The Prague Feed (December 2022): Last-minute foodie gifts and tips for special occasion dining

The holidays are closing in and social calendars are filling up with special occasion dining and meetups. This month's edition of the Prague Feed focuses on the Czech capital's tastiest new tables for sitting down to a festive feast, cold-weather comfort food, and holiday indulgences that make for the perfect foodie gifts.

Original Glenn's| This Czech Tex-Mex restaurant and bistro has been a staple of Prague's international community for three decades, as its colorful history can attest. After the pandemic, American Glenn, as its owner is known on the local scene, breathed new life into the establishment, which now serves Czech classics goulash and slow roasted duck thigh alongside Cali-Mex favorites, like chili cheese fries or veggie quesadilla, and gourmet burgers.

Julius Prague|If the name rings a bell, it's with good reason: the Julius Prague residence signals the return of the Austrian delicatessen chain to the Czech capital. The ground floor of the building serves as a shop offering first-class food, drinks and delicacies hailing from more than 100 countries, as well as premium House of Julius Meinl products, also available for purchase online.

Apelace21| Taking its name from a designation of origin for wine or any other delicacy, the restaurant, which opened in November, emphasizes the quality of the dining experience as much as the food.

Speaking of the latter, their daily menus can elevate any lunch break into a fine dining experience, thanks to dishes such as kale pancakes, Kimchi soup with duck and marinated pears, or chestnut risotto with parmesan. With dishes like catfish, snails, or thymus on its holiday menu, Apelace21 is also keen on showing its guests that Czech Christmas food is not only fried carp.

Andaz Prague|The avant-garde Czech bistro ZEM, which is part of the recently opened Andaz, is now offering gourmet interpretations of classic fare with a festive touch.

Additionally, if you want to spend the holidays in style, you can opt for a Flying Christmas Brunch, served at your table on Dec. 25, or a four-course festive dinner with optional wine pairing on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24), Christmas Day (Dec. 25) and Boxing Day (Dec. 26).

tāst| A newly opened restaurant that offers "simple and, above all, tasty dishes from both international and Czech cuisines," tāst changes its menu frequently to offer culinary creations prepared from ingredients at peak freshness. Its current dishes range from braised veal tongue, cured trout, and pork pluma, to cream of baked Jerusalem artichoke and sweet and salty desserts like a salted potato “škubánky.”

POT&TO Garden|Opened in September, this cozy restaurant, complete with a lush garden for the warmer weather, lives up to its name by offering a menu based around potato dishes. These are not your grandmother's meat-and-potato offerings, but original creations, like a sweet potato bowl (with milk, maple syrup, peanut butter, cinnamon, coconut yoghurt, and fruits) for breakfast, a fully loaded baked potato (with shredded beef, pulled pork, or egg) and some hearty potato soup for chilly winter days.

Beranka Na Jezerce|Opened in October, and located in the unique space of the theater complex Divadlo Na Jezerce, the restaurant focuses on modern Czech cuisine, including evergreens such as svíčková, pork loin with mushrooms, and fried gouda cheese. A selection of grilled meats, including burgers and chicken steak sous-vide, round out the offerings.

U Tři Mrožů|The new seafood fast food eatery offers French fries, fish and chips, mussels and calamari in a beer batter, as well as other quick bites. These come wrapped in a newspaper, British-style, and with a side of either coleslaw, or a special sauce. In addition to curbside pickup, you also have delivery options.

Červený Jelen|The Christmas atmosphere is on at the modern gastronomical restaurant, which offers a seasonal favorite for sale. Enjoy their eggnog, which available for purchase either in its classic form, based on a time-honored recipe, or as a super premium bottle with Pinta rum. If you're there around midday, check out their lunch menu, which this week features pork cheeks on black beer, or a vegetarian option of potato pie, white beans with eggplant and yolk linguini prepared in their open kitchen.

Zrno Zrnko|The artisanal bakery and café, which scattered its grains in Prague 1, 2, 4 and 7, offers handmade Christmas cookies by the kilogram, which you can also order online. Celebrate Christmas like a true Czech with their traditional Christmas cakes, made with "honest leavened dough, to which Zrno Zrnko adds excellent eggs from Mr. Matoušek from bedding farming, a lot of butter, almond chips or perhaps sultana raisins soaked in real, or cane rum."

Lihovárek + Žufánek Christmas Gin|A limited-edition gin (consisting of 860 bottles of "delicious Christmas in a glass," with each bottle labelled with a Christmas letter). As its creators poetically put it, the taste will bring images of "a winter evening by the fireplace, there are oranges in a bowl on the table, and the smell of incense from the next room."