tristane

Back from Prague. It's eight-thirty in the morning and we haven't slept for twenty-four hours.
Holy Christ in a cartoon. What a trip.

We are too old to make one of those do-Prague-in-a-haze-of-absinth-fumes trips like all Swedes do when they're twenty, but it was still a trip in the name of Hedonism. Most memorable from Prague, besides all the incredible restaurants we have found, was the one bar where we found our true home.

Bugsy's Bar.

A small discrete opening in one of the cross streets from the fancy Dior and Hermes stores marked the spot. We found it almost by mistake on Tuesday night when we were out bar hunting, and decided to stay "for just one cocktail". Three days and more than fifteen cocktails later we reluctantly had to leave for our flight. By then we had gotten to know the bartenders by name, tried almost every kind of cocktail in the book and was greeted by the head bartender at arrival and given a place by the bar with sips and nibs of leftover shots from the other orders to go with our own.

Prices were surprisingly humane, and if nothing else it was highly entertaining to watch the show for every order passing the station. We learned afterwards that it was supposedly the best bar in Prague, being recently voted one of the Top 20 Bars in the World by Newsweek and I can't say I am surprised. Besides being a nice place we were completely blown away by their fantastic cocktails and the competence of the bartenders. Throwing glasses, bottles and ice cubes left and right, spinning it, twisting it and finally rolling it down their arms and catching it behind their back before handing you a perfectly balanced Mai Tai.
Not once during our our long hours there did we see any of them check anything up in a book - in a place serving over 300 listed cocktails.

We both left with a copy of their cocktail book and a promise that if any of them ever wanted to go to Scandinavia and need help with anything they ought to give us a call and we'll set them up as good as we can. It seemed like a good thing to do, after our great time there.

Now I really need to sleep. I am starting to hallucinate. I'm thinking that's a bad sign.




Things to see in Prague:

Lehka Hlava
Might be one of the world's best restaurants. It is vegetarian, but if you don't desperately need something dead on your plate it is well worth a visit. The food is well thought through and balanced not to mention utterly delicious. In its category they only have one competitor, which is nothing but their sister restaurant...

Maitrea
The only feng shui restaurant I have ever been to, and it is an experience. Everything is made in wood or stone or other nature materials with rounded shapes and calming colors. It can easily sound cheesy, but it was impressively well executet. The menu is similar to Lehka Hlava, but it is not the same restaurant. It is more like meeting to sibling restaurants. The food is however equally exellent, and - just as Lehka Hlava - surprisingly cheap!

Bandits
An off placed mexican restaurant we found in some tourist guide. It was quite hard to find and the service was, as in most Czech restaurants, reluctant at best, but they had the absolutely best nacho plate I have ever had. My New Orleans stake was just perfectly done, and Jessie was in heaven for having found a place that served proper salsa with such delicate food. Definitely worth a try.

LaScala
An italian restaurant close to the square in the Old Town. Service was good, wine was cheap and well thought through and food was good. We liked it.

Bugsy's Bar
I say no more. This is probably the best bar I have ever been to. If you pass it by - sorry, but you are stupid.