Czech Republic

I am spending a week in CR including 3 days in Prague. Looking forward to it but there are two things which are niggling.

The first and most important is smoking. I am led to believe that they do not have any non smoking laws and that smoking is accepted in most restaurants and that no smoking zones are laughable. I have always hated smoky rooms and now that we are smoke free at home find I just can't tolerate it anymore.

Secondly, and not of any great importance, I don't like stodgy food and get the impression that it is dumplings all the way. I eat a very light, Mediterranean diet and feel that my stomach will be like a lead balloon at the end of a week! It seems to be a crime if one does not eat local cuisine but I don't want dumplings and cabbage to spoil it all!

Any hints and tips would be appreciated.

LOL. Good thing it is just a short visit. When I was there at least 15 years ago, the locals couldn't afford to eat and drink in the tourist restaurants in the centre of Prague. I don't remember finding the food particularly stodgy but I do remember finding the street stalls in Slovakia sold very stodgy food.
As to smoking keep out of the bars in the week at lunch times and early evening when they are full of smoking office workers.

I went to Prague a couple of years ago,really liked the place but did find the local cuisine quite stodgy, lots of meat and dumplings, but to be fair there seemed to be quite a few Italian restaurants and pizza places were very popular. So if you like Italian food you will be ok.
I don't like smoky places but did not find it too bad but agree you may be better keeping out of bars early on in the evenings, I didn't think it a cheap place to visit considering they are not using the Euro.
Hope you enjoy yourself :up:

Hi Loveallthingsitalian,
I dont really know if I can give you any tips as such, but this is my experience.
I have been to Czech Republic - our friend married a Czech girl and we went to the wedding and spent 4 days there. I have to say that I did not notice a problem with smoking at all. I absolutely hate smoky environments and cant say that it was a problem, but then I wasnt in Prague.

The food at the wedding was divine and not stodgy. In my experience the breakfast served in the hotel were some of the best I have had anywhere - lovely granola, fruits, yoghurts and nice pastries.

The food in the local restaurants was really really tasty, but very meat based I would say, lots of stew type dishes, steaks etc and yes dumpling type things! Filling but extemely tasty!

However we didnt really know what we were ordering - the restaurants where we were staying had no english menus so we relied on our Czech friend to guide us and she just said - "I will order for you, you will like this"!!!. I know a little french and spanish and can usually work out whats on a menu but when it comes to Czech there is absolutely no words in the language that I could even begin to guess at to know what was on the menu, LOL. The waiters and hotel staff did speak english to some extent.

Being a major city I would expect Prague to be a bit more geared toward english tourists and maybe you will have more of a choice of foods. I found CR to be a really lovely country and the people very welcoming, I would love to go back (with an interpreter). Enjoy your holdiay!

Thank you all. I am trying to comply a list of suitable places and cooking terms but as with all things it will be pot luck and sure that is half the fun.

I usually go on a bit of a weight loss regime, eat and drink, come home try to lose it again so perhaps with Czech food there might be just that wee bit more to shift!

The 5:2 diet is excellent for shifting a few pounds with virtually no effort.