Czech Republic - Czech and Slovak Club

Restaurant:  Czech and Slovak Club

Location:  74 West End Lane, London, NW6 2LX

Date of visit:  16 October 2016

Time of visit:  6pm

The Czech Republic restaurant visit was always going to be another one of those cases where it was going to be difficult to find a restaurant dealing solely with Czech cuisine. This is fairly obvious, due to the formation of what we now know as the Czech Republic. By which, of course, I mean the breakup of Czechoslovakia. I'm sure there must be tiny differences, but generally traditional meals in Prague are almost certainly going to be the same or incredibly similar in Bratislava.

As such, the only real restaurant I could find specialising in Czech (and related) food was the Czech and Slovak Club. If we ever get to the letter "S", and the Slovak Republic, I reckon we'll be here again, eating the same thing!

On researching this restaurant, it was instantly clear that this wasn't any normal straightforward restaurant. This was more of a community centre. A meeting area for Czech and Slovak expats. All within a large Victorian house. Expecting it to be quite busy on a Sunday evening, I called the day before to book our table for two in the restaurant.

From the outside, the only sign that this wasn't another private home set back off a busy road was the Pilsner-Urquell sign next to the gate. Once you walk through the gate, and are able to see through the main front door, you can now tell that this is a different kind of establishment.

First impression: a house. Second impression, for me at least, was that this is a hotel. As soon as you walk into the building you are presented with various doors at both sides into other large rooms, and a small reception-like counter in front of you. After giving our names, I was asked if we wanted to dine in the restaurant. I wasn't really sure of the options, so I confirmed this and he led us past a clearly loud and busy room, with a real buzz, into a cold, completely empty, silent room with over a dozen "reserved" tables. Straight away we both knew this wasn't where we were going to spend the next hour or so.

I asked the waiter if we could eat next door instead, and he seemed almost relieved that I asked. We could eat there, absolutely. But we would have to order at the counter rather than at our table. And we'd have to order our drinks separately at the bar (avoiding a service charge). Sold! Into the busy room we went.

And busy it was. In fact, we couldn't find a free table. Although at the back of this room - which I discovered was the "Meeting Room" - were a few long tables which sat at least 8 people. We joined a couple at their table - those two at one end of the table, and Elle and I at the other. Neither of us imposed ourselves on the other.

The laminated menus - which we picked from up from reception on our way into the Meeting Room - was identical to that on the website. One side is in English, and the other in Czech. The menu was excellent. No starters, per se, but a selection of "bar bites". Plus main dishes, schnitzel and other fried main meals, meat salads, "floury" dishes (mostly potato pancake dishes), grilled dishes and several options in between.

We both ordered main dishes only, with Elle going for the "Czech Club" chicken schnitzel and myself choosing the traditional Czech dish of svickova - roast beef in a creamy vegetable sauce with dumplings. I ordered at the counter (£20 altogether) and then popped next door to the small bar to order our drinks. There was a handful of people in the bar, with about the same number of people outside in the garden (smoking area). The bar was more like a tuckshop that you'd find in a community centre or youth club. A little hatch in the wall. I ordered a glass of white wine for Elle (no options were offered - wine is wine here) and asked for a pint of Pilsner Urquell.

Back to the comparison with a community centre, the whole venue had that feel. Wooden floor. Wooden tables. A loud and echoey room. A pool table in the corner. But I was really relaxed. It feel like a really comfortable environment. We felt welcome. Not out of place at all. I was already really enjoying this experience.

No more than twenty minutes later, the food arrived.

My first impression when my meal came was one of lots of sauce and "bread" and not much in the way of meat. I was quite hungry and couldn't quite see how this was going to satisfy. How wrong I was. This meal was exceptionally satisfying and hugely enjoyable. The camera lies. This meal consisted of two slabs of thick, soft, tender and beautifully tasting braised beef. No fat. Just pure soft beef. The sauce was more like a wholesome, sweet cream of vegetable soup. Thick and creamy. I actually think a bowl of this alone would have filled me up, with hindsight! And the "bread" was actually dumplings. Soft but dense, sweet dumplings which were perfect for mopping up the sauce, the flavours of which really complemented that of the dumplings. Looking at the picture, there is an addition I've yet to describe. Yes, that is cream. It is indeed on a bed of jam. Which is actually sitting on a slice of lemon. I certainly didn't expect that, but I rolled with it! 

It's not very often that I don't finish a meal, but this was a tough talk. One of the most deceivingly substantial meals I've had in a long time. 

To the eye, Elle's meal was more familiar. Schnitzel is common across Central Europe, but each country adds their own unique twist. In this case, the schnitzel was topped with cheddar cheese and spicy BBQ sauce. The chicken itself was beautiful. Hot and clearly very freshly cooked. The coating was lovely and crisp. The BBQ sauce worked really well with the cheddar cheese, which in turn went perfectly with the raw onion and pickled vegetables on the side. The cheese and onion made the meal what it was. Elle wasn't too keen on the pickled veg, was was mostly small sliced gherkins, so those ended up on my plate! Elle's only other slight complaint was that it would have cost 50p extra for tomato sauce. She declined. The chips were chips. Good chips. Nothing special. Nothing unexpected. 

We started to realise that we actually appreciated the fact that, other than the food being brought to the table, there was no table service. This meant there was no waiting around for the plates to be cleared. No frustrating wait to pay for the meal. It was already paid for. Ideal.

Rather than leave the club, we decided to pop back into the bar and have another drink. This time we both opted for a pint of Budweiser. The proper Czech stuff. The bar is very decently priced, especially for the lager all being imported.

Overall, this visit was a lovely surprise and very unique. Highly worth a visit.