Mikulov: Eating, Sleeping, and Drinking

Mikulov is a town of around 8000 people, and it obviously receives a lot of tourists.

There’s an impressive baroque chateau that rises high above the town, a very pretty square lined with churches and renaissance townhouses, (some of them decorated with sgraffito), and the remains of one of the most notable Jewish communities in the Czech lands. Mikulov’s location probably doesn’t hurt either. It’s right beside a major highway just 3km from the border-crossing to Austria and thousands of affluent potential day-trippers.

That means that in Mikulov there are a LOT of restaurants, LOTS of cafes and bars, and a LOT of accommodation. On the main square and the streets leading off it, there were literally dozens of restaurants, bars and cafes. The streets of the former Jewish quarter and the streets beneath Svatý Kopeček were the place for hotels and upmarket pensions, most of them also with in-house restaurants, and a little further from the centre, especially in the direction of the train station, were the ‘locals’ bars and the budget accommodation.

So, lots of choice is always good and the competition should drive prices down a little, right? Nope. Mikulov must be the most expensive town of its size in the Czech lands. Even world-famous, UNESCO-listed Telč is better value. And even though our visit was before the busiest part of the season, the people working in the bars and cafes made little attempt to disguise how fed up they were with their jobs. Czech waiters have never had a reputation for being over-friendly, and personally I just want them to bring my food. (If I were looking for friends I would have invited them on an outing, not ordered a meal). But in Mikulov they were really something special. There were a couple of exceptions, but on the whole the service was the grumpiest I’ve experienced outside of Prague.

Gorgeous town, great facilities, shame about the people.

Quick Tips:

If budget is an issue when choosing where to dine, most restaurants have menus posted outside. It’s quite common for people to stroll around and look at a few different menus before deciding where to eat. Not everywhere will have the English version of their menu on display however, so if you don’t read Czech, a pocket phrasebook will be an invaluable aid. If you read German, you’ll get by OK in Mikulov.

Lunchtime specials are a great way to save your travel funds without denying yourself sit-down meals or local cuisine. The specials are a common feature in many Czech restaurants, but seem to be little known by foreign visitors to the country. Perhaps the perception is that the full price meals are usually fairly good value or that foreigners are too demanding to be limited to two or three options.

With the continually strengthening Czech crown, however, things are not as cheap as they used to be and in Mikulov there are numerous restaurants that will simply be out of your price range if, for example, you’re either converting Australian dollars or spending hard-earned Czech crowns. Lunchtime specials are indicated by the term Polední Menu or Denní Menu, and there are usually three choices, one of which may possibly be vegetarian. A polední menu is on offer for a limited time each day, commonly from 12 noon to 2pm. If you’re ordering towards the end of that time, you can reliably expect the most appetizing option to be sold out, and if you’re still perusing the menu at two minutes past two, you can expect the waiter to respond with a simple "Bohužel"(unfortunately). The meals are often pasta or goulash or some other kind of dish that can be prepared in one huge pot and ladled out at short notice. Ditto the soups that usually make up the first part of these deals.

One to watch out for especially is Svičkova na smětane. It is thinly sliced beef in a creamy sauce with the flavours of carrot and celery, sometimes with a dollop of cranberry sauce, and always with three or four bread dumplings to clean the plate. Vynikajici!

Best Way To Get Around:

Mikulov is in South Moravia, literally walking distance from the Austrian border. It’s right beside Highway 52 between Brno and Vienna.

The online timetables are the most convenient place to check for bus and train connections. It’s sometimes possible to take a bus directly to Mikulov from major cities, as long distance buses stop there between Vienna (75km) and Brno (50Km). Arriving by train will involve a change at either Břeclav or Znojmo, which are both stops on main international lines.

From the train and bus stations, the centre of town is about a ten-minute walk and once inside the historic centre everything is within walking distance.

Having arrived in Mikulov without any accommodation reserved, we made a beeline for the tourist information office on the main square at number 30. Unfortunately they weren’t able to give their opinions about which places might be best, nor were they able to telephone on our behalf to ask about availability. They did however supply us with a long list of pensions and hotels in town.

We called a couple but settled on Pension Prima because it was listed as having only twelve bed and we thought a smaller place might be a bit homier and probably quieter than some of the places with 50 or more beds. There’s a saying I head once about assumption being the mother of lots of problems, but I can’t quite remember how it goes. Suffice to say that our assumptions about pension prima based on its capacity were simply wrong.

It was NOOOIIISYYYY! Our room overlooked the street, but traffic was only part of the problem. Most of the noise came from people sitting outdoors at the pub downstairs. Fortunately it quietened down after midnight, and the noise from the pubs along the street was much less intrusive due to the distance. Still there would have been no way to get to sleep if we hadn’t brought our earplugs. Thank goodness for those unassuming little cylinders of foam!

The room could have used some attention as well; A leaking shower base, curtains that don’t close the whole way, and a strange fusty smoky smell were all features that weren’t mentioned on the tourist info checklist. Maybe they don’t recommend accommodation because they’ve had too many complaints. And for the price: 600Kc for a double room with private bathroom and television: Pension Prima is probably reasonable value for money.

And there were some good points. The location was excellent; between the train station and the historic centre on a busy and well-lit street with several cafes, bars and a large supermarket at the end of the block. The staff were also quite pleasant and in addition to the bar beneath our room, there was a large beer-garden at the rear of the building.

But would I stay there again or recommend it to friends? Probably not. If it were somewhere like Holešov or Moravský Krumlov, then maybe, but not in a town like Mikulov with so many other options.

We were attracted to the Hotel Templ restaurant by its looks. It’s the brightest building on Husova Ul, (if not the brightest in the entire Jewish Quarter) and it has one of those stone corner columns that are such a distinctive feature of Jewish houses in Moravia. Inspecting the menu we realized that it was not the kind of place we usually ate at, but we spotted the blackboard and realized that we might catch the last of the lunchtime specials.

At 65Kč the two-course specials were much more in our financial ballpark. For that price we had a big bowl chicken pasta dish with a cream sauce, too big to finish. Both the meat and the sauce were in generous quantities, which is not always the case with these el cheapo lunchtime deals. Included in the special was a bowl of soup, which was onion and dumplings and delicious. My large glass of Kofola soft drink was 25Kč($1US)and Francie’s white wine was 32Kč, so courtesy of the lunch special we ate at one of the swishest places in town for less than 100Kč(3Euro/$4US) each.

The full-price main courses ranged from 135-245Kč ($6-11US), and with a side order(25-40Kč), drink or two (Pilsener Urquell in bottles-32Kč) and perhaps a coffee (30Kč) to finish off, you could easily find yourself paying 300-400Kč per person, which is about what we paid for a night’s accommodation. Admittedly though, some of the dishes were tempting, and I guess every town needs one place like this in case you ever have to wine and dine somebody who’s impressed by such things. And if you’re as close to the Austrian border as Mikulov, maybe you need two or three? From the list of things that need to be ordered 24 hours in advance, a pompous 4.4kg of roast goose will set you back 990Kč while a plump 2.3kg roast duck will lighten your wallet by 590Kč.

There was certainly nothing cheap about the surroundings. Even if we’d missed the gold plaque by the entrance, it would have been immediately obvious that we were in a well-restored historic building. Small rooms that lead off one another at odd angles, irregular arches of all heights and widths, and the beginnings of staircases leading nowhere. All tidily renovated and filled with tables, chairs, stools and lounge-seats.

Each of the five or six successive rooms seemed just a little more interesting, and we eventually wound up at the back in a big, modern, light-filled room with a bar at one end and enough elegantly understated furniture to comfortably seat about 30 diners. The colourful canvasses hanging from the walls were as cheerful as the staff, and the sunshine poured through the full-length glass doors from a bright courtyard of more tables and chairs under generous umbrellas.

If it hadn’t been such a scorching day, it would have been nice to sit out there, but I’d lunch at the Templ again without hesitation, so maybe next time?

Francie and I noticed the Mikulovský Šenk on our way to walk up Svatý Kopeček to the chapel of St Sebastian. The blackboard said "Grilujeme na Ohně" (We grill on the fire), our nostrils told us that was indeed the case and our bellies suggested that we take a mental note. Sure enough, after the long climb up the hill and messing around taking photos for a while, the scent was still fresh enough to lead us back there.

Entering through the tall gateway, we found ourselves in a lively courtyard with 40 or 50 people sitting around enjoying meals, drinks, and the warm summer’s evening. We made for the last vacant table and started to choose from the menu, which appeared to list only drinks. When the waiter came to take our drinks order we asked about meals, and instead of returning with a menu, he returned with his colleague, the chef. Hearing that we were foreigners, he broke into German, but that’s all Greek to us, so we returned to Czech and had the gluttons’ special; one of everything. The chicken, pork, and beef were delicious and upon tasting the mysterious Fořtova Pochoutka (the cook was unable to explain exactly what it was); Francie exclaimed, "that’s just a big rissole, yum!" Each of the four meats was available in a 100gram portion (55-75Kč/$2-3US) or a double-portion for double the price. Side dishes ranged from 20Kč for a simple salad up to 30Kč for the garlic-flavoured roast potatoes (which were delicious)

Chatting to the cook at the end of the night, we discovered that he was also the owner and that they’d been open less than a week. He asked where we were staying and explained that they also had accommodation upstairs at the Šenk at very reasonable prices (around 300Kč/€11 per person per night. The rooms seemed to lead off the courtyard and looked very nice from what we could glimpse through the windows. The only problems I could foresee would be hunger induced by the aromas from the grill and insomnia induced by the slightly too loud radio and the raised voices required to cope with it. With the kitchen closing at 10pm and the whole place at 11pm, I guess it would only affect the earlybirds and afternoon-nappers among us. The owner also mentioned that they intend to have live cimbalom music every Saturday night, so that could be another factor to take into account.

If I only have time for one meal next time I’m in Mikulov, this will be the place, and it would probably be my first choice for accommodation as well.

The Petit café looked promising but turned out to be a bit of a disappointment.

It’s right on the main square of Mikulov, tucked away in a courtyard behind some wooden gates. Several trees offered shade to the tables and chairs that were arranged around the courtyard and a family was sitting and apparently enjoying themselves, so we thought we’d give it a try.

Basically the Petit Cafe offers crepes. Seven savoury varieties and another 7 for those of us with a sweet tooth. Somewhat out of character, I glanced down the savoury side of the menu and chose the ham and cheese option, but asked for bacon to be added as an extra. When it came it was OK; nothing special just OK; the toppings were tasty but the base was a little undercooked and had the slight dirty/healthy flavour of beginner vegetarian food. Not my favourite, but I was hungry and it was at least filling.

Francie wasn’t happy with her food at all. For one thing her sense of taste is much better than mine, for another, she’s quite a good cook herself and the third problem was that what she’d ordered and what she’d received were two different things. She’d asked for the "complette", which the menu described as having spinach, blue cheese, and bacon. The crepe that came to the table had spinach. Without going into too much depth about Francie’s relationship with bacon: let’s just say the waitress was fairly promptly invited back to rectify the situation. An indiscreet discussion ensued between the cook and the waitress during which each blamed the other for the mistake and blue cheese was added to the crepe. Still no bacon, and by now the waitress and cook were apparently on a cigarette-and-boyfriend-gossip break in the other part of the café. After a few reluctant mouthfuls, Francie had had enough and called for the bill. Discount negotiated and tip withheld, we left and that was the end of our Petit Café experience.

Looking through our guidebook later, it said "this courtyard café attracts Mikulov’s younger set with its tip-top crepes and coffees". I didn’t have a coffee so can’t comment on that, but the crepes on this occasion certainly fell short of tip-top. Perhaps it would be worth another try, when different staff are working or these ones have a little more experience, but with so much competition in a town like Mikulov, I’d say they need to lift their game pretty quickly if they’re going to survive long enough to be in any more guidebooks.

In the green house, on Ulice Alfonse Muchy, is a pleasant little coffee shop and wine bar with an outdoor terrace.

If you’re walking from the train station you’ll pass the Green House/V Zeleném domě just inside the historic centre of town where Ulice Alfonse Muchy opens out into a small square that’s used as a car park. (The street is named for the famous art-nouveau painter Alfons Mucha who was born a few miles up the road at Ivančice) The green house is unmistakably a green house and has the words for wine bar and wine cellar painted above the windows in large letters. Despite the word café not being painted anywhere that I could see, the green house is effectively café by day, wine bar by night. There is also a small but comfortable outdoor area across the narrow street under the shade of old birch and plum trees.

Our visit coincided with the two hottest days of the year so we were attracted by the prospect of sitting outdoors in the fresh air and dappled shade. The seats were comfortable, the tables uncrowded, and the bird’s eye view over the street and small square was an added bonus. We were the only customers when we arrived for a morning coffee and after seating ourselves and looking over the menu, we noticed the caption saying “Obsluha U Pultu” (service at the counter).

Ten paces across the street and inside the main part of the café we discovered an historic interior of arched brick ceilings, solid timber furniture and a pleasant but distracted owner in the middle of a conversation with one of her friends. She almost got our order right, and her friend saved us from one of those awkward “You’re wrong because you’re foreign” glances, by chipping in with “No, they asked for two”

The coffee was well made, and at 23Kč/$1US was also fairly good value. If it had been later in the day, Francie probably would have had a wine, which would have been 20Kč a glass either for the red or the white. Wine cheaper than coffee? Welcome to South Moravia! If you’d prefer to drink elsewhere you could also bring along a bottle and have it filled up from the same barrels for a very reasonable price.

V Zeleném domě/The Green House was a good spot and I’d like to pop in there again for a coffee next time I’m in Mikulov.