by the Night Writer

It’s not hard to get something to eat here. There are numerous stands and take-away places along the well-traveled routes where we’ve seen some amazing pizzas and calzones, as well as things that we can order by pointing. This evening Tiger Lilly brought home “box kebab” – gyro meat, fries, and cole slaw all piled in a carton similar to Chinese take-away; just 75 koruna (Kc) each ($3). It was a great meal, about as much food as in a Chipotle burrito, but at less than half the cost. I washed mine down with an ice cold “Bud”:

Budweiser Budvar beer, from the Budweiser brewery operating in Bohemia since the 1300s.

If we venture to a restaurant most places have menus in Czech and English. The lunch menu at the restaurant closest to our apartment (and my most likely lunch spot if I don’t “eat in”) is only in Czech, however – and neither of the waiters speak much English. It was a bit of an adventure, but the food was delicious.

As a result of that experience, though, I decided to create a little cheat sheet on my phone of common foods and terms for future use.

(Note: I haven’t figured out yet how to make WordPress import a letter with the little Czech hat over it. Therefore, where you see the ? in the middle of a word, look to the letter immediately before the question mark for the actual letter, then picture a little hat on top of it. Generally, the hat adds a “ya” sound to the letter, except for c’s and s’s, which could be “sh” or “ch”. 

Meats

hove?zí – beef

Jatra – liver

kachna – duck

kur?e – chicken

králic?í – rabbit

rizek – steak

sunkou – ham

vepr?ové – pork

 

Style

grilovaný – grilled

pec?ený – baked

smazžený – fried

uzene – smoked

varene – cooked

 

Pasta

Noky – gnocchi

 

Veggies

listový sšpenát – spinach

brambor – potato

r?epa – beet

zelí – cabbage

hribkach – mushrooms

okurka – cucumber

 

Other

vývar – broth

nudlemi – noodles

knedlík – dumpling

krkovicka – neck

maslem – butter

Stehno – thigh

sýr – cheese

syrovu – cheesy

svíc?ková – tenderloin

omackou – sauce

hranolkami – French fries

cervene – red

chléb – bread

houskovy – bread

rýže – rice

Tatarka – tartar

c?esnek – garlic

 

Dessert

c?okoláda – chocolate

dort – cake

Medovník – honey cake

slehackou – whipped cream

I’ll keep my eyes open for the králic?í and knedlíks, and stay away from the jatra and r?epa!

bookmark to: