Tales from chilly Prague
by Roland Blunk
Carmela and I have just returned from a few days in Prague. The climate was fine but icy cold as temperatures were -8c and sank lower to -16c at night. But that comes with the terrain and if you expect that as we did, it’s not such a shock. In fact if you wear… winter thermals and fur hats, it can be positively exhilarating.
The work at Swan House has been pretty intense recently, with the upstairs resembling more a building site, than the Suffolk boutique hotel that we are planning. So a quickly planned few days away seemed like a good idea.
Prague is beautiful and relatively unspoilt by the brashness that wealth often imposes on a city, except inevitably for the ‘cloned’ high streets. I always look to bring something back to Swan House from our visits abroad, whether it be a new dish or just an idea that will be fresh to us. What interested me was how different nationalities fend off the cold when they arrive at the bar. The Austrians will drink Gluhwein (mulled wine), the Alpine Italians will be a little more stylish and drink Bombardino, a heady mix of advocate, dark rum, brown sugar and cream served hot. But here in Prague they drink Grog, which is dark rum, sugar, lemon juice and hot water. A real winter warmer!