Thrills from the grill

If it's summer, it's time to fire up the grill. Backyard barbecues are fun, but many Prague hotels and restaurants are offering grilled cuisine in more sumptuous surroundings. Here's a sampling:

The Augustine Hotel is reprising its summer mezze barbeque. Every Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m., you can sit in the garden and enjoy dishes from the Mediterranean along with a selection of meats from the grill, including Czech beef tenderloin, homemade sausages, prawns with zucchini and seasonal salads. The 900 Kč price includes live music and a free cocktail.

The Mandarin Oriental Hotel's Essensia restaurant is offering a special terrace menu featuring Asian-inspired dishes as well as summer standbys like club sandwiches and Angus beef cheeseburgers - although those two humble offerings come with not-so-humble price tags of 480 Kč and 520 Kč, respectively. Meats on the grills include salmon and tuna steaks, veal entrecote, Argentinean rib eye and beef filet. The outdoor terrace is quiet, sheltered by monastery walls and candlelit at night.

The Mövenpick Hotel's Il Giardino Terrace hosts weekly BBQs every Thursday with a Latin twist. Meats are served in the South American "Churrasco" style. Mains include roasted beef picanha and smoked barbecue ribs, with sides of Brazilian black beans and rice. And be sure to sample the selection of fruit-flavored Caipirinhas.

The Kempinski is hosting weekly garden parties every Thursday on its spacious garden terrace. The BBQ is all you can eat for 750 Kč from 6 to 10 p.m., and includes a sampling of grilled meats as well as items from the Garden Menu such as salad Nicoise, roasted vegetable salad and yellow-fin tuna steaks. Happy-hour drink specials are available from 5 to 8 p.m. Music is provided by DJ Marwin Shamma, who is joined by a saxophonist the last Thursday of every month.

The Hotel President will host a "Summer Chef's Show - Grilling Under the Blue Sky" on its terrace July 7, starting at 7 p.m. The three-course menu costs 850 Kč per person and includes a wine tasting. The choice of grilled meat includes young chicken, lamb steaks, venison saddle and tiger prawns. Sides are summer staples like grilled vegetables and fresh crudités.

The Mon Ami Balkan restaurant in Žižkov has a stately but comfortable summer garden that has started offering live Italian music and singers, beginning at 8 p.m. For a current schedule and more details, visit the restaurant's Web site, Restauracemonami.com.

And for barbecue with a view, visit the InterContinental Hotel's Zlatá Praha restaurant terrace, which is hosting "4 Elements" dining every Wednesday from 5 to 11:30 p.m. Prime and Wagyu Kobe beef and fresh seafood are prepared on an open-fire lava grill in the rooftop garden.

Two thumbs up

After our woefully underwhelming Hooters visit, there is hope. The unending search for American-style chicken wings led to a sports restaurant called Morava (at Krasová 10 in Žižkov), which might just be the best place to eat wings in Prague. One kilo of buffalo wings for only 130 Kč comes piled atop chopped cabbage bits. The chicken is cut in the familiar American way of drumstick or wing, without the tips that are inevitably left on here. When the wings arrived on a recent visit, the vinegar-based hot sauce was strong enough to prick the eyes a bit. Crispy, plump and spicy, wings probably don't get any better than this in Prague. And the restaurant has another secret weapon - one kilo of baby-back ribs for only 150 Kč, tender, sweetly glazed meat that falls off the bone.

Claire Compton can be reached at
ccompton@praguepost.com