City snapshot: Prague

One of the most talked-about openings of 2023, Alma (named after the cinema that was previously on site) is a restaurant, café and wine bar in one. Led by chefs Petr Židek and Michal Daněk, who work with hyper-local small-scale producers, the team serves up modern Czech and European dishes. Foraged, dry-aged and fermented ingredients are magicked into beef tartare, pickled rhubarb and chilli oil or grilled pork neck goulash, sour cream and fried sauerkraut. A much-needed hipster hangout for the city centre that’s only a few minutes’ walk from Mandarin Oriental, Prague.

The once gritty district of Karlín is now a go-to hotspot for innovative new restaurant and bar openings – including laidback Veltlin, the city’s first natural wine specialist (it’s co-owned by Bogdan Trojak, who started the annual Prague Drinks Wine festival and has his own vineyard). There’s no wine list. Instead, knowledgeable staff open around 40 different bottles from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire of the 800-odd available today. Typically, they offer three tasters, then pour a glass of your favourite.

Owned by two pairs of serious foodies – one couple run the Taste of Prague Food Tours, the other owns Etapa restaurant in Karlín – Šodó is a tiny bistro with a handful of wooden tables in the leafy Dejvice quarter (you can’t miss the salmon pink exterior). This is a great spot for a lo-fi breakfast (nutty granola with peaches, five-minute eggs with ’nduja), lunch, an early evening glass of wine or any time of day for the dumplings that headline the menu. They’re stuffed with summery peaches, autumnal plums or whipped lemon curd.

The vision of creative couple Karolína Stryková and Teodorik Menšl (she is an illustrator, he does photography and art direction), Bubeneč’s In August Company sells gloriously elevated everyday objects, from blue-leaf patterned ramen bowls thrown in a small workshop in Prague and handpainted by Stryková to graphic motif cushion covers and shell-like stoneware plates. Other highlights include art prints, coffee table books and sweatshirts. They’re dream souvenirs.