Restaurant Bohemia

Restaurant Bohemia occupies a 17th-century merchant's house on Široká, one street north of the main square. The ceilings are original vaulted brick, the windows are deep-set into three-foot-thick walls, and the Bohemian-glass chandeliers are cleaned weekly. The building has been a restaurant continuously since 1968 — through Communism, the Velvet Revolution, and whatever Český Krumlov is now — which makes it the second-oldest serving restaurant in town after U Krále Brabantského.

The menu is the canon of classic Czech cookery done correctly: svíčková (beef sirloin in cream sauce with five spices, bread dumplings, cranberry), guláš that takes four hours, roast pork knuckle for two (CZK 780 / €32), and the house roast duck with red and white cabbage, bread and potato dumplings, and a glass of plum brandy that is not optional. This is the Czech food every travel guide tells you to try, cooked by people who take it as their day job rather than their theatrical act.

The beer is Eggenberg Tmavý Ležák on tap (the dark lager from the castle brewery, 100 metres away); the house white is Pálava from Mikulov at CZK 280 (€11.50) a bottle; the slivovice plum brandy is pulled from a barrel in the cellar and is the correct way to finish dinner. Main courses run CZK 280–420 (€11–17), which makes a dinner for two with drinks rarely more than €55 total.

Two dining rooms, 70 covers, a small courtyard in summer. Service is in English and German and is warmer than most Prague equivalents. This is the Český Krumlov dinner you bring people to when they ask to 'try Czech food'.

A first-date room for travellers who want Czech atmosphere without tourist-trap pricing. The vaulted ceilings do the visual work; the classic menu gives you things to talk about (what is svíčková? why five spices?); the Eggenberg on tap keeps it unpretentious. Book the back room for quiet, the front for people-watching, either for €50.