Local Dishes

1. svíčková na smetaně

   Beef in root-vegetable cream sauce

   Usage

   The signature Czech plate. The sauce is carrot, celeriac and parsley root cooked down, sieved and finished with cream, always served with houskový knedlík (bread dumplings). The slice of lemon, the whipped cream and the cranberries (brusinky) on top are not decoration: you stir them in to add acidity, richness or sweetness to taste

   Grammar Note

   "svíčková" is a feminine noun formed from an adjective ("of the tenderloin"); when you order it, it takes the accusative "svíčkovou" (Dám si svíčkovou). "na smetaně" is the preposition "na" + the locative of "smetana", i.e. cooked in cream

2. vepřo knedlo zelo

   Roast pork with dumplings and sauerkraut

   Usage

   The dish Czechs call their national one: sliced roast pork, sliced dumplings (bread or potato) and braised sauerkraut, with the roasting juices poured over. The word order is not fixed — menus also write "knedlo vepřo zelo" or "knedlo zelo vepřo"

   Grammar Note

   Not a formal culinary name but a colloquial clipping: "vepřové (maso)", "knedlík" and "zelí" are all cut back to a jocular neuter ending in -o. The form does not inflect

3. houskový knedlík

   Bread dumpling

   Usage

   The default companion to any dish with sauce: the dough is shaped into a roll, boiled or steamed, then cut into rounds and laid on the plate to soak up the sauce. Many places let you swap it for the potato version, bramborový knedlík

   Grammar Note

   Masculine inanimate (the "hrad" pattern); the nominative and accusative plural are both "knedlíky", which is how menus usually write it. "houskový" is the adjective from "houska", a bread roll

4. hovězí guláš

   Beef goulash

   Usage

   Note that Hungarian gulyás is a soup, while Czech guláš is a thick flour-bound stew — they are different dishes. It comes with bread dumplings, bread or a roll, plus raw onion or grated horseradish. Menu variants include vepřový (pork), segedínský (with sauerkraut) and bramborový (sausage and potato)

   Grammar Note

   "guláš" is masculine inanimate. "hovězí" is a soft adjective whose nominative is identical in all three genders (hovězí guláš / hovězí polévka / hovězí maso). Its accusative is unchanged, so ordering needs no new form

5. vepřový řízek

   Breaded pork cutlet

   Usage

   Coated in the "trojobal" — flour, egg and breadcrumbs — then fried. It is served with potato salad, mashed potato or fries. "kuřecí řízek" is the chicken version, and "přírodní řízek" is the unbreaded one

   Grammar Note

   Masculine inanimate with a fleeting -e- (genitive "řízku", plural "řízky"). "vepřový" is the hard adjective from "vepř" (pig), so its feminine form is "vepřová"

6. smažený sýr

   Deep-fried cheese

   Usage

   A thick slice of cheese breaded and deep-fried. The standard cheese is a firm one such as eidam; the Camembert-style version is listed separately as "smažený hermelín". It comes with fries and tatarská omáčka (a Czech tartare sauce). Colloquially "smažák"; street stalls serve it in a bun

   Grammar Note

   "sýr" is masculine inanimate. "smažený" is a passive adjective from "smažit" (to fry) and changes ending with gender: smažená (f.), smažené (n.)

7. španělský ptáček

   Braised stuffed beef roll

   Usage

   A thin slice of beef spread with mustard and rolled around bacon, a pickled cucumber, a sausage and egg, then braised; served with dumplings or rice. It is not a Spanish dish — the name is traced to Spanish cooks at the court of Rudolf II, and today's beef version was standardised by Czech canteen norms in the 1950s

   Grammar Note

   "ptáček" (little bird) is masculine animate, so the accusative takes -a when you order: "Dám si španělského ptáčka." Menus also use the plural "španělští ptáčci"

8. koprová omáčka

   Dill cream sauce

   Usage

   A white sauce of cream, milk and dill, served as a main course over boiled beef, hard-boiled eggs and bread dumplings or potatoes. Colloquially "koprovka". Dill is the dominant flavour, so skip it if you dislike dill

   Grammar Note

   "omáčka" is feminine; "koprová" is the adjective from "kopr" (dill). The accusative used when ordering is "koprovou omáčku"

9. kuře na paprice

   Chicken in paprika cream sauce

   Usage

   Chicken simmered in a cream sauce coloured and flavoured with sweet paprika, served with dumplings. It is not hot — ground sweet paprika, not chilli

   Grammar Note

   "kuře" is neuter and inserts -et- in the oblique cases (kuřete, kuřeti). In "na paprice" the noun "paprika" is in the locative, where k regularly alternates to c — a standard Czech dative/locative change

10. vepřové koleno

    Roast pork knuckle

    Usage

    A beer-hall speciality: the whole bone-in knuckle, roasted or boiled, with mustard, horseradish and dark bread. One piece weighs 1–1.5 kg and is usually meant to be shared by two or three people; the price is sometimes quoted per 100 g

    Grammar Note

    "koleno" is neuter ("knee"), of the "město" type. "vepřové" is the neuter form of the hard adjective

11. smažený kapr

    Fried carp

    Usage

    The standard Christmas Eve (24 December) dinner, paired with potato salad — a pairing that first appears in Czech cookbooks in the 1930s and became standard in the 1940s. Watch for small bones. In December live carp are sold from tubs in the street

    Grammar Note

    "kapr" is masculine animate — Czech treats fish as animate — so the accusative is "kapra": "Dám si smaženého kapra." The adjective takes the animate ending too

12. bramborový salát

    Czech potato salad

    Usage

    Cold potato salad with pickled cucumber, hard-boiled egg, carrot, parsley root, celeriac, onion and mayonnaise. It accompanies schnitzel or fried carp. Not the warm vinegar-dressed German kind

    Grammar Note

    "salát" is masculine inanimate; "bramborový" is the adjective from "brambora" (potato, feminine)

13. bramborák

    Czech potato pancake

    Usage

    Raw potatoes grated and mixed with flour, egg, garlic, salt and marjoram, then fried thin. Sold at stalls and served in pubs. Regional names abound: "cmunda" in South Bohemia, "vošouch" around Plzeň

    Grammar Note

    Masculine inanimate, plural "bramboráky". It is "brambora" (potato) plus the productive colloquial noun-forming suffix -ák

14. kulajda

    South Bohemian dill and mushroom cream soup

    Usage

    From 19th-century South Bohemia (the Kozácko area): potatoes, milk or sour cream, dill and mushrooms, sharpened with vinegar and served with a poached egg. The mushrooms are a modern addition

    Grammar Note

    Feminine. The name is thought to come from "zakudlení" (thickening with flour); the story about a cook named Adelheide Kuh is a later invention

15. česnečka

    Czech garlic soup

    Usage

    Garlic, potato and bread or croutons; cheese, egg, caraway or marjoram are often added. Its formal name is "česneková polévka", and regionally it is called "úkrop" (colloquially "oukrop"). Czechs treat it as a hangover cure

    Grammar Note

    Feminine, a colloquial derivative of "česnek" (garlic, masculine) with the suffix -ečka

16. dršťková polévka

    Tripe soup

    Usage

    The main ingredient is finely sliced beef tripe — the name gives no clue in translation, so check before ordering if offal is not for you. Seasoned with paprika and marjoram; a pub staple

    Grammar Note

    "polévka" is feminine; "dršťková" is the adjective from "dršťky" (tripe), a feminine noun used only in the plural

17. hovězí polévka

    Beef broth with liver dumplings or noodles

    Usage

    A clear beef broth starter with liver dumplings (játrové knedlíčky) or fine noodles and root vegetables — traditionally the opening course of Sunday lunch

    Grammar Note

    "polévka" is feminine. "hovězí" is a soft adjective, so it looks identical here and in the masculine "hovězí guláš"

18. utopenec

    Pickled sausage with onion

    Usage

    Špekáčky sausages sliced and layered with onion, then left for one to two weeks in a brine of water, vinegar, salt, sugar, pepper and allspice. Served cold with bread as a beer snack. The name literally means "drowned man"

    Grammar Note

    Masculine animate, so the plural on menus is "utopenci" (more common than the inanimate "utopence"); the accusative singular is "utopence"

19. nakládaný hermelín

    Marinated soft cheese

    Usage

    Hermelín — the Czech Camembert-type cheese — split, layered with onion, then covered in oil with chillies (feferonky, kozí rohy), bay leaf, pepper and garlic. It matures 2–4 days at room temperature, or one to two weeks refrigerated, and is served with bread

    Grammar Note

    "hermelín" is masculine inanimate (originally "ermine fur"); "nakládaný" is the passive adjective from "nakládat" (to pickle)

20. obložený chlebíček

    Czech open sandwich

    Usage

    A slice of "veka" (a long white loaf) topped with potato salad, ham, egg or cheese and eaten cold. Bought from the counter of a "lahůdky" delicatessen. Jan Paukert popularised the modern form in Prague around 1916, and old Czechoslovak standards listed close to a hundred kinds

    Grammar Note

    "chlebíček" is the diminutive of "chléb" (bread), masculine inanimate. You normally order the plural: "Dva chlebíčky, prosím." "obložený" means "laid with toppings"

21. olomoucké tvarůžky

    Olomouc ripened cheese

    Usage

    A Moravian ripened cheese made from skimmed milk, documented in the Haná region since the 15th century, with modern production starting in Loštice in 1876. It received EU protected geographical indication (PGI) status in 2010. The smell is very strong. Also called "olomoucké syrečky"

    Grammar Note

    Note the letter "ů" (the word-internal long u), not "ú". The form shown is plural; the singular is "tvarůžek". "olomoucké" is the plural adjective from the city name Olomouc

22. tatarský biftek

    Beef tartare

    Usage

    Beef tenderloin chopped by hand and mixed at the table with onion, mustard, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and a raw egg yolk, then piled on "topinka" — fried bread rubbed with garlic. Colloquially "tatarák". Both the meat and the egg are raw, which carries a parasite risk

    Grammar Note

    "biftek" is masculine inanimate. The adjective is the culinary convention, the same one in "tatarská omáčka" (tartare sauce), not an ethnic reference

23. ovocné knedlíky

    Fruit dumplings

    Usage

    Fruit wrapped in dough — leavened (kynuté), semolina (krupicové), curd (tvarohové) or potato (bramborové) — then boiled or steamed. The classic fillings are plums (švestky) and apricots (meruňky), also strawberries, blueberries or apple, topped with melted butter, sugar, curd cheese or poppy seed. In the 19th century they were a lunch main course, and some places still serve them in main-course portions

    Grammar Note

    The form shown is plural (singular "ovocný knedlík"); "ovocné" is the plural adjective from "ovoce" (fruit, neuter)

24. palačinky

    Thin pancakes (crêpes)

    Usage

    A thin batter of flour, milk and egg. Sweet versions are filled with jam (džem), curd cheese (tvaroh), whipped cream (šlehačka) or chocolate sauce; savoury ones with spinach, meat or cheese

    Grammar Note

    Feminine plural (singular "palačinka"). The word travelled from Latin "placenta" (a flat cake) through Romanian "plăcintă" and Hungarian "palacsinta"

25. větrník

    Caramel-glazed choux pastry

    Usage

    The Czech development of the French profiterole: choux pastry (odpalované těsto) filled with cream and glazed with caramel on top. A fixture of any "cukrárna" (pastry shop)

    Grammar Note

    Masculine inanimate; the same word as "windmill / air vent", derived from "vítr" (wind)

26. jablečný závin

    Apple strudel

    Usage

    Thin pastry rolled around apple, sugar, cinnamon and raisins, served warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Menus often use the colloquial "štrúdl" (or "štrůdl") instead

    Grammar Note

    "závin" is masculine inanimate, from "vinout" (to wind). Both colloquial spellings, "štrúdl" and "štrůdl", are accepted, so neither is an error to be corrected

27. medovník

    Honey layer cake

    Usage

    Thin honey-gingerbread layers alternating with cream. Prague shops sell it as an old Czech sweet, but the origin of the recipe is unclear — Russian, Armenian and Georgian claims all exist — and it has only been manufactured in Czechia since 1997

    Grammar Note

    Masculine inanimate: "med" (honey) + the suffix -ovník

28. trdelník

    Spit-roasted sugar-coated pastry

    Usage

    Leavened dough wound onto a "trdlo" (a wooden or metal rod), baked over charcoal and rolled in sugar. Prague tourist stalls advertise it as "staročeský trdelník" ("old Bohemian"), but this label is widely regarded as pure marketing: the pastry comes from Transylvania and only became common in Czechia in the 21st century

    Grammar Note

    Masculine inanimate: "trdlo" (the rod the dough is wound on) + -ník. Related to Hungarian kürtőskalács and Polish sękacz

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