A lager city with a Michelin habit and a sourdough renaissance.
Prague eats in two registers. The first is the pivnice, the Czech beer hall, where Pilsner Urquell pours from tank, and the food is honest stuff: pork knee, svickova in cream sauce, fried cheese sandwiches at half past one in the morning. The second is the quieter wave that has built since 2010. Field and La Degustation have held Michelin stars for over a decade. Levitate and Stangl earned theirs in the 2025 guide. Karlin and Vinohrady have become serious neighbourhoods for sourdough, specialty coffee, natural wine and the kind of bistro cooking the Old Town does not bother with. The riverside Naplavka farmers market every Saturday is now a fixture of weekend mornings. The trdelnik is still a tourist trap, but everything around it has improved.
Every restaurant, cafe, market and bar we cover in Prague, pinned. Click a pin for the page.
The plates that define eating in Prague.
Marinated beef sirloin in a thick root-vegetable cream sauce, served with bread dumplings, cranberry jam and a swirl of whipped cream on top. Czech home cooking at its richest.
Where: Lokal Dlouhaaa, U Modre Kachnicky, Lokal Hamburk, Vycep
Roast pork shoulder with bread dumplings and braised sauerkraut. The Czech national plate: caramelised pork, fluffy dumplings to soak up the gravy, sweet-sour sauerkraut.
Where: U Modre Kachnicky, U Fleku, Lokal Dlouhaaa, Vycep
Czech beef goulash with bread dumplings: slow-braised chunks of beef in a paprika gravy thickened with onions, sliced dumplings on the side to soak it all up.
Where: U Fleku, Lokal Dlouhaaa, U Medvidku, Lokal Hamburk
Czech fried cheese: a thick slab of Edam or Hermelin breaded and deep-fried, served with tartar sauce, fries and a slice of lemon. Beer-hall food at its most direct.
Where: Lokal Dlouhaaa, Lokal U Bile Kuzelky, U Fleku, U Medvidku
Dough wrapped around a wooden cylinder, grilled over coals, dusted in sugar and walnut. Tourist-marketed as old Czech, actually a 21st-century Prague phenomenon from Transylvania.
Where: Old Town Square sausage grills
Czech open-faced sandwiches on dense white bread, piled with toppings from ham and pickle to roast beef and horseradish, smoked salmon or beetroot and apple. Lunch by the count.
Where: Sisters Bistro, Antoninovo Pekarstvi Karlin, Antoninovo Pekarstvi Namesti Miru
A handful of the places we send friends to when they are in Prague.
Eska in Karlin holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand. The Ambiente group rebuilt a 19th-century Karlin factory into a bakery-restaurant cooking modern Czech, all day long.
Signature: Old bread sourdough, Fermented potato
Field is Prague's tightest Michelin one-star kitchen, an Old Town room where Radek Kasparek has been cooking Czech terroir on tasting menus since 2015.
Signature: Seasonal tasting menu, Cabbage course
La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise has held its Michelin star since 2012 in a quiet Old Town room, building eleven-course tastings from 19th-century Czech cookbooks.
Signature: 11-course Czech tasting, Moravian wine pairing
Sansho has been Prague's serious modern-Asian kitchen since 2011. The 2025 Michelin guide kept it in the selection; the no-choice tasting menu changes weekly.
Signature: Weekly tasting menu, Pork belly
Cafe Imperial brings Zdenek Pohlreich's modern Czech cooking to a 1914 Art Deco room with ceramic-tiled walls and pillars, a Grand Cafe restored to working order.
Signature: Roast duck, Beef cheek goulash
Casa de Carli holds a Michelin star in the 2026 Czech guide. Matteo de Carli and Lenka Hermanova run an Old Town room cooking Northern Italian with house-made pasta.
Signature: House tortellini, House gelato
The medieval core, dense with tourist traps and a handful of real kitchens. Cafe Louvre and Mistral hold the line; cocktail cellars hide off Karoliny Svetle.
Best for: Grand cafes, Cocktail bars, Michelin tasting menus
Baroque slope below the Castle. Cafe Savoy anchors the riverside; pubs like Lokal U Bile Kuzelky keep tank Pilsner flowing in 19th-century rooms.
Best for: Pivnice, Grand cafes, Coffee
Stretching from Wenceslas Square to Vysehrad. Hidden in Nove Mesto are U Fleku from 1499 and Cafe Imperial, plus a thicket of Vietnamese kitchens.
Best for: Beer halls, Vietnamese, Bouillon-style lunch
Belle epoque grid east of the centre. The highest density of specialty coffee in Prague, plus craft beer bars and Mediterranean dining.
Best for: Specialty coffee, Craft beer, Brunch
Post-industrial neighbourhood east of the Florenc station, rebuilt after the 2002 floods. Eska, Stangl, Antonin Bakery and Muj Salek Kavy live here.
Best for: Sourdough, Michelin, Coffee
Bohemian hilltop east of the centre, allegedly more pubs per square metre than any neighbourhood in Europe. Tower Park, BeerGeek shop, late-night.
Best for: Late-night pubs, Craft beer, Working-class Czech
Peak food season: April to June, then September to early November. December for Christmas markets and burcak season. August is quietest, with many kitchens taking summer holiday.
Local dining hours: Lunch 11:30 to 14:30, dinner 18:00 to 22:30. Pivnice often serve until 23:00 or midnight. Sunday closures common outside the Old Town.
Tipping: Round up or tip 10 percent if service was good. Tell the server the total you want to pay when they bring the bill, not the change. Service is not included by default.
Peak food season in Prague is April to June, then September to early November. December for Christmas markets and burcak season. August is quietest, with many kitchens taking summer holiday.
Local dining hours: Lunch 11:30 to 14:30, dinner 18:00 to 22:30. Pivnice often serve until 23:00 or midnight. Sunday closures common outside the Old Town.
Round up or tip 10 percent if service was good. Tell the server the total you want to pay when they bring the bill, not the change. Service is not included by default.
If you only have one meal, eat Svickova na smetane. It is the dish most associated with Prague.