V Cípu

There's a Holy Grail aspect to the idea of the perfect Czech pub, replete with locals and cheap beer, serving home-style meals right in the center of Prague. Those who already know V Cípu, just off Wenceslas Square, know such a place does, in fact, exist. For those yet to get acquainted with its hearty plates and who bemoan the lack of exemplar local dishes downtown, well, V Cípu is the answer.

V Cípu effortlessly manages the authentic experience of a pub-grub meal: the beer-hall boisterousness, hazy with smoke and suds-fueled conversation, and the down-home pleasures of mopping up a simple sauce with fluffy dumplings, or tearing into a juicy piece of roast duck and heaping a pile of red cabbage on top.

Located on a lost-in-time gritty dead-end street, V Cípu looks worn around the edges from the outside. But inside beckons a haven of warm lighting, arched ceilings and sturdy wooden tables crammed with patrons. This sense of communality works well here, providing a friendly feel among the mixed clientele, which ranges from suited businessmen on their lunch break to the man who's been propped up at the bar since it opened to the occasional tourist poring over a guidebook.

While all of the meals sampled were solid examples of Czech fare, the quarter duck plate was the star, and is really one of the best deals in town. It's the only item available at any time of the day; during midday hours, it features on the lunch menu along with rotating specials, and in the evenings, it presides over schnitzels and the like. Sometimes the duck, served with red cabbage, comes with two types of dumplings (bread and potato), and sometimes just one. Sometimes the portion is slightly larger or smaller. But it's always crispy, gamey and juicy and, at 94 Kč, is always a steal.

Several people have raved that V Cípu's red cabbage turned them into fans of sauerkraut, and there is plenty about it to like. The rich, brown juices oozing from the duck leg and thigh mingles with the cabbage, creating a satisfying gravy perfect for the generous amount of spongy dumplings.

The rest of the lunch menu, served weekdays exclusively from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., changes daily, usually featuring a variation of goulash several times a week (recent ones include the traditional beef, the pork Segedínský goulash, and a Hungarian one) and other humble specialties, such as beef in dill sauce or potato dumplings stuffed with smoked pork, that you're more likely to find on a Czech friend's dinner table than on a menu in the city center. On weekends at V Cípu, the regular menu is replaced by an expanded specials menu that runs all day.

In addition to the roast duck, V Cípu really knows its stewed plates. A basic lunch item redolent in simplicity, "Pork in paprika cream sauce, with dumplings," was the essence of comfort, and was a perfect meal for an unseasonably chilly, dreary day. Tender forkfuls of the meat were without gristle and tore apart easily, not a stringy bite among them, and the bright, sweet sauce - tangy with paprika, thick with a root-vegetal base and slightly sinful in its creaminess - was a match for the five thick rounds of dumpling, which in the end was just the right amount to clean the plate.

Off the regular menu, the starter of devil's toast is a great small meal by itself. For 60 Kč, it's done right: two pieces of fried toast, crispy, with a mound of seasoned ground beef flecked with onions and peppers and a hint of chili, and covered in a mound of melted cheese - a simple dish that falls flat at many other restaurants.

V Cípu wouldn't be what it is without its beer, the golden contents of the Prague Holy Grail. In addition to pouring tank Zlatopramen 11° (with the copper tanks on proud display by the bar), the pub serves the refreshing regional brew Březňák, as well as seasonal specialties such as an Easter beer, a holiday beer and a midsummer's beer (currently on tap).

While it's encouraging to see exotic, international restaurants crop up in Prague, it's comforting to know there are still places like V Cípu, serving the same dishes they've likely served for years.

Fiona Gaze can be reached at
fgaze@praguepost.com