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No religious experience

Cathedrale looks smart, but serves dumbed-down fare
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By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
October 8th, 2008 issue

Cathedrale


Truhlarska 23
Prague 1-New Town
Tel. 773 977 233
Open Mon.-Sat. 7:30 a.m.-2 a.m.


Food *
Service ***
Atmosphere ***
Overall **

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST
The food unfortunately does not match the stylish interior, but Cathedrale is worth a stop for a cocktail or two.
FROM THE MENU



Wings with blue cheese 165 Kč
Duck breast 175 Kč
Tiger shrimp 180 Kč
Hamburger 150 Kč
Stella Artois 50 Kč
Wind into Cathedrale’s cool, azure-lit depths during the daylight hours and the cocktail-lounge vibe, with all its backbeat, buzz and hints of intrigue, envelops you, even when the cellar rooms are absolutely empty. The owners clearly sank quite a bit of loose change into this combination café, bar and restaurant.
But money well-spent for one purpose doesn’t guarantee success in another.
The current “gastro-lounge” trend sweeping other parts of the world demands cuisine equal to the mood of the room and the finery of its smug and fashionable crowd. Cathedrale’s kitchen, however, can only manage simplistic, almost dumbed-down facsimiles — little creativity, vague stabs at subtlety, any flair left up to the space itself.
For example, the chicken wings are cooked without sauce or even much seasoning. You end up with a pile of tacky flappers smacking of used oil, lending each bite a sagging taste that I can only liken to an old man’s closet. Except for a dish of blue-cheese dressing — tipping gracefully between chunky and creamy, sharpness giving way to the grassy bitterness of garlic — it would be a thing to shove aside.
The so-called tiger shrimp look more like your common 40-count variety, steamed just enough to pass. If they were pulled from the heat a few seconds earlier, a gooey, sickening rawness would spill across your palate. Once again, the restaurant’s dipping sauce attempts a rescue, this time wielding sweet flavors under a citric zing, all riding on an earthy, gritty, cumin-like base.
Again, it’s a dish to nudge aside — unless you’re easily gulled by menu descriptions and atmosphere.
When Cathedrale’s kitchen steps into the fusion realm, you end up with stir-fried duck breast: long, skinny string beans, whole baby carrots, infant corn and sticky rice mixed with a set of herbs and spices that build into the taste of wet clay. A little effort at the cutting board may have reduced the awkward act of forking up entire vegetables and helped bring flavors together.
Oh, well. At least the duck itself was right — tender and gamey, although lacking the necessary oomph to overcome other mistakes.
For all that, Cathedral can’t be dismissed outright. Besides the cool digs, there are signs of promise. The burger, for instance, features a patty delicately seasoned so that the husky smell and taste of beef swells up. A slab of smoky bacon underneath yearns to slash boldly across the palate, but it’s countermanded by a layer of tart cheese. None of this, however, disrupts any swooning over the rich, classic experience of good meat on a toasted sesame-seed bun. And the fries are thin and crisp, although a mite under-seasoned (odd for a Czech restaurant).
Only a patty too small to cover the bread causes any disappointment.
Given some time to figure out the culinary side of things, Cathedrale may yet make the list of recommendable restaurants. In the meantime, wander into the vaults below street level and just enjoy a cocktail.
The vibe may be enough to keep you there for another round.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


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