La Degustation — Restaurant in Prague

Modern Czech fine dining? This is the place to be 🇨🇿. Last minute, I got a strong recommendation for this place, and was trying to get a dinner reservation. Looking back, I think this is a better lunch spot than dinner. For lunch, there's a choice between a 3 course menu or a 5 course menu, but for dinner I believe they only offer the 5 course. It was quite nice to have a large meal, then have an afternoon to walk it off. So, try booking a spot around noon. It'll be quieter and you'll have plenty of time to enjoy your meal.

Now onto the fun bits - the food! We went with the 5 course menu which was a mix of cheese, fish, red meats, and dessert.

First, we began with the amuse bouche: steak tartare, dried potato with dried ketchup, and crispy pig skin. I thought steak tartare was a Belgian speciality, but they do it here too! Having tried steak tartare before in France, Belgium, Switzerland, and the UK, the Czechs know how to season it best. While my favorite was the tartare, both the other bites followed nicely with a slightly softer texture from the potato and ketchup, and a crunch to finish up this course by the skin.

The first course - imagine the heavenly smell of mushrooms 🍄 perched over a healthy portion of cheese 🧀 paired with a white Czech wine 🥂. I spent a good few minutes just smelling the dish with my face 3 inches away from the plate. I probably looked like I fell asleep at the first course 🙃. The grainy truffle texture gave structure to the creamy cheese such that each bite didn't just feel like eating a cheesy soup.

The second course - imagine the softest fish with a flat hat of buttered crispy bread replacing the skin. Again, they created a beautiful dish with contrasting textures and savory flavors that felt fresh rather than heavy.

The third course - enter the meats! Three slices of duck with a healthy layer of fat topping each one, and tiny beetroots to frame them like book ends. 📖 Paired with a light Italian red, my tastebuds were in heaven.

The penultimate course - fallow deer. I never ate much deer when I was living in the US, but man that changed moving to Europe. The meat was so tender that it pulled apart without much effort as I swirled each bite around the sauce.

I'm not the biggest dessert person, but the cream was perfectly textured by the crumbs on the side and the cider pairing. To continue dessert, we had the Czech version of rakia and some marshmallows.

La Degustation is right in the old town, and has the feeling of a classic Michelin star restaurant - upscale and possibly like you shouldn't belong there. Don't worry, they make you feel welcome to be there. I wouldn't miss out on this spot, so if you're thinking of coming make sure you book several weeks in advance! There is a waitlist, but there's no guarantee...

To the extent I heard the wife's comments from the married couple sitting next to me I have included such comments in parentheses.

1- imagine a tasty ice cream, but warm foamy potatoes instead. Crunchy potatoe chip wafer on top. "Eat like a soup" they said. Pretty dope.

(What was that? Mash potatoes?! Best I've ever had)

2- so far it is a dinner of foams. The fish stock foam helped the transition into the second dish: a savory piece of fish cooked to absolute perfection. The subtle pumpkin oil kissed my lips like the warm summer nights I have missed since moving outside of LA.

(Tasty)

3- I finally tried goat kefir I guess.

4- Holy taste buds. Baked pear. Caramel injection. Truffle foam (the game of foams continues). Topped with a generous portion of black truffles. This was a spectacular combination of flavors and is a clear indication of culinary prowess. Bravo.

(We've never had anything like that before)

5-I will remember that the duck was good.

6-FOAM AGAIN. After hearing the description of the dish upon presentation, I was expecting something tastier. I suppose my palette isn't advanced enough for this, as the flavor profile just didn't do it for me. The chicken, however, was very tender and cooked with precision.

Okay the more I think about this, the more I dislike the carrot purée. It's too reminiscent of Gerber's baby food or something.

7-Beef cheeks, pickled cucumber (isn't that just pickle??), crunchy pancake pastry droppings, and cranberry dust. What in the world is going on here.

8-i haven't received the dessert yet but I'm full In a weird way. I think it's the juice though.

Okay there were three desserts: a pre desert of some sweet milk, one frozen berry, and sugar powder or something. Then the main dessert: a dark beer in a cave of hard shell delight and well the beer turned me off. The complimentary dessert encore was fresh baked dough on a hot stick (this was fantastic and reminded me of how much I miss a good doughnut), some Madeline thing, and cream.

All in all it comes quite close to the coveted 5/7...

Bohême Bourgeoise was spectacular. If we make it back to Prague, we will bring our friends with us to experience Bohemian fair brought into 21st-century gastronomy.

Food: Get ready for modern Bohemian - this is truly old Czech tradition brought into the modern gastronomical world. The taste profile veers strongly sour based on a cultural history of fermented food. The flavor aesthetic is less nuanced and more bold/creative: while each dish was precisely balanced, the strengths came from creativity of bold flavors assembled rather than weaker tastes asserting a nuanced notion.

Wine: Bohême Bourgeoise's sommelier deserves a Michelin star of their own! The wines skewed local - something like 60% of our pairings were from Czech vineyards, and the rest were either from Austria or France nearby. The noses on the paired wines were bold and absolutely unique, and each paired with their dish so obviously that only a reptile would be unable to make the connection. The best pairing was for the mushroom dish - the wine had a very savory nose and smelled earthy, which paired amazingly with the mushroom dish.

Service: Service was as expected for Michelen-star restaurants - waitstaff were all extremely friendly and knowledgable about anything having to do with the dining experience (food, wine, serving accoutrements). Further, the size of the restaurant is relatively small (something like 18 tables), so each table receives a good degree of attention at all times.

Ambience: The restaurant has a hexagonal tessellation motif which works through the menu, windows, and floor for a cohesive aesthetic. The overall vibe is traditional-meets-modern - wooden tables with cross-sections of tree trunks in the middle, chandeliers (but with glass bones on the sides).

The prep area for the kitchen is exposed and we were fortunate to sit near - we could see the chef assembling each dish and working with the kitchen and waitstaff to plate and deliver...