Thursday, May 19, 2011

North Vietnamese Cuisine (and a Little Taste of Italy) in Prague

A fragrant bowl of pho at the Sapa market complex in Prague ...
... and a garlicky bowl of al dente pasta with shrimp at Una Bella Canzone in a quiet residential section of the city
Prague is city that is filled with surprises - at least if you go expecting to find only sausages, ham,  and beer, though there is plenty of that to be had. Many residents we spoke with, for example, were unaware that some of the best Vietnamese food you'll ever find anywhere was just a short metro and bus ride away from the touristy center of town. 
Sapa, named after Sa Pa, a town in North Vietnam, is a sprawling market complex filled with restaurants, shops, and  seemingly endless warehouse space jam-packed with anything and everything you could ever need to start your very own department store:


Among other things, a slaughterhouse complex used to occupy the space
 In fact, Prague is home to a Vietnamese community of over 60,000, many of whom came during Communism as part of work, study, and cultural exchange programs. If you happened to catch the episode of No Reservations where Bourdain travels to Sapa in search of a pho joint, you might have the mistaken idea that the people here are unfriendly and suspicious of outsiders, but this is just another example of Bourdain exaggerating and distorting the truth to create television drama.

Did the people we interacted with at Sapa speak English? No. Do we speak Vietnamese or Czech? Again, no. But the differences stopped there - we had an awesome time and found everyone to be incredibly hospitable. Take the place where we got our pho:
 Hmmm ... how to order when no one speaks the same language? Simple! Have Poppa Trix draw a picture:

You may laugh (our server sure did) but that drawing landed us our luscious bowls of pho:
It helped that the guy who seemed to be the owner thought we were German for some reason, and kept saying "Danke" and "Bitte" to us, so we were able to ask for "zwei wasse" to quench our thirst!

But you don't think we went all the way to North Vietnam-within-Prague to just eat one meal, now do you?  We were intrigued by this man, who spent a good chunk of his day grilling up meats on this outdoor grill:
After he grilled the meats - which were placed in a grill basket - he handed them through sliding glass doors to a woman in this restaurant:
We had no idea what sort of dish was being made with this or what to ask for, but it smelled good and we knew we had to have it! Luckily, our grilling friend saw us go into the restaurant and poked his head in and told them what to do. He did us right for sure, because here is what we got:
You put some noodles, some herbs, and the meat into the salty-sweet broth and ... close your eyes and enjoy. This was amazing - such a great blend of crispy, charred, slippery, and crunchy textures. It's so good you need to see it again, from a slightly different angle:
Sorry for the Coke product placement ...
We noticed that the one thing all of the restaurants stocked that wasn't Vietnamese was the beer - that was always Czech!

We also learned that Prague - like many Central and Eastern European cities - is head over heels in love with Italian food. (I say that knowing that there are nearly as many regional Italian cuisines as there are hairs on my head!)  Our research into a good representation of Prague's interpretation of Italian food led us to Una Bella Canzone, located in a quiet, residential area of the city:

Whether or not the food we had was authentic, I will leave to those who are better acquainted with the real thing than I to decide - but the fact that it was fabulous could not be in dispute. Al dente pasta in the Czech Republic? Oh, my yes! We started with the shrimp dish at the top of this post (Spaghetti olio, aglio e gamberi, olivový olej, česnek, krevety), and also a spaghetti with beef and pork ragout (ragú z hovězího a vepřového masa):

Don't let the fact that the pasta dishes on the menu are translated as "pastries" be off putting! This stuff was perfectly cooked.

For our mains, we had pork mignon with roasted rosemary potatoes (Medailonky z panenky s opékaným bramborem a rozmarýnem ):
Not the prettiest plating perhaps, but it was quite good - the rosemary potatoes were nicely crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. But the hands-down winner of the evening was this dish:
That, my friends, is a beef steak wrapped in ham and baked with buffalo mozzarella (Steak ze svíčkové balený v parmské šunce a gratinovaný s buvolí mozzarellou ). Yep, it's a lot of plate. It sounds a bit over-the-top, but trust me, this was amazing. I know what you're thinking: "Trix, everyone says you can't get a nice cut of beef in Prague without it being overcooked." Well, behold a perfectly medium rare:
This photo doesn't really do it justice - it was so soft, so tender, so juicy -  like cutting into warm butter ...  slurp. I guess Prague really unleashed my inner caveman, because I sure did chow down on some meat.

And there you have it - whether you crave Vietnamese, Italian, sausages, beer, haute cuisine, or raw meat, Prague has something to make your tummy very, very happy. Don't miss the next installment in my travel series - you never know what I'll eat next!





24 comments:

  1. I wish i could be with you in this trip looks awesome food, nice places and makes me to visit Prague ( which is in my wishlist) as early as possible.

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  2. Now this is quite an interesting read. Really only one meal a day? Hmmm I am not sure I would like this since I love little meals through the day.. this does look awesome .. love the meat pasta. My fav is the filet with the ham and buffalo mozzarella~

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  3. Haha, no Claudia - we ate MANY meals a day!

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  4. I had no idea there was such a large Vietnamese immigrant population there - everything looks SO delicious!

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  5. Oh, what fabulous, tasty meals you had! I'm with Claudia...that beef is incredible!

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  6. The pho looks tasty, but that dish of grilled/charred meat looks like it was made for me! But then again, I think all street food is made for me. Great shots! Theresa

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  7. Every single dish looks absolutely amazing! Jealous!

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  8. What a great Vietnamese find in Prague. Duly noted for next time I am there. I have been to Sa Pa in Vietnam and can attest the people were amazing in every village I visited.

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  9. You make me want to visit Prague so desperately!

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  10. I heard from many people that Prague is a beautiful city but I never pictured it with such a large vietnamese community; one learns constantly! like the picture of poppa trix very much, should keep it and all others!

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  11. What a wonderful assortment of dishes in Prague! They all look so delicious. Thanks for sharing. :) You have a lovely blog and I'm so glad to have found it!

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  12. Super cool pics! What awesome finds! :D

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  13. I am after that garlicky pasta dish...it sounds so good! But then I'm thinking about the beef, too... actually, everything looks amazing!

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  14. who knew of the vast Vietnamese complex and so many in Prague, looks like you did your homework ... and knew what to order as well... and as always, I find it such a great read, learning of your travels and your sharing of foods...

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  15. If I may put snark aside for a moment I want to thank you for these posts. I just came back from a trip where I not only enjoyed the best pizza I have ever had but also the best chinese food meal AND the best appetizer pasta. Three amazing meals while traveling and I did not take a single picture or note. It takes a lot of work to stop your enjoyment and worry about sharing it. I guess I'm just too selfish but I'm glad you aren't. This is fantastic.

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  16. I'm glad you are such an adventuresome traveler and diner and that you take such great photos of everything! Trix, you really have shared some wonderful things with us, dare I say, food for thought for my future travels;-)

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  17. Awesome to find all kinds of different cuisines in Prague, you've had so many delicious eats, cool!

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  18. What a delicious trip through Prague! And I love those little drawings that you did, so adorable! I might take your cue if I ever need it :D

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  19. The Pho looks really really good. Never thought there will be PHO found in Prague.

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  20. That drawing is hilarious. Perhaps not *quite* as entertaining as acting like a duck or a pig though ;)

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  21. Your trip to Prague as seen in this post was similar to the one I made to Ho Chi Minh two years ago...I mean, look at the food you ate! That drawing of Poppa's also made me laugh, it looked like you guys ordered duck and pork pho but what came was beef! LOL.

    Btw, those yummy fried bread sticks in your top picture are very SE Asian and I can make those. In fact, I'll post up the recipe next week!

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  22. Very informative post regarding the dishes of North Vietnamese Cuisine in Prague. It seems as if there are some wonderful meals one could try when visiting Prague. Great photos, thanks for the interesting post.

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  23. I always laugh a bit inside me when I travel and see the same ethnic restaurants then I have at home...and in your case maybe even better then at home. The drawing to order...Brilliant! Some great discoveries...beef steak looks amazing.

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  24. The vietnamese grilled dish is called bun cha. Common on the streets of Saigon

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