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Hapi campers

A long, strange trip to a friendly hideaway
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By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
March 28th, 2007 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Straight-back chairs don't say "inviting," but the staff makes the room feel like home.
First you travel deep into Prague 4. Then stroll past the trash bins around the unkempt backside of Kačerov. Step carefully down a haphazard walkway of concrete slabs jutting this way and that, under a bizarre archway and past frayed patio furnishings.
In this case, the journey is far more interesting than the restaurant itself.
Chicken soup says comfort.
Once you’re at Hapi, you’ll find that the food service doesn’t so much falter as fall short. Asparagus with processed ham and a gloppy mat of melted cheese is a microwave-quality side. And the experience of biting into rolls of the same pressed meat, with what the menu describes as horseradish cream but turns out to be a thin veneer of minced root overflowing with aerosol whipped topping — well, it’s best not to talk about it.
This commitment to the ordinary extends throughout the menu. Pork Provencial, recommended by my waiter over “drunk” chicken, consisted of four scrawny medallions alternately covered in canned corn and sickly sprouts of nearly translucent asparagus. A different chicken dish succumbed to a mass of inexpensive Roquefort, which managed to bludgeon everything else on the plate with bellicose sharpness. Two spears of white asparagus placed atop the chunky melted pool add nothing but a visual reminder of the approaching spring.
Hapi

Čerčanská 5
Prague 4–Krč
Tel. 261 261 626
Open Mon.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–11:30 p.m., Sat.–Sun. 5 p.m.–11:30 p.m.

Food
Service
Atmosphere
Overall
Yet, with one exception (the aforementioned ham and Reddi-Whip), you can pick through Hapi’s commonplace presentations almost, um, happily. The kitchen crew has stepped beyond the maladroit floundering — too much salt, too much grease — that makes dining at many low-end Czech establishments so appalling to foreign tastes. Instead, they set their marks at a modest height and try hard not to miss.
Several items even show a glimmer of real dexterity. The Roquefort chicken may lack dimension, but the breast is scarred by streaks of caramelized meat, golden and full of flavor. Chicken soup is a bowl of comfort, very much resembling either grandma’s version or Campbell’s, although these noodles held up under pressure and the diced vegetables retain some firmness. Finally, an appetizer of salmon, sliced thicker than one generally expects, reveled in its strong character. It’s not the best salmon. But the chef’s decision to stand aside and avoid heavy marinades made for an unusually strident dish. 
From the Menu
  • Ham with horseradish cream 49 Kč
  • Cured salmon 89 Kč
  • Chicken noodle soup 22 Kč
  • Asparagus with ham 69 Kč
  • Chicken with Roquefort sauce 138 Kč
  • Pork Provencial 168 Kč
Hapi owes its popularity more to good-natured service and a neighborly we’re-not-in-the-center-anymore mood. Toward the end of one visit, an older Czech gentleman slumped into a seat at the next table turned toward me and started a genial conversation about beer first, then family. Another time, my dining companion tried to order croquettes with her soup, but was told they only came with entrées. So I asked for a main course with croquettes on the side. The waiter brought out my plate — with an extra helping of croquettes for my friend.
It was a nicety you don’t often encounter in the surly world of Czech food service. Even more impressive: no charge for the double portion.
Maybe one should expect a place named Hapi to have a good-natured side. The atmosphere is strange and welcoming, forgettable and pleasant, all at the same time. Wait staff smile naturally and chuckle at little miscues. Laughter bursts from the different rooms. Chicken slathered in cheese, pork covered with corn and asparagus, chicken soup — the food is reminiscent of a Wednesday-night church-basement potluck. Or maybe Thanksgiving dinner in some big Victorian house full of people and quaint, old-fashioned furnishings.
The menu is vast, ranging from “caviar” for 89 Kč — a tad frightening, when you think about it — to vegetarian options. It lists a dozen or so variations each of pork, chicken and beef, including chateaubriand, again a disturbing thought, considering. Everyone, in other words, will find at least one thing worth a shot.  
Hapi is a restaurant grounded in comfort and adequacy, one not worried about keeping pace or things of the moment. And, seen from other parts of Prague, it’s a trip.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (28/03/2007):

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