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.
Svickova evolved in Bohemian bourgeois kitchens through the 19th century. Marinating tough cuts in vegetable brine softened them; the cream sauce thickened from root vegetables pureed after braising. By 1900 it was the canonical Sunday lunch across Czech households, often paired with the family's Pilsner. Now it anchors the Lokal pub menu and turns up in modernised tasting-menu form at Field and La Degustation.
4 editor picks for Svickova na smetane in Prague, ranked by editorial score. All Prague signature dishes · Svickova na smetane 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 classics.
Lokal Hamburk ★ 4.3
karlin · Sokolovska 55, 186 00 Praha 8
Lokal Hamburk is the Karlin outpost of the Ambiente pub chain, on the site of a 19th-century river-harbour inn. Pilsner from tank, honest Czech cooking, evening crowd.
Vycep ★ 4.3
vinohrady · Korunni 992/92, 101 00 Praha 10
Vycep is a modern Czech pub in Vinohrady with a Michelin Bib Gourmand. Chef Jiri Hrachovy brings a Wallachian sheep-cheese touch to the Czech repertoire.
U Modre Kachnicky ★ 4.2
mala-strana · Nebovidska 460/6, 118 00 Praha 1
U Modre Kachnicky in Mala Strana cooks the old Czech repertoire, roast duck and venison, in two Baroque-era dining rooms a five-minute walk from Charles Bridge.