VNITROBLOCK — Restaurant in Prague

Vnitroblock is a vibrant creative cafe, gallery and collaborative meeting and workspace in Prague that was almost too cool, I couldn’t believe it existed. Housed in a repurposed industrial space, this multifunctional hub opens up before you as you enter and move into the expansive café areas.

Beyond the coffee and culinary offerings, which were amazing - Vnitroblock serves as a dynamic co-working and collaboration space.

The industrial-chic design, exposed brick walls and large factory windows - it feels like a space you want to grab a coffee - get inspired, make some art, get entrepreneurial, or start freelancing. I was on holiday but I felt like I was sitting in a place with a sense of community, where people meet to do some work, interact and collaborate. Whether you’re seeking a quiet corner to work or a communal space there seems to be a range of spaces that can adapt to your needs.

There was a cool exhibition on and the day I was there, the artist was there talking some people who I assumed were going to buy some of the pieces. Looking at the noticeboards, it looks like the space frequently hosts art exhibitions, events and tries to bring people together in relevant, energising ways. transforming daily visits into immersive cultural experiences. I think I saw signs for a dance studio - the place has a funky vibe. It is place you visit and think one day you’d like to own a space like it.

After exploring the space, I sat on a comfortable lounge chair and looked over the menu. I ordered a coffee, some fresh juice, and had a first and memorable first eggs in a glass with Parmesan, served with fermented kampot pepperfield pepper and pickled radish with sourdough bread. I also ordered the ‘Syrniki’ pancakes with sour cream and fruit sauce - I enjoyed trying both - but the eggs were phenomenal, simple flavours done really well - all the pastries and cakes and things looked awesome.

I was glad we came here, glad we stopped by for coffee and breakfast and I’m keen to go back and hang out...

Pretentious, dated, expensive and disappointingly polished.

I walked around Holesovice for few hours and really enjoyed the laid-back vibes and interesting places. Which made Vnitroblock all the more disappointing.

I was expecting a buzzing hub of creativity, with workshops, numerous small studios like Paris's “Les Frigos”, crafts exposed in a friendly chaos etc....Some websites described it as “Hip multi-functional space for all creative souls” and “warehouse artist concept”. Alas, what I found was more like a sanitized, Instagram-friendly “We-Work”-style co-working space, complete with industrial-themed lighting, red bricks, Feng-Shuied green plants and loud Eurobeat. The cafe serves the compulsory veggie burger, humus and ramen along with hand-picked organic craft bio cruelty free coffee beans + cute drawing on the foam.

Seriously?? That’s all you could come up with?

My concern is not just the utter lack of originality, but mainly that you reproduce a universal (and dated) brand of cool: by offering the same cliched products one can find in London’s Brick Lane or Tokyo’s Kichijoji, you contribute in the standardisation of taste, design etc…..How about pushing forward Czech style and culture instead of copying what’s already been done?

Vnitroblock is a missed opportunity but has a fantastic potential: time to end self-congratulation and start a needed...

The place was crowded and noisy on the Saturday afternoon I visited. This space was an abandoned factory building, and I like the industrial and hipster vibe—the entire place is very Instagrammable. It’s nice that there are shops around here that you can explore too. There are quite a few families with toddlers and dogs, which are cute.

There is a weird art exhibition called EYESYES in the cafe area, and it consists of paintings of eyes. I think it’s cool.

The interior is slightly on the colder side (in late January).

While I planned to work on my laptop, I couldn’t spot any power sockets to keep it charged (perhaps this is because this place repurposes an abandoned factory). Most people here weren't working on their laptops anyway, and many people were just hanging out instead.

Unfortunately, the menu said that breakfast would be available until 3 PM, but the kitchen was closed around 1:30 PM—so I ate the baked goods instead.

Reviews of food I tried:

Cake pop: 7/10.

Cake with cream: 5/10. Other than the cream on top, it has chocolate cream inside. But the cake part is too hard.

Kinder(?) cake: 3/10. I’m not sure what it is, but I’m personally not a fan of the fruit(?) at the bottom.

I agree with the previous reviews that the food is only all right—the draw of this place is the...