Very (Lunch) Special

One of my absolute favorite things about living here in Prague is the daily lunch specials at essentially every real restaurant here (as distinguished from the fast-food kebab shops or pizza-by-the-slice places).

These restaurants literally change the specials every day, posting the changes each morning outside their restaurants — usually with one or two kinds of soup and four or five different entrees to choose from. These specials are usually inexpensive — mine today cost something like $8, including a Pepsi — and, most importantly, extremely fast. The chefs make significant quantities of those particular options in advance to help workers on short lunch breaks get their food fast ... usually within 3 or 4 minutes.

These days, most places list their daily offerings on their websites as well, so you can scan all the places in your neighborhood to find the meal you're particularly enthusiastic about.

It's awesome.

Today I walked the 150 feet or so to the very old-school pub/restaurant ("restaurace") Filip and I have had a few after-dinner beers in over the past few weeks — although it's only about 75 feet from his front door, he had never been in it before — and got myself a quesadilla. (I also ordered a side order of fries, which confused the waiter, but I wanted to know how good the fries were for down-the-road possibilities).

Translated, their website's "About Us" section says: "Welcome to the website of Restaurant U Houdků , located in Žižkov, about 300 meters from the Husinecká stop, [and a] 10-minute walk from the Main Train Station. This is a stylish, cozy and equipped restaurant. We offer excellent and varied cuisine, where everyone will surely choose their favorite - soups, ready meals (Mon-Sun). There is also an outdoor terrace. Of course, there is also a rich selection of drinks. You can pay in cash, but we also accept the above payment cards and meal vouchers. You will be served by friendly and professional staff who will try to fulfill all your wishes!"

I'm a little skeptical about that last promise, but otherwise, it's a nice, old-fashioned place. Their website says the restaurant opened in 1923. Based on the photos, I can believe it.

I wonder if "all [their] wishes" were fulfilled.

The funny thing is, this makes it sound like it's some kind of well-known institution here. It's not. It's on a side street, and it is — now — a fairly dingy, old, tattered pub. Not at all the kind of place you'd want to impress visitors with. Just the kind of place where you could get to know some regulars and have a Kozel or a Pilsner at the end of the evening, perhaps over a game of chess or laughter with friends about political insanities around the world.

I like it.

The opposite of "upscale"

Anyway, I've gotten off track. It's 3:30 as I write this, so they've already taken today's lunch menu down from their website and replaced it with tomorrow's, which ... well, you can see for yourself, in both Czech and (via Google Translate) English versions.

Yes, that word on the top is "Thursday" — try to pronounce THAT.

Maybe the Serbian pork slice?

Hmmm. I don't know. Looks like Spravovna tomorrow has 1/2 roasted baby chicken with lemon and herbs, plus mashed potatoes. Now we're talking!