Mr & Mrs Smith

We had an absolutely fantastic dinner at a restaurant called Kampa Park looking back over Charles Bridge (Karluv Most) to Prague Old Town. A seat on the terrace is well worth it for the fantastic view, even in the evenings, as the restaurant provides lambswool blankets to keep you warm.

Many of the restaurants in Prague offer a broadly international menu, with a surprisingly small focus on recognisably Czech dishes. However, we found a restaurant less than 10 minutes' walk from the Hotel Yasmin close to the main tourist area which offered really good food and an interesting menu exploiting the traditional Czech interest in meat, especially beef, catfish and carp. The prices were remarkably reasonable. The restaurant is called Cestr (pronounced Chester) and has only been open a couple of months – too new for the guidebooks. Strongly recommended. We would also like to commend the imaginativeness and quality of the cuisine in Noodles, Hotel Yasmin's own restaurant – a better choice than many of the restaurants recommended by the guidebooks.

Just around the corner from the Hotel Yasmin is the Jindrisska Tower (a Belfry) which is situated on Jindrisska Street, within which we were both astounded and delighted to find a wonderful restaurant!

All of the original timbers of the Belfry are found within the restaurant (called "Zvonice"), and you really did feel as if you were dining within a very old bell tower as you're quite high up and overlook the "St Maria" original bell.

It is a little on the pricey side though, especially compared with some of the smaller street level traditional Czech eateries, but you would be going for the experience as much as for the food (which is wonderful, and I can recommend the Spring corn-fed chicken with nettle stuffing, very different but delicious!).

Mr. Smith and I visited the Prague State Opera one night which began at 7.00pm. We noticed a billboard and telephone in the lobby which led us to make a booking for supper after the performance. The restaurant is called Zahrada v Opere and is located around the corner form the Opera House. Delicious food, attentive staff, amenable closing time – what more could you want? Another culinary cutie is Au Gourmand patisserie (Dusni Street, Old Town,). We found the café to be useful for in-between snacking/lunch or even picnic supplies. Scrumptious pastries and savouries.

As a very special treat, I arranged to hire a private tower restaurant for three hours as a surprise for my partner. It was amazing; we had the tower which was circular with just enough room for a table for two plus a few pieces of furniture (like the bar area, CD player). I paid a flat fee, which included exclusive hire of the tower for three hours with our own private butler and bar included in the price, as well as a five-course gourmet meal, of course. The butler served us the various courses and drinks throughout the evening and even found some Dvorak on demand. I booked for about 7.30pm to 10.30pm so we arrived in daylight, watched the sun set and then darkness descend on Prague city. I felt like Cinderella, and my partner was left speechless!