Street Food in Prague

Street food is not very popular in Prague. Prague office workers have luncheon vouchers partly paid for by their employer and partly by themselves add to this a multitude of very affordable restaurants and you will understand why street food is not very common in Prague.
Street food is popular at the Christmas and Easter markets. Cholesterol bombs you must taste incluse langose, a type of baked pizza covered with tomato sauce and grated cheese, trdelnik pastry sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and grilled sausages with mustard and sauerkraut, pancakes filled with ice cream and fruits, Prague ham, mulled wine and burcak, the first wine of the season

Sweet Street Food

1. Palacinky Stands
Palacinky or pancakes French are very popular in Prague. At every farmers’ market, Christmas market, Easter market, spring market and autumn market, you will find stalls where this delicacy is made rihjt in front of you. Pancakes are also on the menu of almost every restaurant and cafe in Prague. Palacinky are served warm and you can choose from different sweet fillings. Forest fruits with whipped cream or fresh pineapple with ice cream are only a few examples.

2. Trdelnik Stands
Trdelnik stands are scattered all over the historic centre of Prague and in particular in touristic places. Although trdelnik is a Hungarian invention, the Czechs have adopted this sweet type of pastry as their own. They are best when freshly made and still hot. Trdelnik is made of dough that is wrapped around a metal or wooden stick, roasted over an open fire and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon. It is made into a tourist product by adding a scoop of ice cream which doubles the price. The ice cream presents some awkward moments as your trdelnik is still hot and the ice cream melts. You will get no plate, not even a paper on. This delicacy is simply wrapped in a paper napkin.

Savoury Snacks

1. Langose Stands
Langose is seasonal street food and sold at stands at the Easter and Christmas markets. Langose is a kind of pizza but less refined and will send health foodies running away in terror. A hunk of raw dough is deep fried and covered in garlic, tomato ketchup and sprinkled with grated cheese. Langose is an acquired taste and as is the case with Trdelnik, this delicacy is tricky to eat. Ice cream (trdelnik) or fat (langose) will drip off your chin.

2. Prague Ham Stands
Old Town Square is one of the best places in Prague to find stands selling grilled ham. Prague ham, Prazska sunka in Czech, is known for its juicy taste. The ham is cured, smoked and boneless and is grilled over an open fire. The stalls are located at the Christmas and Easter market and at other outdoor festivities. Pay attention! When you buy a ham sandwich, the price of the ham is per gram. Officially, there is a pricelist at the stand, but many tourists don’t pay attention to it. When you buy ham, you say how many grams you want. If you don’t, you will end up with a big hunk that will probably costs the same as a three-course meal in a chic restaurant.

3. Grilled Sausage Stands
Grilled sausage is fat, quite unhealthy, but very tasty. Most restaurants have sausages on the menu. Spicy sausages and Frankfurters with a piece of brown bread are in fact a meal in themselves. A dollop of mustard and a glass of Czech beer make this masterpiece a culinary feast for the taste buds. Until 2020, there were a large number of sausage stands on Wenceslas Square and you are your sausage while standing at high tables. When the square was redesigned, the majority of the sausage stands disappeared.

Alcoholic Street Food

1. Mulled Wine Stands
When the temperature drops, mulled wine stands appear in the squares and streets in Prague’s Nove Mesto and Stare Mesto districts. Mulled wine, or svarak in Czech, is the favourite winter drink of both locals and tourists. There are also plenty of svarak stands at the Christmas markets. Svarak is a mixture of red wine, lemons, oranges and manderins, cinnamon, and cloves. Instead of lemons or oranges, the Czechs often use apples that give the svarak a special taste.

2. Burcak Stands
When autumn comes, Prague’s burcak stalls are mushrooming. Burcak is the first wine of the season and is available all over Prague and the Czech Republic. Burcak is partially fermented wine made from grapes grown in Moravia, a region in the eastern part of the country. The wine looks like cloudy orange juice and tastes like lemonade. But be warned; the alcohol content is between 5% and 8%. Burcak is said to be healthy and rich in vitamins, especially vitamin B. No wonder that this wine is very popular Burcak is on sale from August 1 to November 30.

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Burcak the first wine of the season
Farmers’ Markets in Prague

Photos Marianne Crone