When I was briefly back in Prague I got the answer to something I've been pondering for a while. Meeting some people at a
brew pub by a monastery I wandered into the smoking bar first.
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| I guess that's the monastery |
When I think back to how pubs used to be I miss the smell of fags. Ah, in those days pubs smelled like pubs, not of toilet cleaner, or farts, or nothing. But being in a bar full of smokers I didn't feel all nostalgical about how pubs should be, I just thought "god, this is minging". I may miss the smell, but it seems not the smoke.
Thanks to the helpful staff I soon found the people I was meeting and could get on with my
networking. The food was great, and the beer was pleasant enough. Unfiltered, but also unfined so hazy, they even had an American style IPA for those that prefer their beer to taste of grapefruit.
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| Waiter in an IPA top |
That waiter! I thought he'd gone, after ten years of being a moody, intransigent guardian of some of the best beer in Prague! Last time I visited there (just shy of two years ago, now that I think of it - time flies) for the first time ever I received friendly and helpful service in Klasterni Pivovar Strahov. On every other visit - dating back to my first in 2003, and includng no fewer than three New Year's Eves - I'd had to contend without mein ungenial host. Much as I - and the girlfriend I was then with - enjoyed the friendly service last time, I'm actually pleased to see the bastard's still there. I don't like it when things change in Prague too much between visits.
ReplyDeleteI was with some Czech people so hardly spoke to him, but now you come to mention it he didn't exactly look cheerful.
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