Here I go again.
I’ve written about brunch at Mlýnec and its sister restaurant, V Zátiší, before. More than once, actually. So regular readers might reasonably wonder why I’m doing it again.
No, I’m not on their payroll, and I have no commercial interest in promoting either restaurant. I simply keep returning because I genuinely appreciate the food, the service and the way these restaurants make their guests want to come back.
Their loyalty programme certainly helps. Members receive discounts and can earn a complimentary brunch after three qualifying visits. These benefits are available to everyone who joins, not just people writing enthusiastic reviews!
For anyone unfamiliar with the concept, forget buffets and traditional brunch dishes. Mlýnec serves something much closer to a gourmet tasting menu: numerous small, beautifully prepared dishes, served at your table, accompanied by a remarkably generous all-inclusive drinks package.
Some dishes arrive individually plated, others family style for sharing. As I was dining alone, the kitchen adapted the presentation accordingly.
I think Mlýnec and V Zátiší are getting dangerously close to serving genuine fine-dining tasting menus at brunch prices. But please don’t tell their management. They might realise what they’re doing and start charging accordingly.
Service that makes you want to return
One of the pleasures of returning to Mlýnec is recognising familiar members of staff.
Konrad, who first served me two years ago, is still there. He’s an excellent waiter who brings his personality to work without ever allowing it to overshadow the guests. I appreciate that enormously.
This Sunday, Andrea looked after me, and she was absolutely fantastic. Friendly, professional and remarkably attentive, she frequently anticipated what I needed before I asked.
The restaurant was completely full, yet I never felt hurried. I could decide when I wanted the next course, and Andrea managed the pace beautifully.
That flexibility is particularly impressive considering the scale of the operation.
Everyone receives essentially the same menu, and the restaurant knows how many guests to expect. I imagine that allows the kitchen to plan its work with considerable precision. Whatever the explanation, the results are remarkable: beautifully prepared food, individually presented and served at precisely the right pace.
Three starters
The meal began with good bread, including focaccia, accompanied by butter. Later, I was offered more without having to ask. A small but lovely detail.
The first three dishes were vegan miso soup, tuna onigiri and chicken thigh with teriyaki.
The miso soup was excellent. I always smell my food before tasting it, and here the smoked tofu and kombu dashi produced a wonderfully rich aroma. The flavour was full of umami, with considerable depth and some pleasantly firm green strips adding texture.
I don’t believe vegan food needs to imitate meat. This soup certainly didn’t, and it was delicious in its own right. My only reservation was that I would have preferred it slightly warmer.
The tuna onigiri was beautifully presented, with perfectly textured rice, seaweed providing a little bite and an interesting crunchy topping.
The flavour was dominated by a delicate sweet-and-sour balance. Delicious, certainly, but the tuna itself was surprisingly anonymous. Had I been blindfolded, I’m not sure I would have identified it.
With kimchi and togarashi on the menu, I had expected something with a little more edge.
The chicken thigh was another success. Chicken thigh is my favourite cut of chicken, and this was wonderfully tender, well-seasoned and surprisingly flavoursome.
It seemed to have been marinated, with a subtle smoky character that reminded me, rather unexpectedly, of a really good Danish frikadelle, the kind my mother might have made.
It was served cool rather than hot, which surprised me, but worked perfectly well.
Three main courses – and some extraordinary cooking
The first main course was grilled butterfish with sweet potato, ginger, chilli and Choron sauce.
The fish was delicious, although perhaps a fraction dry. But the accompaniments were the real stars.
The Choron sauce had been transformed into a wonderfully light foam, retaining its buttery richness while introducing a beautifully balanced tomato flavour. Sweetness and acidity worked together without the sauce tasting remotely like tomato purée. Absolutely lovely.
The sweet potato mash was another surprise. I had expected something rather sweet and uninteresting, but instead found a delightful, slightly coarse texture with small pieces of potato remaining.
The sweetness was restrained, and the chilli was fascinating. It took several seconds to appear, then developed gradually into a gentle warmth without ever becoming hot.
I enjoyed the fish, but the sauce and sweet potatoes made this course memorable.
The turkey tempura was equally surprising.
I generally avoid turkey because it so often turns out dry. Here, however, the meat was wonderfully juicy and tender.
The tempura coating was thin, light and remarkably free of oiliness. There was an intriguing Asian-inspired seasoning that I couldn’t quite identify, but it worked beautifully.
I rarely enjoy turkey this much.
And then came the beef tenderloin.
Good grief.
Beautifully pink, extraordinarily tender and bursting with genuine beef flavour. It wasn’t prepared like a traditional steak, with a pronounced crust, but it was magnificent.
I sat wondering how a kitchen serving so many guests could achieve such precision.
The accompanying peanut sauce was pleasant but comparatively simple. It tasted mainly of peanuts and salt, without the many layers of flavour I’ve enjoyed in some of Mlýnec’s other sauces. I’ve had sauces here that were almost worth returning for on their own. This wasn’t one of them.
The cabbage salad was also perfectly acceptable rather than particularly exciting. Soft, pleasantly textured and slightly nutty, but a little too salty for my taste. Despite deliberately looking for them, I couldn’t really detect the coriander or wasabi mentioned on the menu.
The grenaille potatoes, however, were in a league of their own.
Perfectly cooked, with just the right firm, slightly waxy texture, and accompanied by beautifully caramelised shallots.
But the clever touch was the sweet chilli. Its gentle warmth worked wonderfully with the sweetness of the onions.
As a Dane, I immediately thought of our traditional Christmas potatoes, brunede kartofler, caramelised in sugar.
Next time I make them, I’m absolutely adding a tiny pinch of cayenne pepper.
Apparently, there are still new things to learn from a potato.
Sensibly chosen wines
The unlimited drinks package includes Aperol Spritz, Prosecco, white and red wine, beer, non-alcoholic drinks, fresh orange juice and homemade lemonade. Coffee is included too.
These aren’t grand wines, and nobody should expect them to be at this price. But they’re very well chosen.
The Riondo Prosecco was fresh, crisp and delicious, with just enough residual sweetness to soften its dryness. The sort of Prosecco that would please almost anyone – and that I could happily imagine drinking on a sunny terrace in slightly alarming quantities.
The Casalforte Pinot Grigio had more body and richness than I ordinarily expect from the grape.
It reminded me a little of Trimbach’s Pinot Gris from Alsace, which I enjoyed enormously when I lived in Aalborg. Not the same quality level, certainly, but a reminder that Pinot Grigio can offer considerably more than the forgettable wines so often made from it.
The Casalforte Valpolicella Superiore was also very enjoyable. Nicely balanced, with good acidity, pleasant body and soft tannins.
Personally, I would have welcomed slightly more tannic grip, but it was harmonious and very food-friendly.
All three wines were sensible choices for an unlimited package, offering genuine drinking pleasure without pretending to be something they’re not.
Desserts worth saving room for
The two desserts were apricot cake with vanilla and rum, and chocolate panna cotta with wild berries.
The apricot cake was essentially a pleasant sponge cake with apricot and a crunchy crumble topping. Nothing particularly memorable on its own.
But the accompanying vanilla-and-rum foam was extraordinary.
Wonderfully light and creamy, with visible vanilla seeds and a lovely rum character. Sweet without becoming cloying, it almost disappeared in my mouth.
Together, the cake and foam became something much more interesting than either component alone.
The chocolate panna cotta was another triumph.
Rather than the traditional wobbling panna cotta, it was served in a glass with a denser, more compact consistency.
Personally, I’ve never understood the obsession with making panna cotta wobble. What matters is how it tastes.
And this tasted magnificent.
Rich chocolate combined with a generous layer of wild berries, their sweetness beautifully balanced by acidity.
Chocolate is my favourite dessert flavour, and this was exactly the kind of dessert I could happily eat straight from the container, like a heartbroken woman in an American sitcom attacking a tub of expensive ice cream.
Except I wasn’t heartbroken. Quite the opposite.
The double espresso accompanying it was also excellent, with a lovely, discreet acidity that complemented the chocolate beautifully.
And just when I thought I was finished, Andrea reminded me that I’d forgotten the ice cream bar.
Of course I had!
I chose the in-house raspberry sorbet and chocolate ice cream.
I normally prefer traditional ice cream to sorbet, but the concentration of raspberry flavour was astonishing. Sweetness and natural berry acidity were perfectly balanced.
The chocolate ice cream was pure luxury, with a rich, genuine chocolate flavour and little pieces of chocolate adding texture.
Both were superb.
Incidentally, if you see my photograph of the ice cream, I served it myself. Please don’t blame the kitchen for the presentation!
A little more confidence, please
With all this praise, I should mention the one thing I would love Mlýnec to improve.
I’d like the kitchen to have a little more confidence in its own flavour choices.
When coriander appears on the menu, let me taste it. When wasabi is mentioned, don’t make me search for it. And when chilli is part of a dish, allow it to contribute some character.
I’m not suggesting that everything should be aggressively seasoned. The delicate chilli in the grenaille potatoes was one of the most successful details of the entire meal.
But elsewhere, I felt that the kitchen had made interesting, potentially adventurous choices, only to hold back a little too much.
You have the skills. Trust your choices and let those flavours shine through.
I loved being spoiled, but I wouldn’t have minded being challenged a little more.
That is a small reservation about an otherwise extraordinary meal, expressed with enormous respect for the people preparing it.
And the bill? Almost ridiculous.
During the afternoon, I counted around eight celebrations at neighbouring tables, some accompanied by sparklers and birthday songs.
Clearly, many people choose Mlýnec for special occasions.
I understand why. Although I must admit that I don’t need a birthday or anniversary as an excuse to enjoy food like this.
The normal brunch price was CZK 1,595, including the extensive drinks package.
My 15% loyalty discount reduced the bill to CZK 1,356. I rounded it up to CZK 1,500, leaving CZK 144 in tips.
So, after all those beautifully prepared dishes, the wine, Aperol Spritz, coffee, desserts, ice cream and sorbet, and some genuinely wonderful service, I paid CZK 1,500 in total, including the tip.
Less than the normal brunch price before my discount!
And the loyalty programme offers another incentive to return, with the opportunity to earn complimentary brunches through repeat visits.
Of course, CZK 1,595 isn’t a small amount of money for lunch. I could eat several ordinary restaurant meals for that.
But this was anything but ordinary.
The food was beautifully prepared, the presentation consistently impressive, and the service genuinely personal. The few dishes that didn’t quite reach the highest level did little to diminish the overall experience.
Above all, I left feeling that an entire team of people had worked extraordinarily hard to give me something worth considerably more than I paid.
And they succeeded.
Take my money, please.
Contact details for Mlýnec Restaurant:
- Address: Novotného lávka 9, 110 00 Praha 1, Staré Město, Czechia [1, 2]
- Phone: +420 277 000 777 [1]
- Email: mlynec@zatisigroup.cz [1]
- Website: Mlýnec Restaurant Official Website [1]
- Opening Hours:
- Monday–Friday: 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM, 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM
- Saturday–Sunday: 11:30 AM – 3:00 PM, 5:30 PM – 10:00 PM [1]