absurd amount of cheese in it didn't mean we ought to neglect on protein hence the pick of sausage (Never mind all of the bread we devoured beforehand!).  To finish off the meal: Tiramisu! you can never go wrong by topping it all off with mascarpone cheese. (I'm starting to see a pattern with this "c" word hmm...)  Sure it's not the fanciest place in Philadelphia but if you're looking for an inexpensive yet satisfying Italian meal, this is the place to go.

 

The best part? The bread is even warm. 

Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5