Czech yourself before you wreck yourself
We have a few vegetarian friends (they are wonderful people, really) but tonight,out of respect for the Czech Republic and our appetites, they were not invited.
On reflection, I don’t think I saw a vegetable for the 2 and a half hours that we were at Koliba.
We decided to do our C dinner on a Friday night so that we could enjoy a (1L stein of) Budvar or more. It wasn’t until the absynthe shots between entree and main that I realised this was the best idea we’d had for a while, including the not being a vego thing.
The restaurant’s get-up and our waitress’ accent made for a very authentic feel to the place. I also didn’t know that many varieties of schnitzel existed.
We started with (obviously a stein and then) some Camembert and other goodies. Next came the aforementioned absynthe shot, not quite the amuse bouche you might find at a fine dining restaurant, but a palette (and inhibition) cleanser nonetheless.
As it was too hard to narrow down which of the meat-and-another-type-of-meat-in-cheese-with-a-side-of-cheese dishes we each wanted, we decided to do the Little Bourke St trick and just share all the best sounding ones.
There was:
- chicken schnitzel with 3 different cheeses – a phenomenon I previously only knew possible on pizza
- pork schnitzel – nothing out of the ordinary but it seemed rude not to get it
- falling-apart-pork (not the official name) with sauerkraut – before you pick me up on the no vegetable thing – sauerkraut, really?
- a mixed meat platter – I’d be lying if I said I knew what everything on there was, but the menu said it came served on a wooden board, so we ordered it and it did not disappoint.
As a side, we had more Budvar and I’m sure there were pickles and dumplings involved at some point but, as much of a dessert person as I am, there just wasn’t room for a third course in between the cow and the pig.
This was a messy, meaty, fun dinner, rated particularly highly by the boys. 7.5/10
