The king of Czech beers has an "original" pub

Sometimes it seems this whole town is owned by Pilsner Urquell. The logo is everywhere: on umbrellas, walls, trucks, ads, and most bottles of beer. Fortunately, it is also pretty tasty, especially in the heat of summer. We had heard good things about Kolkovna, an "original Pilsner Urquell restaurant." We went there to try some of the Czech standards.

To drink, I had the dark version of the standard beer. This was more like a porter, with serious coffee notes. Not bad, either.

As my first foray into Czech eating, I went with the rabbit legs in garlic cream sauce with forest mushrooms. This was very good. The rabbit was nicely cooked, tender and rich with flavor from the bones. The sauce throughout was even better, with a handful of different ingredients mingling together. The sautéed mushrooms were also superb, as they avoided the pitfalls of too dry or too slimy and retained their earthy, original flavor.

Kevika went for the beef goulash with bread and potato dumplings. This didn't work out so well. The meat was dry and a little off. The bread dumplings were dry and not fluffy, a little stale. And the potato dumplings were old, having been fried awhile ago and then reheated for the plate. Unsuccessful.

Carolyn got the delightfully named "Moravian sparrow," which is not a sparrow but may originally be from Moravia. It is actually pork cooked with garlic and other spices, in this case served with sauerkraut, red cabbage, and bread dumplings. Better than the goulash but nowhere near the rabbit legs. So, with two dishes with some serious mistakes, the restaurant did not quite live up to our expectations.