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.
Smazeny syr is a 20th-century Czech invention, popularised in the communist era when meat was scarce and cheese was not. Local Edam-style cheese took the schnitzel treatment: floured, egged, crumbed, deep-fried to a golden crust. It became late-night pub food, the dish you order at 23:00 with a Pilsner. Lokal serves the canonical version, listed on every Lokal menu since the chain opened in 2009. Older pivnice often serve a version with hermelin (Czech camembert) instead of Edam for richer interior melt.
4 editor picks for Smazeny syr in Prague, ranked by editorial score. All Prague signature dishes · Smazeny syr across every city.
Lokal Dlouhaaa ★ 4.4
stare-mesto · Dlouha 731/33, 110 00 Praha 1
Lokal Dlouhaaa is the longest of Ambiente's Czech pubs, a 70-metre tile-and-wood room in Stare Mesto pouring Pilsner from tank and cooking honest Czech.
Lokal U Bile Kuzelky ★ 4.3
mala-strana · Misenska 80/12, 118 00 Praha 1
Lokal U Bile Kuzelky is the Ambiente Lokal closest to Charles Bridge, a 1862 cellar pub pouring tank Pilsner and cooking the same Czech classics.
U Fleku ★ 4.2
nove-mesto · Kremencova 183/11, 110 00 Praha 1
U Fleku has brewed beer on the same Nove Mesto block since 1499. The cavernous beer hall pours its own 13-degree dark lager, brewed exclusively on site.
U Medvidku ★ 4.0
stare-mesto · Na Perstyne 345/7, 110 00 Praha 1
U Medvidku has poured beer since 1466 in the same Old Town building. Located in Stare Mesto. Order the the x-beer 33; the goulash with bread dumplings.