Day 25, Part 2: A Feast for the Tongue

Wednesday, June 6, 2012 (continued) 

After three and a half weeks in Prague, I decided today that I was going to actually eat in a restaurant for once. I hadn't until now. After wandering around the area near Betlemske Náměsti for a while, I finally found a restaurant that had everything I was looking for: Czech food, prices below 200 crowns, and the sound of people quietly enjoying themselves inside. (Several restaurants had passed requirements one and two but failed number three. I don't like eating in noisy places.) 

It was called the Restaurace Pražský most u Valšů. (Address: Betlemska 5.) The interior was decorated in an odd sort of modern Gothic style - chairs in odd geometric shapes made of rough wood and cast iron, dim wall lamps with skeletal figures in drippy metal on top, and so on. (Sadly, all my camera batteries were dead by then.) In contrast to the decoration, they seemed to be playing the Best of Michael Jackson all through dinner. I like Michael Jackson's music, so that was fine, although I would have preferred Czech music. 

(I have yet to hear much Czech music in Prague, with the exception of street musicians. Judging by what the hotels and clubs play, Czech pop music seems to be American pop music a few years behind.) 

There were more tables in the basement, wedged between the giant vats and barrels of brewing equipment, but I ended up at a small table in sight of the front door. I looked over the menu for a while and got dumplings and a pork whatchamacallit stuffed with cheese and mushrooms. 

It was quite possibly the best pork, of any kind, that I have ever eaten. 

After dinner, of course, it was time to find dessert. (This is one thing I've found out while I've been here: I can skip meals without much trouble, but not desserts.) I was already fairly sure where I was going.

The Choco Cafe is a small building on one of the little side streets off of Betlemske Náměsti. A fellow student - who seems to have a gift for finding the most interesting things in Prague - recommended it a few days ago. 

I'm glad she did. 

As this was my first visit, I looked over the menu of various flavor combinations, but chose the simplest (and cheapest) plain chocolate. It came in a teacup - larger than I'd expected - and it was complete bliss. It was like the world's best chocolate bar, melted so that you could drink it.

I ate it in the smallest spoonfuls I could to make it last. 

I also ordered the caramel sherbet, to balance out the chocolate. I wondered about the price of the sherbet at first. It cost more than the chocolate, and the chocolate was… well... the chocolate. It was hard to see how anything could be worth more. 

Until, that is, the sherbet actually arrived.

It was a glistening sculpture of dessert topped with whipped cream and airy slices of cookie. 

Together, chocolate and sherbet created the perfect counterpoint. The light, cold sweetness of the sherbet balanced the rich chocolate and kept it from becoming overwhelming. Then I started combining them in the same spoonful… 

I think I spent most of an hour sitting there with my eyes closed, taking spoon after tiny spoon full of chocolate and sherbet. The French ladies at the next table probably thought I was in some sort of trance. 

I'm not sure they would have been wrong. 

(Note: my camera batteries were still dead, in case you were wondering. These photos were taken on a later visit to the Cafe, as I had to go back again to properly document the experience. The trouble I go to for the sake of completeness...)