Now there's conservative and there's conservative...

Yes to: Melfort Road Fish n Chips & Koover No1 Special (with boiled rice)

No to: Cottage Cheese

Over there every pub is a restaurant - Czech food is very tasty but it's not subtle - it's 'nosh'. I took a ruffian from Plymouth, his missus and a Kiwi fella to the 'bear's claw' (U Medvidku) a traditional beer keller in central Prague with oompah music at night, blokes with handlebar moustaches, monacles and Tyrolean hats (most of them were probably called Otto) and steak was served with a swirl of whipped bernaise and a couple of mini plastic national flags sticking out (Switzerlan and Italy if I remember rightly). We had breakfast there, a giant potato pancake with red cabbage, sauerkraut, smoked ham and a drizzle of gravy ('Cmunda'), washed down with black lager. There was complete silence for a full ten minutes, everyone was enjoying tucking in so much. The food can be stodgy for some, but it is much better than Germany generally.

Food heaven for the Slovaks is Segedin goulash - pork goulash with sauerkraut and sour cream, boiled to give caramelisation before being simmered and poured over bread dumplings. Done properly this dish is probably my real food heaven.

A definite 'NO' to pigeon, rabbit, goat, any gamebird, liver, kidneys and pig's trotters.

I once heard someone assert that he would rather excavate his nose and chew its harvest rather than sample pheasant.

Give it up! I bet nobody except a few (including me) with Central European roots (Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Bavarians and Austrians) will understand our enjoyment of a proper Szeged goulash, especially with well-cooked bread dumplings.

BTW: It's difficult nowadays to find a restaurant in Vienna offering Szeged goulash, which is a shame. My mother long gone used to cook a perfect one. Her hand-made bread dumblings are still fondly remembered.

I'm a sucker for a fraulein with nice dumplings, pun intended.

Edited by Hannes (27 Jun 2024 7.48pm)