Café Imperial

About

On Na Poříčí, just beyond Prague’s Old Town crush, Café Imperial gets two things gloriously right: memory and appetite. Open since 1914 inside the Art Deco Imperial Hotel, it still wears its original ceramic mosaics with swagger, from the tiled walls and columns to the lofty ceiling designed as part of the building by Jaroslav Benedikt, with interiors by Jan Beneš. Today the kitchen is led by Zdeněk Pohlreich and his team, who keep Czech cooking precise, generous and unfussy. The signature move is classic cuisine with a sharpened edge: braised veal cheeks, lamb shank, strong broths, proper sauces, and the house Imperial cake for those wise enough to continue. You come for the food, then look up and realize the room is doing half the seduction.