Eating in Czech Republic

To be honest, I have only tasted one traditional Czech dish, fried cheese. Fried cheese is exactly what it sounds like, pieces of cheese coated with eggs, flour and bread crumbs and fried. Fried cheese is typically served with potatoes or french fries and it is tasty, yes, but imagine eating a package of cheese. How would you feel like? Quite lethargic I assume, because your digestive organs are fighting a losing battle trying to mince all that saturated fat you burdened them with. When I was at school we were taught that the recommended daily intake for cheese is 3 slices (and the slices are very thin.) I don't even want to speculate how many times does 3 slices go into the mass of cheese in the picture below. In addition to fats, the lack of anything fresh or green made me feel controversial about fried cheese. At least it should be accompanied with salad to make it appear slightly healthier. I really enjoyed my meal of fried cheese but I think I can manage without it for a year or so now. Have to give the body some time to burn all that energy.

See, nothing green, nothing fresh

There are a couple of reasons why I haven't been that enthusiastic trying other Czech dished. Firstly, I don't find Czech cuisine very interesting. The main roles in it are played by meat and potatoes, and guess what, that sounds exactly like Finnish cuisine, too. Secondly, I follow mainly vegetarian diet and while I like to eat an occasional meaty dish, it is usually a steak, Korean kimchi stew or a dish cooked by Mom. I am quite certain there are restaurants serving vegetarian Czech specialties and maybe some time I will try and find one of those, but meanwhile I have been busy exploring all the interesting ethnic eateries in Prague. So let's talk more about eating out in general.  As I mentioned, kimchi stew is one of my favorite Korean dished and while it's so spicy it makes me cry, it is comfort food at its best. There are some Korean restaurants in Prague, so there will always be a steady supply of kimchi stew.

The typical color of Korean food- chili red 

What makes me even more happy is that there are plenty of Vietnamese people who have settled in Czech Republic and where there are Vietnamese people, there is good food and good coffee. There is one very nice Vietnamese restaurant close to Namesti Miru where I go if I happen to be in that part of Prague around lunch or dinner time. They have lovely fried rice and pho noodle soup. 

Fried rice with tofu

Desserts here are of the same type that is found across Europe, different kinds of cakes and tarts. There is one specialty you will see everywhere in the city, trdelnik (the secret to pronouncing this seemingly unutterable monstrosity of a word is placing a very small and very weak "a" between t and r, tardelnik). While it is sold as a typical Czech thing, my sources tell me it's actually originally a Hungarian invention. Trdelnik is kind of a grilled sweet bun. I tried trdelnik once but wasn't that amazed by it. While it is a nice dessert, it is basically just a sweet bun. That's it. In addition to original Czech meat dishes and desserts borrowed from the Hungarians, plenty of what I like to call "commone European food" is available here. I call it common European food because I have seen the same type of dish in pretty much every European country I have been to. Sandwiches, pasta, pizza, salads, vegetable soups, etc. So if you are not feeling adventurous, you can still stick to the familiar in Czech Republic. Never you worry. 

Trdelniks can be filled with ice cream, for example

Prague is a nice place for trying different cuisines, you can find Indian restaurants, Vietnamese restaurants, Thai, Chinese, Mexica, you name it. There is an Indonesian restaurant quite close to my place which I have to try one of these days. Something about the prices then, eating out is relatively cheap here, at least from a Finnish point of view. You can have a perfectly good meal including a drink of your choice with 10 euros or less, depending on the restaurant and the area. Touristy places are more expensive. Water or a soft drink could be more expensive than beer, so make sure to practice drinking beer before coming here even if you are not fond of it. And some good news for wine lovers, a glass of house wine can be as cheap as 20-30 crowns, which I believe is somewhere around 1 euro. Be sure to have some cash ready, not all places accept payment by card. Even a place that look like a big, flourishing business can be traditional in that way.

There is one aspect to eating out in Czech Republic I don't like however, and that's tipping. You are supposed to tip here. The reason why I don't like it is not about the money, if we add the suggested 10% to the price of the meal, the tip is still usually between 15-30 crowns, which is nothing. The problem is it's so damn awkward. For most of my life I've been living in a country where tipping is not commonplace (believe me, if you eat out in Finland you already feel like you are paying enough when you see the bill). So, I don't know when and how to tip. In what kind of places is tipping expected? Surely not in Starbucks.. ? How to do it politely? What is the right moment, should you leave some coins on the table, what if you pay by card, should you ask them to add the tip? What if the price is 199 crowns and you intend to pay with a 200 crown note? Should you in that case make it 220? For me it's easiest if the waiter just asks if any tip should be added, then I can say yes, 10%. OMG it's so embarrassing, I try to tip but it's difficult and sometimes I just forget, not being used to the custom. Sorry. Having the ability to see problems where there are none, I probably made this absolutely too complicated inside my head. Please help me to become a better person and give some advise on tipping! 

Delicious brunch

OK, setting aside the awkwardness of tipping, in general I am against it for the reasons I try to explain here. Personally I feel tipping is insulting. It puts me above you and in worst case creates a situation when a portion of the waiter's wages is an arbitrary amount on money that depends on the goodwill of the customers. We all spend too much of our lives working. Me. You. The person who sits next to me in the subway in the morning. At least the compensation for wasting so much of perfectly good time doing unimportant things should be such that the employee can be secure in the knowledge that the paycheck alone is enough for a decent living. If tipping is supporting exploitation of workforce by paying them a pittance and expecting the customers to pay the rest, then maybe such practice should be abolished ASAP. Why is it the customer's problem to make sure the employees receive fair wages? Sorry for the idealistic preach... I tend to get agitated when I sense injustice lurking around the corner. After all, the greatest sinner of all is the one who sees injustice but doesn't fight it. Sorry I have to stop writing now, I have a sudden strong calling to go and join a labor union or any other activist group supporting fair treatment of employees.. 

Vegetable soup, a good example of common European food