Starters

Shortly after you sit down in some of the fancier restaurants here you are likely to be offered aperitifs from a trolley followed by a tray of appealing canapes, for which you will be charged individually; the canapes, feature cream or cream cheese and gherkin slices; others are coated with jelly. A normal Czech meal, however, begins with a soup; two common varieties are potato soup ( Bramborová polávka ) and a thick white soup known as Kmínová polávka , both of which are heavily flavoured with caraway seed and garlic soup with ham and cheese (Česnečka se šunkou a sýrem). A popular clear soup is Polévka s játrovými knedličky , which is beef broth with little dumplings made from liver, garlic, lemon rind, eggs and breadcrumbs. Czech potato pancakes (bramboráčky) are usually served as substitutes, but as appetizer potato puffers with garlic and bacon (Bramborové placky s česnekem a slaninou) really delicious!

Main courses

Main courses on restaurant menus are usually divided between Minutky and Hotová jídla , the former being dishes that are cooked to order, the latter being ready cooked ones in heavy sauces. The most typical main dish you can eat in Bohemia and Moravia is pork or Frankfurter-style sausage accompanied by dumplings and sauerkraut. Meat is consumed in vast quantities all over the Czech Republic. Pork is often served with eggs and ham on top and, like veal, is frequently dipped in a mixture of flour, breadcrumbs and eggs to form an escalope or Řizek ; a tastier dish is Vepřová pečeně , or pork roasted with caraway seeds; Vepřové koleno, or pork knee. Thick fillets of beef piled high with cream and cranberries can be found in the more pretentious establishments, but beef is more commonly served as braised slices in a brown onion sauce ( Dušena roštěnka ) or else as boiled slices in a delicious dill-flavoured white sauce known as Koprová omáčka ; or beef goulash Prague style (Pražský hovězí guláš). There are quite a lot of various styles of cooking poultry in the Czech Republic. There are far fewer poultry than meat dishes in the Czech Republic: the most usual one is roast chicken ( Pečené kuře ), roast turkey (Pečené krůtí); goose is becoming less common but is traditionally served roasted with sauerkraut ( Pečená husa se zelim )); dishes of duck are could be found practically in every restaurant and considered to be ones of the national specialities of Czech cuisine, for example Bohemian duck roasted golden brown, with red cabbage, bread and potato dumplings (Kachna na staročeskź způsob, červené zelí, houskové a bramborové knedlíky), Czech roast ruck (Česka kachní pečínka).

Carp is by far the most popular fish in the republic, but even so tends to be eaten mainly as a traditional Christmas Eve dish; thousands of recipes are printed in books, newspapers, brochures! Perhaps an unusual one is when it is served with a black sauce made from fish stock, raspberry juice, beer, lemon rind, sugar, honey cake, raisins and almonds ( Kapr na černo ). Trout and pikeperch are two next kinds of fish traditionally cooked in Czech land, as for instance roasted trout with herb butter (Pstruh na roštu s bylinkovým máslem). Very often restaurants serve salmon (Losos na másle).

Fresh fruit and vegetables are now far more widely available than before, but for some reason are still fruit only rarely found in restaurants, where tinned fruit (often served as a mixed compote known as a Míchaný ovocný kompot ). As substitutes sauerkraut ( zelí ), stewed sauerkraut, boiled broccoli, young carrots, spinach or fresh vegetables are served. Míchaný salat is a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, paprika, lettuce and Balkan cheese (which is comparable to the Greek feta ).

Puddings are of the hearty kind, such as blueberry pie (Borůvkový koláč), plum jam cake ( Povidlovy koláč ) or Apple Pie ( Štrudel ) or, more commonly, palačinky , pancakes that are usually heaped with mountains of cream and chocolate sauce, and in some restaurants offered flambeed; or crape with chocolate (Palačinka s čokoládou). Special Czech Zapečená jablíčka v těstíčku s mandlemi a skořicí, or an apple baked in batter with almonds and cinnamon is a kind of a dessert could not be found anywhere in the world!