Taste of Prague Podcast, Ep 3 - Mark Baker

Taste of Prague Podcast, Ep 3 - Mark Baker

Hey there! I am really happy about the third episode of the Taste of Prague podcast, a podcast by Taste of Prague food tours about travel and food in Prague and the rest of the world, because it’s a great one: I had the pleasure to have a chat with the one and only Mark Baker.

Mark who? Yeah, while he may be invisible to many, Mark is a writer of guide books for the Lonely Planet, Fodor’s and Frommer’s, covering mostly Central and Eastern Europe. So if you’re walking past the Charles Bridge and can’t get through because of the crowds, well, that’s kinda Mark’s fault. No, really, he wields a lot of invisible might, steering travelers in the right places and making sure that they enjoy the destination to the fullest. We see his guides in the hands of the guests of our Prague food tours all the time. Let me put it this way: the man who covers Slovenia for the Lonely Planet got „knighted“ by the Slovenian government. I will make it one of my top 2020 priority the same thing happens to Mark in the Czech Republic.

Mark is a fascinating guy. Hailing from Ohio and having majored in politics at the Miami University (the one in Ohio), he worked in Vienna for The Economist group when the Berlin Wall fell. Then he got to Prague on a writing assignment and… well, never left would not be entirely correct, but he’s still here 28 years later. He was one of the founders of the iconic Globe coffee shop / book store that was the ground zero for the exact community and young local intellectuals (heck, I was one of them) in the Holesovice district. He is also the author of multiple articles about Central and Eastern Europe for the likes of the BBC, the Wall Street Journal or the National Geographic. Finally, he has a fantastic website with long-form posts about his experiences living in and traveling through Central and Eastern Europe. It’s a true wealth of information and great writing: don’t blame me if you spend long minutes or hours browsing through the posts.

But back to the interview. When you think about it, writing guide books seems to be the perfect job: somebody pays you to travel and you write about it. But of course, on second thought, this ain’t no vacation. So this episode of the podcast tries to look into the mechanics of writing a guide book. Who is it for, how is it researched, what is the brief, and how do you write it. And also, we look at the future of the printed guide book in the age of the internet and the smartphone app. Mark also has a few comments on the Czechs and Czechia, having lived here - on and off - since 1991.

If you want to stay on top of our podcast, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Soundcloud to get the latest from us.


Taste of Prague Podcast, Ep 2 - Janek of Honest Guide

Taste of Prague Podcast, Ep 2 - Janek of Honest Guide

Hello there! Welcome to the second episode of the Taste of Prague Podcast, our podcast about two things we love - food and travel - in the two places we love - Prague… and everywhere else. Hope you enjoyed last week’s first episode with Jirka Duzar! I think we’re going to turn this into a weekly affair. I hope. We have a few guests in the pipeline already, and some of them are actually quite surprising. So please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Soundcloud to get the latest from us.

Anyway, here we go, the second episode is a big one: we’re interviewing Janek of Honest Guide.

If you’ve lived in Prague, or if you traveled to Prague recently and spent at least a tiny bit of time researching your trip, you will be familiar with my first guest: Janek, the on-camera half of the duo that you know as Honest Guide. I know this may sound as a bit of overstatement, but for a certain generation or group of travelers (those who use YouTube as a tool of travel research), Janek and Honza may be the first ambassadors of Prague a traveler finds when researching Prague, thus becoming, in effect, the “faces of Prague” for many.

In this podcast, I ask Janek about his own travels, about his on-camera persona, the creative process behind Honest Guide, his way of approaching two different audiences that speak two different languages, if he enjoys the life of an internet celebrity and, of course, frozen pizza.


Taste of Prague Podcast, Ep 1 - Jiri Duzar of Czech Tourism

Taste of Prague Podcast, Ep 1 - Jiri Duzar of Czech Tourism

So this is big. After many months of deliberations, failed attempts - and honestly, towards the end, quite a bit of bitching by Zuzi (“So when is the podcast coming out? This is ridiculous.“) - I have the slightly nervous pleasure of introducing the Taste of Prague Podcast. It’s a podcast about two things we love: travel and food. And it’s about travel and food in two places we love: Prague… and everywhere else.

When we started the Taste of Prague food tours back in 2011, we had no prior experience in tourism. And eight years later, it is still an industry that keeps fascinating us. I mean, 25 years ago, Taste of Prague could not have existed. But now the internet, the connected phones and the apps, and the affordability of travel have changed everything, and will continue to change everything. It is fun to be in the middle of it, but it’s also nice to take a bit of a back seat, put the popcorn in the microwave, and just enjoy the show. And that’s what this podcast should be: a look at travel and food around the world, mostly through interviews with interesting people who have something to say about either or both. Oh, and we’ll throw in tips for Prague, I guess.

Anyway, here we go, and we start with a great one: Jiri Duzar of Czech Tourism’s Digital Marketing Strategist.

Jirka Duzar is not only a friend, but a true Renaissance man: he is an accomplished photographer (for a sample of his work, have a look at his website and Instagram account), owns a coffee business with his father (and a very successful business at that), an avid cyclist, but first and foremost the Digital Strategy Manager for Czech Tourism’s US and Canada office. And as such, he is in charge of Czech Tourism’s collaborations with influencers. And all that at less than 33 years of age. Makes me kinda rethink my career.


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Prague off the beaten path: Karlin district

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Prague off the beaten path: Karlin district

We have one rule whenever we travel: we visit the main sights early in the morning or late in the evening to beat the crowds, and see the other, more local things during the day. When we visit a city, we prefer to see how people live there today, and not necessarily how they lived there in the past. And Prague is no exception. Especially during the high season, we recommend getting up early, seeing the sights before all the other people get to see them, and then just walk and explore the surrounding districts. And the Karlin is a place you should not miss if you travel like us - it has a great local feel and great places to eat and drink. That is why we sometimes visit it with the guests of our Prague Foodie Tour and that is why we think it is worth a visit even during the off-season.


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The beginner's guide to beer in Prague

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The beginner's guide to beer in Prague

You know what they say: ”The best Czech wine is… beer.”

Of course, this is disrespectful of the beautiful Czech and Moravian wine production that we are so fond of, but the undeniable fact is that the Czech beer culture is one of the strongest unifying themes in the Czech national identity. While ”Czech Republic means beer” may sound as a cliché, it is mostly right. We Czechs actually do love beer and drink a lot of it. And the Czech beer culture is unique in several ways. Beer is to Czechs what wine is to the French - just walk into any restaurant and order their “house beer”, and it will be cheap and good. It’s the default beverage. A no brainer.

So you should have a beer in Prague. Make it several beers. Not having a beer in Prague would be a mistake even if you think you don’t like beer. Honestly, don’t diss beer until you had a tank Pilsner Urquell (more on that later) on a hot night. It might be a game changer. We know it has been for many guests of our Prague Foodie Tour. We’ve had many beer converts on our tours actually.

The following is a short guide to beer in Prague. Of course, this is in no way comprehensive or exhaustive - most travelers don’t spend more than three nights in Prague, so this mostly for them. The idea here is to get you introduced to the world of Czech beer and get some basic lay of the land, teach you what you should drink and where, what to look for and what to avoid in your Prague beer experience. So let’s do this! Na zdraví! (Which obviously means Cheers in Czech!)


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Hana's Five Favorites in Prague

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Hana's Five Favorites in Prague

In an ideal world, Hana would have been the first team mate we would have hired. We did talk about her joining us waaaay back when Taste of Prague was just Zuzi and Jan. But we don’t live in an ideal world, and Hana was not ready to leave the big law she was practicing at the time, just like Zuzi did a few years before. Fast forward five years later, and we are incredibly happy to welcome Hana to our small team. She will fit in like a glove - she loves food and other people’s company. She still does practice law a bit, though. (Remember, not living in an ideal world?)

There is something about Hana. She has a calming, soothing presence, and you just can’t help but feel good when she’s around. She’s a great listener with heaps of empathy, and when she talks, you listen. We also assume she hates being bored: she’s a well-travelled fan of food, wine and coffee, an avid skier who likes to bike and hike, and has a keen interest in architecture and urban planning. Oh yes, and movies. You know, the smart kind.

What we’re trying to say she’s busy. Or crazy. One of those two things. But never mind her schedule, she was super quick to give her tips for her five favorite places in Prague and five social media accounts, and not one, not two, but four (!) secret tips for Prague. But that’s just Hanna being Hanna. So here we go!


10 Cheap Eats in Prague

10 Cheap Eats in Prague

Confession: we’re not generally fond of writing posts about “cheap eats”. But hey, we were young and needed the clicks, right? We don’t like writing “Prague cheap eats” posts because: (1) it reinforces the assumption that you should expect cheap when you visit Prague. Look, we don’t like to see ourselves as primarily “cheap” and genuinely want visitors to spend money here, okay? And (2) we get lots of slack from the locals who want us to rate EUR 4 lunch specials. It ain’t happening, locals. Our bodies are a temple, capiche?

That said, we understand that some visitors to Prague may be on a budget and still want to eat well. Hey, we’ve been there. That’s what college is all about. Or you just have other priorities. Now, before you start readin’ (and hatin’), hear us out, because our definition of “cheap” may be different from yours, so we think we need to clarify our selection process:

First, it still has to be good. Sure, sausage croissants at Tesco may be cheap, too, but they will never make the list, because they are not great. Second, when we say “cheap”, we mean “great value”. So we are not hunting the cheapest of cheap foods per se, but dishes or experiences that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. So while some of our choices may be more expensive than other options, we still think they are “cheap”. Finally, we think global. This list may include things that are not cheap locally, but are cheap given the prices of similar foods and/or experiences abroad.

That said, we give our our selection of our favorite Ten Cheap Eats in Prague.


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The new Prague Foodie Map is here! Bigger, fatter, badder.

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The new Prague Foodie Map is here! Bigger, fatter, badder.

So the day has arrived and we are happy to announce the third itineration of what our moms, and the voices inside our heads, say is by far the best food guide to Prague - the Prague Foodie Map.

This version did not come easy to us. Originally scheduled “before Christmas”, it took us over half a year to finish. And let us tell you, a lot of things can happen in six months on Prague’s food scene, which has led to many, many, many rewrites. This was the first full version we wrote as parents, and in many way, the process showed. But at the end of the day, we feel that writing the guide as parents has added a completely new dimension that the guide lacked before. (And no, we’re not talking about sleep deprivation.)


Best Cocktail Bars in Prague

Best Cocktail Bars in Prague

It is time to let the secret out. Cocktail bars in Prague are way better than you have any right to think they are. Sure, you’re thinking “Hey Taste of Prague, shouldn’t I drink beer while in Prague?” Yes, you should. The beer culture of Prague is quite unique and exceptional, and the Czechs are famous for their beers and rightfully so. But Prague’s true hidden gem is its cocktail bars, and you would be seriously missing out if you did not have a drink or two while visiting the City of Thousand Spires.

What follows is a shortlist of what we think are the best cocktail bars in Prague.


Traditional Czech Food in Prague: What to Have and Where to Have it

Traditional Czech Food in Prague: What to Have and Where to Have it

Let’s be honest here: you did not travel to Prague to eat Italian. You want traditional Czech cuisine in its best form, and you want it right now.

But what are the classic Czech foods and where do you have them? Well, one way to find out is to book our Traditional Czech Food Tour, where we serve Czech classics that are close to achieving the impossible goal of matching the deliciousness that our beloved grandmas used to serve us when we were kids (albeit with a modern twist - don't expect tourist cliches from us).

Cannot join us for a few hours of serious overeating and fun stories about what these foods mean to us? Then there’s the Prague Foodie Map, the next best thing if you want to see Prague and its food and culture through our eyes.

Okay, enough with the shameless plugs. You want free stuff. Here’s a list of classic Czech foods and our favourite Prague restaurants for traditional Czech cuisine that remind us of our childhood. Before you follow these, beware: Czech food is delicious, comforting, very filling and addictive, so make sure you reserve enough time to walk off those calories. Yes, there won’t be many salads - or vegetables for that matter - in the list that follows. But you did not travel to Prague to eat salad, right? What? You did? We pity the fool.


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