Budapest and Prague

We are going to have a couple of days in Budapest before a river cruise and 3 nights in Prague after the cruise.

Any personal experiences from the forum for must visit places for lunch or dinner?

Thanks,

Doug

We were in Budapest and Prague last fall. Here are some places we went. These were selected by our tour, recommended by hotel desk/concierge, or places we just happened upon – mostly the latter.

Budapest (beautiful city – my favorite)

Var a Speiz (on the Buda side): for lunch, our journal says “cozy café”.
Rezkakas Bistro: for lunch and near our hotel, good service, kinda fancy, pricey
Maria Callas: right next to Opera House, drinks and apps before show

Prague (all in Old Town unless noted)

Pilsner Urquell Original Restaurant: home of the national beer of the Czech Republic, just outside the Old Town walls, very popular, we did not eat there but many were.
U Supa Brewery: good brew pub right on a main street, cheap beer (as everywhere in Prague), in fact I took a picture of the receipt: 3.10 Euros (78 Czech Koruna) for two 500-ml beers
U Zlate Konvice Restaurant: in a cellar* right off an Old Town main street, lots of the places are below grade like that, cool place, felt really “Czech”, sausages, cabbage, potato pancakes, pork, etc. (*a cellar with high arched stone ceilings many hundreds of years old)
La Scala Restaurant: Italian, seating at street level and in cellar*, we were seated below, cozy, popular, because we just wanted a pizza, good

Should be a great trip - have fun!

Thanks Jay, connectivity has been pretty spotty on land to non-existent on the ship so it's been hard to report back for theh benefit of anyone traveling after us.

We only had one night in Budapest and tried to get into Rezkakas Bistro, but it was sold out. Walked across the street and had a very good dinner at ASZU' E'TTEREM. Street side dining under a tent with very good food and the best Hungarian wine I'd ever had, limited sample size given, called Bull's Blood.

Last night was the first night in Prague and we had a recommendation from a friend of a traveling partner that lived here for 3 years to try Kampa Park. We got the last table on the river side terrace that had a partially obstructed view of the Charles Bridge and it was limited to a two hour dinner. Based on all that we had pretty high expectations and they were exceeded.

The ladies started with buffalo mozzarella\strawberries\apricot\mixed greens with basil oil and balsamic reduction that was outstanding and I had one of the best beet salads ever. 12 ounce Waygu was about 30% less expensive than similar cuts in Louisville and was borderline over medium-rare but still was a delicious piece of beef. Rest of the table had olive oil poached halibut with mustard mashed potatoes and a vegetable foam. Bottle of dry Riesling and a GSM from Cotes du Rhone rounded out the meal. Not a traditional Czech meal but I think all agreed in the end that it was possibly our best meal off the ship .

Two more nights in Prague so we will report back afterwards. Thanks for your referrals-Doug

Making a note of it I'm actually thinking of going to Budapest next year, though know not much about it. What is generally the must-try local food there?