This last week saw my work take me to Prague, which is a lovely old city and a great place to visit! It doesn’t hurt that the city is also cheap when compared to Western Europe (especially Netherlands), and so it was a great chance to go out and try some nice restaurants!

Luckily, my neighbour had just visited Prague the week before, and he had some good recommendations for which places to try!

This restaurant (Special) is one that specialises in modern Czech cooking, but most importantly, it serves up some really quite tasty craft beers! It also has the worst name for finding it by Google searches, as you get a whole heap of irrelevant returns when you search “Special Restaurant Prague”.

NOTE: The SteemitWorldMap seems to point to an old restaurant that used to be here, however it is the right place!

The Space

The space inside is quite cosy and reminds me of a nice pub. The place is deceptively empty as I was there quite early for dinner (around 1830) and so when I took the photos there weren’t so many people there. Also, there was the habit of mine to find the quietest room and corner! There was a group of people there for after work drinks, but I made sure not to photograph them!

It was also quite comfortably lit, bright enough without the lighting being harsh. It’s something that I noticed in the restaurants that I’ve been reviewing. It’s a small thing, but it can really break an experience if the lighting makes you feel like you are on display whilst eating!

There is a number of long tables in my room, with everything being made of very nice wood, it really gives off a comfortable atmosphere. From what I could see, there were three eating rooms that were linked together by a short corridor. At the entrance, by the bar and the kitchen was a few smaller tables, in my area there were the longer “bar” tables and in the final room it looked more like a restaurant area with seating for mostly 2 or 4 people per table.

When I was there, it was quiet enough, but I could imagine that it would get a bit noisy when it filled up with the high roofs and hard surfaces all around.

The Menu

Thankfully, the menu is in both Czech and English as I can only read one of those languages! The restaurant is located near the Old Town Centre, and so it will probably receive it’s share of tourists in addition to locals. I love these sort of menus, not too many items on the menu, just a small selection done well.
I was tempted to get an entrée, but I wasn’t too sure how big the meals would be and so I played it safe and decided on a main plus a dessert. However, in the end, an entrée would not have gone astray either!

In case you can’t read English, there is also a Czech menu!

The Drink

There is a great selection of craft beers on the menu. Definitely this place is more like a pub that serves food rather than a standalone restaurant! It’s a bit hard to see the description, but I ended up choosing the lucky 13 beer!

Yes, only a small one. After all, I am here for work! Let me just say, it was a pretty good one! A full caramel taste and just the thing to compliment the meal!

The Food

In a little bit of a surprise, I chose the Duck from the mains menu. However, this was a really nice variant, served with red cabbage and beet puree. Baked apples and some potato dumplings (like Gnocchi but more firm) rounded out the meal. The duck was amazingly good, with the meat just falling right of the bones! Although, quite possibly, I really should have ordered a side of salad…

Well, this one was so unusual that I had to try it! Potato rolls with poppyseed, served with Rum and Raisin ice-cream with a hint of toffee and custard. It’s pretty unusual, the potato is savory (at least, not sweet), but it is a nice mix with the ice-cream and the other sweet stuff. It was quite a pleasant surprise!

The Experience

Well, I was thoroughly impressed with this place. The price (as with most of Prague) was very affordable compared to Western Europe, and the food was delicious! The wait staff was very friendly and spoke English, so there were no problems on that front and the atmosphere and décor of the place made me feel really quite comfortable!

The food was amazingly good and was very quickly ready after ordering and the beer (well, the one that I had) was also of high quality. So, there was very little to complain about, in fact, nothing at all!

I could imagine that this would be a popular place for drinks and dinner before heading out to see the night sights of Prague. It will definitely be a place that I will visit again the next time I am in Prague!

Opening Times

Monday 11:30am–11pm
Tuesday 11:30am–11pm
Wednesday 11:30am–11pm
Thursday 11:30am–11pm
Friday 11:30am–11pm
Saturday 11:30am–11pm
Sunday 11:30am–11pm

Contact Details

Address: Haštalská 12, 110 00 Staré Město, Czechia
Phone: +420 222 315 676
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://www.restauracespecial.cz

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