Our final feast in Prague would take place at the cities celebrated and stylish La Degustation Boheme Bourgeoise. The restaurants petite dining room seats no more than 40 and features a glowing black and white checkered open concept kitchen. This meal would signal our final farewell, adieu to a wildly memorable adventure with Pilsner Urquell featuring some of Toronto’s most colourful personalities.
It was fitting we left on this high note, a decadent dinner at Prague’s finest restaurant. The kitchen here is known for putting pretty on the plate and marching guests through “20 or so dishes” which would take us five hours to conquer. A momentous marathon which requires participants to regularly drop their napkins table side and step outside for a smoke or curbside downward dog.
Food in the Czech Republic has long been known for being unpretentious and hearty but Degustation’s Chef Oldrich Sahajadak, a legendary figure in Prague’s culinary circles has elevated expectations in hopes that it might one day proudly wear a Michelin Star. The restaurants tasting menus unite the flavours and tastes of contemporary molecular gastronomy, classical French and Italian, but the most popular is presented through his traditional Czech offering, inspired by recipes from the end of the 19th century.
Time flies when you’re having fun and one can’t help but feel charmed and delighted while sitting beside the always smiling Amanda Blakely. She and I spent our final evening chit chatting over a decadent dinner where whispers and odours had us regularly unearthing newfound culinary curiosities. With a perfectly polished silver spoon I swooped and swooned over a rich bowl of topinambour topped with whipped cream and essence of prague ham. Other highlights from or Degustation dinner include wagyu beef served with eggplant, juniper, ginger and horseradish as well as a slick beef tongue accompanied by yellow pea and tart apple.
As the eve came to a close I scooped the most unusual dessert gently onto my fork, gathering a rainbow of beetroot, plum jam, poppy seeds and potatoes and gently mulling it about on my tongue. A revelation worth savouring.
The Feast:
Roasted Pork Belly
beetroot essence, pickled vegetable
Sturgeon Caviar
cauliflower, egg
Topinambour
whipped cream, prague ham
Celery Root
nut butter
Trebon Pikeperch
cabbage, kohlrabi
Foie Gras
pistachio
Pork Ears
white truffle, boletus mushroom, bechamel
Wagyu Beef
eggplant, juniper, ginger, horseradish
Vysocina Fallow Deer
pear, white cabbage
Beef Tongue
yellow pea, apple
Olomoucke Tvaruzky
red currant
Beetroot, Plum Jam, Poppy Seeds, Potatoes
