Na Kopci and lunch on rainy Sunday

I wanted to sample the new menu at Na Kopci ever since it was introduced in early September. Why? Because there are mussels on the menu and mussels are one of my favourite foods! On top of that, the chef at Na Kopci used to work in Belgium, a country known for its mussels!

Na Kopci has opened about a year ago and has gained much fame since. It’s located as far away from the city center as you can imagine, and I don’t mean that it’s dozens of km away but that it’s hidden in a remote and quiet residential area above Anděl and there is no chance you will accidentally come across this restaurant. People who have been there once return on a regular basis and traveling a small distance by bus or car does not discourage them.

The place itself is tiny, there are always 2 attentive and smily waiters ready to give you more details on the menu and wine list, the food comes out fairly fast and the presentation is always clean and simple, with emphasis on fresh ingredients. Na Kopci is not an expensive restaurant! Well, you do pay more than in you local hospoda, but the local hospoda doesn’t serve fresh swordfish or proper Ceasar salad does it? The prices in similar restaurants in the town center, similar by food concept but often lacking the good quality, are double in the best case. And most of all, Na Kopci is a non smoking restaurant!

We thoughtfully reserved a table for 5:30pm, there was only 1 other free table inside when we arrived. We were seated and handed the menus. We knew what we wanted beforehand and so did not have a hard time deciding. It is fairly dark inside so the pictures are not good, but I decided to share them anyway.

Husband’s creamy fish soup with aioli. There was one mussel and a piece of fish inside the soup. It was perfectly smooth and had a very delicate seafood flavor, the aioli and thin toast were a perfect complement.

My pot-au-feu beef soup. The soup contained a few pieces of incredibly tender beef, crispy celery, carrots and baby turnip in a strong, clear and well seasoned beef broth. Perfect for a cold autumn evening.

Husband’s steak with bordelaise sauce and mushrooms also included snow peas and potato slices baked with bacon. The steak was tender and perfectly medium, but the whole dish needed salt.

My mussels mariniere were served in a stylish big black pot with Moules written on it. Because the pot was so big and black and because there was so little light inside, there was no way I could make a photo of the mussels, which is a great pity because tastewise they were the best dish of the evening. They were big and fresh, lightly steamed in wine and not dry. There were crispy homemade french fries and mayonnaise served along with the mussels. These were the tastiest mussels I have eaten in Prague. But unfortunately, I also have to mention that the person cleaning the mussels did not do a good job. There was no sand in them but quite a few of them haven’t had their “hair” removed. I’m not sure but I bet this is a major flaw. Oh well, I just removed the stuff myself and enjoyed the mussels anyway.

We ended the meal with a crème brûlée. It’s probably the most popular dessert at Na Kopci, you see most tables ordering it. Remember how Amélie Poulain enjoys breaking the crust on crème brûlée with a spoon in the Amélie movie? That’s exactly what we did! :-)

I would recommend Na Kopci to anyone who wants to enjoy a peaceful lunch or dinner with good food and fair prices. You will have to travel outside the beaten track but the place is worth it. However, if you are picky about perfectly cleaned mussels, think twice before ordering them.

Rain has ruined our plans for outside activities on Sunday and so we enjoyed a Greek style lunch at home. Homemade tzatziki and melitzanosalata, store bought feta stuffed peppers and olives and greek salad with pita bread. We also had some greek style lamb with vegetables baked in claypots, which there is no picture of. All simple but delicious stuff.