Pescheria Adriatico

"Sell a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish, you ruin a wonderful business opportunity." Karl Marx

I have no manifesto, but I do have a mission: To eat, drink, and spread the wealth, so to speak, of my experiences.

I am determined to interpret this vague and self-assigned mandate as broadly as possible. In part, that is because I get bored easily. I don't like conventional limits.

So I write about food festivals, sausage stands, coffee houses, and yes, specialty food shops. In the past, I've done posts about Cheesy, Thai's Asian Food Shop, Aromi La Bottega, and a number of others.

Now, I'll tell you about Pescheria Adriatico, a new fish shop in Žižkov.I was tipped off by a trusted source, my neighbor, Pivobud.

He was pretty excited. Having a place that sells fresh fish in this part of town would save much traveling, if not money. One of the few other purveyors of good quality stuff, SeafoodShop, is down on Zborovská in Prague 5 -Malá Strana. There's another outlet in the Palladium shopping mall.

They are not cheap. They are not close.

I was very intrigued and went down for a look on a Saturday. The cases at Pescheria were not too full, but the stuff looked good.The place is still getting off the ground. Pivobud did some great intelligence work, interrogated one of the owners, and discovered the following:

The fish is currently delivered every Friday morning, so Friday's or Saturday morning (even though they have no posted hours for Saturday) is the best time to go. Avoid Thursdays unless they get more delivery days.There were two gentlemen who seem to be running the place. One is an Italian who apparently speaks French and some broken English, and a Czech guy who gave a lot of details about the shop.

It appears they are supplying some restaurants with their catch. Pivobud saw a leaflet for Pescheria Adriatico on the counter at Osteria da Clara.

Since they're connected with the Adriatic fishing community and bring their fish from an Italian coastal market, you can special order anything you want. You just have to let them know by Tuesdays and be willing to spend at least 500 CZK.

On my visit there, I picked up a dorade for V (400 CZK/kilo).This beautiful, clear-eyed fish cost 170 CZK.

V prepared it by slicing its sides, stuffing the cuts with cloves of garlic, then coating it with olive oil, salt and rosemary.

She cooked it under our oven's broiler.The flesh was pronounced delicate and delicious. Not fishy at all.

V told me that if I bought calamari, she'd clean and cook them (630 CZK/kilo). I jumped at the offer.I got all they had left in the shop, just a third of a kilo. The cost was 223 CZK.

I soaked them in milk. Then, after a dusting of flour, salt, and pepper, I flash fried them. They came out golden and delicious.They were not as buttery soft as calamari I've had in the USA. These were more firm and had a bit of snap to the flesh. But the taste was clean and light -- excellent along with some chili dipping sauce.

I didn't think the calamari would be enough for me, so I indulged and bought a slice of Pescheria's wonderful-looking tuna (1250 CZK/kilo).This filet cost me 253 CZK. I compared the price with the fish shop in Palladium, and they were almost the same. So, no great bargain here.

I got the first cut from the middle of a long piece of tuna, so it was really pristine -- a beautiful ruby red. I marinated it in soy sauce mixed with wasabi and lightly seared it on my cast iron grill.It picked up a sweet, smoky flavor along with some black stripes.

Then, I sliced it up, and dipped the pieces in soy sauce mixed with wasabi.My presentation could use work, but the flavor, which is what really counts, was perfect.

I'm not a big expert on what fish markets charge, but Pivobud called it "the best value for money in town."

His bill for four medium-size sea bass, almost two kilos, along with half a kilo of peeled shrimp, and 10 fresh anchovies, cost slightly under 1300 CZK.

He thought his catch that day would've cost double somewhere else.

Since neither of us knows a good place to fish in this particular part of Prague, I think there will be plenty of people for Pescheria Adriatico to sell to. They just need to expand their offerings and get more regular deliveries.

A wonderful business opportunity, I'd say.

Pescheria Adriatico
Bořivojova 11
Prague 3 - Žižkov
Tel (+420) 603 447 632

Cheesy

"The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."

My father was born in Amsterdam, so I have an inbred need for cheese.

Quality cheese. The kind you won't find at Tesco.

Getting the good stuff recently got a little easier for us since a Cheesy shop opened up near Náměstí Míru.V's known about it for a few months and took me the other day.

It's a little hard to find because the place is not well-marked. It's at Jugoslávská 23. This Cheesy is connected to the shop of the same name at Letenské náměstí 6 in Prague 6.

The Anglická location is also a relatively small place, with big wheels along the wall.A lot of it is Dutch. There was also Italian, Swiss, Spanish, and Balkan.Some of it is well-aged. If you are interested, the shop assistant might offer you a sample.

There were display cases full of cheeses blended with herbs and spices.We tried a cilantro-flavored cheese that was quite good. There was also a very green pesto cheese that V liked and I did not.

There were a number of goat cheeses. They even have goat and sheep yogurt.Cheesy was selling a variety of Trappist beers, but be warned - it wasn't cheap. Some .375 liter bottles were around 90 CZK. There were a few in larger bottles that are 150-230 CZK.They also had fruit flavored beer. We bought a bottle of cherry for a friend who likes it.

They also have a French wines from Gérard Depardieu and Pierre Richard.Anyway, I just thought I'd share the find with the cheese lovers out there who didn't yet know about the addition to the neighborhood.

I thought about finishing with some kind of contrived joke about the all second mice out there who should check it out.

But in the end, I decided against it.

I hate that kind of cheese.

Cheesy
Jugoslávská 23
Prague 2
Mon-Fri 0900-2000
Sat 1000-1500
Closed Sunday

Paul at Palác Flóra

“Once again, we come to the Holiday Season, a deeply religious time that each of us observes, in his own way, by going to the mall of his choice.” Dave Barry

These shining shrines to retail worship are spreading rapidly in the Czech Republic.To be honest, I don't like the malls here. There's no high principle involved. I like American malls just fine. It is just that Czech malls sell things I don't like for more money than I want to pay.

There are only two things that will draw me into a Czech mall:

Movies and food.

Which is why I dropped by the Palác Flóra mall recently.I'd heard that Paul, the cafe, patisserie, and bakery, had opened there.The company has a storied history that traces back more than 100 years ago to a town in northern France.

Now, they are all over Europe.The interior recreates a little bit of France inside the mall.It was empty late in the evening, but very full during the day.On my first visit, I had a forest berry tarte (55 CZK).A creamy, sweet, tart tarte. Good.

I was waiting for my friend, who was watching the IMAX film "U2 3D." So, I had a .33 liter can of Pilsner Urquell (45 CZK) to wash down my tarte.You might think it is an odd combination. And you'd be right.

I took home a pain au chocolate (19 CZK). It has two bars of chocolate inside. I wish there were three.It was good, but since I bought it at the end of the day, it was not the freshest. I think if I had popped it in the oven at home a few minutes, it would be great. I must try that.

They also have plain butter croissants (19 CZK). There were many varieties of bread (37-75 CZK), including baguettes (24-27 CZK).I also got a Moelleux Chocolat (44 CZK), a traditional dark chocolate cake. For some reason, it was placed upside down in the box. And I present it to you thus.

I zapped it for 30 seconds in the microwave in my kitchen. I recommend this. It brought up a wonderful aroma along with the rich flavor and texture.

I had a coffee cream eclair (45 CZK).They labeled it as a banánek or little banana. It was fine, but didn't rock my world.

On another visit, I tried one bread product -- a tomato and mozzarella sandwich on an olive ciabatta (69 CZK).It was a little too much bread and not enough stuff in between. The mozzarella was good quality. The tomatoes were bland, but covered with a sour dressing.It was filling, I'll say that.

There were other sandwiches with prosciutto, ham, and such. There were also salads (129-149 CZK).

I had a bottle of Bonaqua water with my meal. It was fairly priced for a mall (25 CZK).

I took a raspberry tarte (64 CZK) home after this visit. I'm something of a connoisseur.When I first met V, she was working in a French cafe and understood my passions all too well. She used to bring me the most incredible raspberry tartes from the shop. The best ever.

Paul's was OK, but I don't think I'd get it again. It had a lot of raspberries, but the fruit was surrounded by an intensely sweet gelatin that I didn't like. There was a thin layer of cream on top of the crust, but I wished for a bit more.

The last things I tried were the chocolate tarte (44 CZK) along with a mini-croissant (7 CZK).The tarte was my favorite of all Paul's offerings. There was an intense chocolate with the consistency of butter that melted smoothly in my mouth and caused my eyes to roll back in my head. It was a real chocolate high.

This chocolate rests inside a crust of mostly butter and sugar.

Sweet and also a little salty, it was the perfect, decadent match of flavors.

I don't see how I can avoid buying one of these on every time I'm there to see a movie. I loved it that much.

In fact, it was the closest I'll get to a religious experience in a Czech shopping mall.

Paul
Palác Flóra
Vinohradská 151
Prague 3

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Thai's Asian Food Shop

"Great acts are made up of small deeds."
-Lao Tzu

At my home, at this very moment, sits a pot of homemade tom kha gai soup. V makes it a few times a year. Love the stuff.

But cooking Asian specialties at home in Prague is not so easy. Getting the proper ingredients has often required a scavenger hunt around the city and occasionally necessitated the import of ingredients from abroad.

But Thai's Asian Food Shop is making things a whole lot easier. Even more so for us since it moved from Gorazdova in Prague 2 up to Francouska in Prague 10.The shop is just two small rooms, but in that limited space, you'll see a respectable selection of hard-to-find stuff.

In the front room, there is a freezer holding a wide variety of seafood. There are some treasures in that chest.You will usually find one kilogram packages of frozen shrimp (prawns). These are special for a few reasons.

First, a bag only costs 250 CZK. That is about half of what a similar-sized bag of frozen shrimp will cost you at the fancy shop, Seafood, on Zborovska.

The shrimp at Thai's Asian Food Shop have been cleaned and shelled and frozen -- uncooked. That last part is key. These shrimp are terrific for cooking.

The pre-boiled shrimp you'll find elsewhere are problematic if a recipe requires that you put them on the stove. Heat will often cause them to shrink and get hard.

The pre-boiled shrimp are fine if you want an instant shrimp cocktail after they defrost.

I saw frozen, uncooked shrimp at Tesco this week, but they were uncleaned, with shells and heads on.

In this front freezer, there was another fantastic catch: Barbecued eel. I'd never seen it for sale before at a market. The big unagi costs 250 CZK. This seemed like a great bargain to me.

Previously, the best deal I'd found for barbecued eel was at the Japanese restaurant, Miyabi. There, it costs 390 CZK. It comes with rice and miso soup, but the eel is half the size of the one I bought at the shop.

I defrosted the eel when I got home. Since it was already cooked, I heated it up in the microwave. It was absolutely delicious. Such fine meat. I mixed up a little sweet soy chili sauce on the side and ate the whole thing.I regretted not buying the second one I saw in the freezer. I went back the next week, but it was gone. I was told they'd get more the next day.

In the front freezer, there are many other types of seafood, including cuttlefish, small shrimp, mackerel, and fish balls.

Next to this freezer, are two stand-up coolers that have a wide variety of Asian roots and greens for cooking.For tom kha gai soup, you can get galangal. This ginger-like root is one of the harder to find ingredients in Prague.They also have packages of kaffir lime leaves. This is one of my favorite flavors in Thai cooking.The shop has lemon grass, Thai basil, cilantro, green peppercorns, bean sprouts, and several things I had never seen before.

Trying to figure out what some things are can be a bit of a challenge. More on that later.

There is another freezer in the back room.We picked up some frozen spring rolls from there. These were vegetarian. I fried up a few.

They were very simple, just filled with shredded sour cabbage. But I'll say they were very good.

I can't tell you how many times I've had spring rolls that had off-tasting filling. Not a problem with these. The had a fresh, clean taste.The shelves in the back room are filled with a great variety of products you won't find too many other places in Prague.

It really is quite impressive how many things they fit into such a small area.

There are rices, beans, noodles, and nuts.

There are all kinds of sweet sauces, soy sauces, oysters sauces, curry pastes, and soup mixes.

There are cans of exotic fruits and vegetables, and jars of little fish. I can't begin to name them all.

There are many things I think I'll probably never try. But then V will find some exotic recipe calling for something I've never heard of before, so you never know.

You can even find some soybean pudding or more ordinary rice pudding if you want.

On a recent visit, we came back with several items we needed for our cooking.There was masaman curry paste (59 CZK), unsalted peanuts (39 CZK), a liter of coconut milk (59 CZK), sweetened cream of coconut (39 CZK) -- they also have unsweetened, Indonesian tamarind soup paste (39 CZK), and hoisin sauce (45 CZK).

One favorite little snack we found was their wasabi broad beans. They're not cheap at 65 CZK for a can. But these are the most addictive little things I've found in a while.

Someone shared their wasabi peas with me recently and I found they didn't taste as nice. T

These flat beans have plenty of that great sharp, sweet flavor.

One problem at Thai's Asian Food Shop is the man I always see working there. He is friendly enough. But he doesn't speak English. Or Czech. So, don't expect him to answer too many questions.

But if you speak Vietnamese, then you are in luck.

Another problem is that they do run out of things I must have like cilantro and eel.

It is possible to make a trip to the shop on the Vinohrady-Vršovice border and come away disappointed.

But I'd say these are minor problems that are far outweighed by the benefits. There are a lot of goodies there. Even I am surprised that I've had so much to say about so little a space.

Yes, Thai's Asian Food Shop is small, indeed. But it is a great act to follow.

Thai's Asian Food Shop
Francouzská 66
Prague 10
Mon-Sat: 10 am-8 pm
Thu: closed
Sun: 3 pm–8 pm

Dedicated to Max and Will