They say the best way to get to know a city is through its food.

This food tour was our first activity upon landing in Prague and it was, indeed, a fabulous introduction to the historical city.

The first item on the tasting menu was chlebíček, a Czech open-faced sandwich. What made this memorable for me was the fresh and delicious potato salad that was tucked away under the slice of ham. In combination with egg, mayo, lettuce and pickles, the simple open-faced sandwich had been switched up to something truly special, the thought of which still makes my mouth water! Quite filling, and truly delightful.

At our second stop, we tried three items, the first of which was škvarková pomazánka, a spread made with ground pork crackling, lard and onion. It was subtly savoury, a rich but easy-going snack – one can see why it’s apparently a Czech pub favourite.

The other two items were on the sweet side – maková buchta, a poppy seed bun, and koláč, a bread-y cake with, in this case, plum purée. The poppy seed bun brought back memories of the first time (as far as I can recall) that we had a poppy seed pastry in Zagreb. This was very nice, too, a soft bun with a smooth poppy seed paste that had its characteristic ground texture. The koláč, too, was a soft bun, again not too sweet, with a bit of tartness from the plum purée.

We got to try two pork dishes at the next stop, both of which were very good! Tlačenka is a meat jelly, made with different pork parts and held together with gelatine. I didn’t understand why they served the slices with a vinegar dip until I tried them together, in combination with the rye bread – and then it all made sense. It was fabulous together.

The second pork dish was papriková klobása, paprika pork sausage, which was served with rye bread, mustard and horseradish. The sausage was scrumptiously good and, expectedly, had a bit of heat. However, this heat was a bare minimum compared to the heat of the horse radish – certainly packed a punch, that!

A bit of Czech víno was next. I might have mentioned in the past that I am no wine connoisseur, and I’m afraid that statement still stands. So, I’ll just leave this image here for your perusal.

The first dish at our last stop was a popular Czech pub staple – nakládaný hermelín, which is essentially a marinated (or “pickled”, as they say) cheese. It’s a bit like camembert in texture, and tasted great with the sauces and spices wedged between the two separated layers. There was rye bread to go with it.

Finally, we tried svíčková na smetaně (often simply referred to as svíčková), and it felt like our wonderful guide Tomáš had indeed saved the best for last. The dish comprised of tender beef served with root vegetable sauce (usually made with carrots, celeriac, parsley root and onion), bread dumplings and cranberry whipped cream. The combination was perfect, but it was the sauce that was truly incredible. So delicious, so good, so memorable. I could have had it by itself as a soup! Definitely the element that brought the entire dish together and made it oh-so-appetising.

We rounded things off with some Mlíko pour and Kofola. Let’s talk about the beer first. The Czechs have three distinct ways of pouring their Pilsner Urquell (Czech-made beer) – the Hladinka pour (more or less a standard pour with a layer of foam on top), the Šnyt pour (two parts beer to three parts foam), and the Mlíko pour (the most unique pour with a lot of foam and a little liquid). The excess foam gives the drink a creamy sweetness, lightness and a lot less carbonation, making it enjoyable as a post-meal beverage as well.

Kofola is also referred to as ‘communist cola’, for it had been the then-Czechoslovakian communist government’s response to Coca-Cola. I’m not much of a cola drinker, but I quite liked that Kofola was a little flatter and less sweet than Coca-Cola. Definitely a thirst-quencher.

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