Bratislava
Alone

PRACTICAL SAMPLE

Eating Near the Sights

The rule here is short and it holds. Do not sit down at the first terrace on Hlavné námestie or Hviezdoslavovo námestie because your feet hurt and the parasol is inviting. The square-facing terraces are the most expensive and least interesting food in the city, mains at nearly double what the same dish costs two streets away. A number of the rooms on and immediately behind those squares work the captive trade: staff who pull passers-by in off the street, terrace prices that differ from bar prices, bills that do not match the menu. Read the menu on the door, check what a glass of wine costs, and if nobody can tell you plainly, walk on.

Walking on takes five minutes. Obchodná, three or four minutes north of the square, is where the city eats when it is not performing. Zelená and Beblavého on the castle side hold two of the better traditional kitchens, and the weekday denné menu in any of them buys a soup and a main for less than a square terrace charges for a starter.

A free excerpt from Bratislava Alone.