Pass the ketchup, DJ

Normally, nothing can lure me into a nightclub. The idea of thumping techno and a shouty meat market represents a sort of personal hell.

But Klub Phenomen, recent winner of the Best Club category in the 2010 Czech Bar Awards, has a menu of late-night bar food that throws around terms like "bacon cheeseburger," "club sandwich" and "kimchi," and if you get there early enough in the evening, it's a decent place to have a meal and an expertly mixed cocktail.

Yes, it's definitely a nightclub and not a restaurant, per se. You do get searched and patted down at the door - on two recent visits, I was asked if I was concealing weapons or aerosol cans - and there is a loop of techno pop playing over the sound system. But there's a window between when the club opens, at 7 p.m., and when the nightly rotation of DJs starts, at 9 p.m., when the place is practically empty save for a few patrons enjoying a drink and a private conversation. 

The club takes up a sprawling basement space, with tables - some low and loungey, others high tops in booths - branching off in nooks around the dance floor and DJ booth in the center. Everything is clean, and, while smoking is allowed throughout, there isn't a permeating funk of the previous night's excesses. The bar is brightly lit and colorful, taking a place of honor between the dance and mingling area and some quieter spots behind. One thing I found intensely distracting, however, were large TV screens placed on the walls, showing an endless slideshow of people partying at the club.   

The menu is two pages, with light bites and proper meals all listed together. This posed a problem (although perhaps I should have specified to the server) when we ordered nachos and veggie chips as well as the burger and salmon steak: Everything came at once, and so we tucked into the mains, leaving starters on the next table, and barely had room for them afterward.

But we hadn't missed much. I would imagine the light bites would be the most popular item for clubgoers, who just want to share a plate of nachos, cheeses or olives. But the nachos were straight out of a bag, dumped onto a plate with a side of watery, ketchup-tasting salsa and flavorless sour cream. The fried sardines purportedly came with a horseradish sauce, but I couldn't detect any kick to it. The fish themselves were a bit too chewy, albeit properly salted.

The fried veggie chips were nice, though. The server even saw that we were eating all of them and ignoring the other plates, and kindly brought us over a complimentary refill, although we were full to bursting at that point.

As for the entrées, Phenomen does a good job with the straight-up bar food. The burger alone is worth the bouncers' grilling at the door. Although on one visit, the burger and accompanying fries (included in the price) were tepid, which detracted from the flavor, they were excellent when served hot on a second visit.

The generous patty was wide and not too tall, making it manageable, and the meat tasted flame-grilled and was served medium, nicely pink and juicy on the inside. The sesame bun was fresh and held up heroically to the last bite. A layer of meaty bacon and melted cheddar was compactly spread across the patty. The only fault I could find with the "Both Hands" burger is that toppings, besides the bacon and cheese, didn't come on the side; fresh lettuce, tomato and cucumber sat underneath the meat, making it very slippery. I took those off, save for the lettuce, which hadn't wilted under the weight. There was also a layer of mayonnaise already on the bottom bun, which, while going nicely with the salt-and-peppery char of the beef, might not be to everyone's taste.  

The club sandwich was also decent fare. Granted, it had poached egg and baked ham on it, but purism aside it was a satisfying sandwich, with layers of chicken meat and mayo in between a fluffy ciabatta cut into wedges. The french fries that come with both the club and the burger were good, too - when warm - thinly cut and pre-salted in the style of McDonald's.

Other items were pretty forgettable. Salmon steak came with wilted spinach and gnocchi, and while it tasted all right, verged on bland and was low on seasoning, a disappointment for 249 Kč. The marinated shrimp skewer with kimchi seemed misconceived: The shrimp, which totaled about six and were quite small, were grilled with subtle flavor but overwhelmed by a bite of the cold, fierce kimchi, a traditional Korean side dish mixing brined cabbage, light vegetables like cucumber and green onions, and pungent dried chilies. 

Obviously, a nightclub can't be all things to all men, and there are many things I dislike about nightclubs. But the burger at award-winning Klub Phenomen may just have changed my mind - so watch out for me on the dance floor.

Fiona Gaze can be reached at
fgaze@praguepost.com