Gluten-free Prague: restaurants, bakeries and Czech beer

Czech food

Czech cooking is not especially gluten-free-friendly. Fried food, flour and bread make up the vast majority of local restaurant menus.

Goulash, a kind of stew, does not normally contain gluten. But I always saw it served with slices of bread dumplings in the sauce, which rules it out for celiacs.

Soups are a common starter, but they often contain gluten too. I found it hard to ask what was in each dish, because explaining traces of gluten in approximate English is not easy, and Czech is a very difficult language. So I recommend dedicated gluten-free restaurants, or cuisines that are naturally gluten-free (Asian food, for instance). My tips for eating out as a celiac (in French) apply abroad too.

Still, remember that gluten is lepek and gluten-free is bezlepkový (the ending changes with the word, that is where my Czech stops). You can show this to the waiter:

Mám celiakii a nesmím jíst lepek, ani stopy.

I have celiac disease and cannot eat gluten, not even traces.

Eating out in the Czech Republic is not very expensive (150 to 250 Czech crowns per dish on average in July 2021), so I made the most of it. The country still uses the crown (CZK), not the euro, and cards are accepted almost everywhere.

Good places to eat

Czech cooking is not very varied (at least the classic restaurant dishes are always the same). Once you have explored the traditional options, there are several very good gluten-free places in the city.

Alriso Risotteria Italiana

This Italian restaurant on a lively square in the center is a treat. Its menu is entirely gluten-free, from the beer to the pasta, with a large choice of risottos and a delicious tiramisu for dessert. Highly recommended.

Betlémské náměstí 11, Prague 1, Old Town

Serial Burgers

A gluten-free burger in a stone-vaulted cellar, with a serial-killer-themed menu. The gluten-free bun was 30 crowns extra (about 1.20 euros), and the burgers were delicious, with or without gluten. No gluten-free beer to go with them, but a very good local cider.

Ostrovní 24, Prague 1. I could not confirm that the gluten-free option still exists, ask before ordering.

Gluten-free bakeries

I have not tried them, but these 100% gluten-free places come up in several recent guides:

• Babiččina spíž (Prague 1): a small café and bakery with sandwiches, bread and cakes, plus vegan and dairy-free options.
• Bassotto (Pštrossova 4, New Town): sweet and savory pastries, and even gluten-free pizza.
• Cukrárna Buchta (Národní obrany 35, Bubeneč): a 100% gluten-free pastry shop, a bit out of the center but very well rated. Closed on weekends.
• Svět bez lepku ("gluten-free world"): a small chain of gluten-free bakeries and shops, in Dejvice (Pod baštami 4) and Vršovice (Moskevská 52).

Buying gluten-free food

I only stayed for a weekend, so I did not cook. But I went into a few food shops, and the gluten-free shelves are well stocked. Organic shops have everything, and so do regular chains (Albert, Lidl or the drugstore DM, for instance). You will recognize Schär, which is everywhere.

I tried a good gluten-free beer which, apparently, is served in several bars and sold in supermarkets: Celia. It is brewed in Žatec, 45 minutes north of Prague. It comes as a lager and a dark beer, but I only tried the lager (served with a lot of foam...). Supermarkets also sell Bernard bezlepkový, another Czech gluten-free beer. To drink a gluten-free beer in the center, the U Kunštátů bar, in the old town, has two.

Continuing through Central Europe? Read my gluten-free Budapest guide, and my gluten-free travel tips.

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