Bohemian sweet bun with a soft enriched dough and a dimple of filling: poppy seed, plum jam, sweet curd cheese or apricot. Round, palm-sized, baked golden on top.
Kolache (kolac) date back to medieval Bohemia, originally a wedding cake the entire village shared. By the 19th century they had shrunk to individual buns. The poppy-seed kolach (mak) is the canonical Czech version; the curd-cheese version (tvaroh) is the Moravian alternative. Eska and Antonin Bakery bake the modern Prague version daily; the Saturday Naplavka stalls sell the rural family version. The Texan kolache descended from Czech immigrants in the 1850s in central Texas (West, Texas remains the home), where it diverged toward a savoury sausage-stuffed form that is unrecognisable to Bohemians.
4 editor picks for Kolache in Prague, ranked by editorial score. All Prague signature dishes · Kolache across every city.
Eska Karlin ★ 4.5
karlin · Pernerova 49, 186 00 Praha 8
Eska Karlin is the original Ambiente bakery-cafe-restaurant in a converted 19th-century factory. Open mon-fri 08:00-22:00, sat-sun 09:00-22:00.
Antoninovo Pekarstvi Karlin ★ 4.5
karlin · Sokolovska 81/55, 186 00 Praha 8
Antoninovo Pekarstvi opened the first of its six city-wide bakeries in Karlin in 2014. Wheat-rye and potato sourdough loaves, all baked on-site.
Antoninovo Pekarstvi Namesti Miru ★ 4.5
vinohrady · Namesti Miru 585/11, 120 00 Praha 2
Antoninovo Pekarstvi's Namesti Miru flagship opened in a restored First Republic cafe space. Located in Vinohrady. Booking recommended. Reservations advised.
Eska Letna ★ 4.4
letna · Veletrzni 290/42, 170 00 Praha 7
Eska Letna is the 2025 Ambiente branch on the Letna grid: bakery counter, Nordbeans filter coffee, breakfasts to-go and a small dining room for the morning.