Beer © Ricky Yates
Three doors down the road from my new home in Stará Oleška, is Bar-Restaurace U Soni. It has been a real find and an absolute godsend since moving here. But if you go online, you will be hard-pushed to find any reference to it at all. It doesn’t have its own website. The building does not appear as a bar-restaurant on any online map.
The one reference I could find, gave the address incorrectly as Stará Oleška 76 when it it should be Stará Oleška 86. Putting the incorrect address into an online map will send you to the completely wrong location. To find the correct location, click on this link.
This blog post is therefore my small attempt to rectify the lack of information about Bar-Restaurace U Soni and give it a bit of publicity that it so richly deserves!
Let’s start with the beer. The one in the photograph on the left is the first on the list below – for my UK readers that is £0.74 for 0.5l, which is very slightly less than a pint. Even the most expensive offering is still less than £1.00 a pint!
U Soni beer prices © Ricky Yates
As for the food – the photograph below was taken on either our first or second visit, a few days after arriving in the village, and shows both our meals. Total cost CZK 310 – £10.00. As you can see, each dish comes decorated with raw vegetables and fruit, a far healthier offering than in most Czech restaurants 🙂 And the portions are copious!
Meals © Ricky Yates
As my cooking facilities in the house are quite limited, until I get the kitchen refitted which will hopefully happen in July, I have become a regular at U Soni. As a reward for my patronage, I have recently twice been presented with a free dessert. Below is the second of these from two nights ago.
Free dessert © Ricky Yates
Do come and visit Stará Oleška. And do come and visit and support Bar-Restaurace U Soni.
Bar-Restaurace U Soni © Ricky Yates
Hi Ricky,
Your previous post and this one certainly exhibit the tourist attractions of your new home area. Beautiful varied scenery and excellent food and drink at fantastic prices. Your photography is excellent as always and shows everything to great advantage – you may be overrun by fans accepting your invitation to visit. 😉 I’m delighted to hear the area is so beautiful and the people obviously hospitable and welcoming. You certainly chose a wonderful place to retire to. That fish dish looks stunning both from a culinary and aesthetic viewpoint – plenty of colour and nutrition provided by getting your full five a day on one plate! 😉 If we ever find ourselves in the area we’ll be sure to visit that restaurant. Continued good health and enjoyment Ricky.
Hi Sean,
Thank you for commenting once again, and for the compliments.
The area is highly attractive and does get visiting tourists from Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic itself. But it seems almost completely unknown to English-speakers.
As you rightly say, not only is the food good at U Soni, it is always beautifully presented. Do come & visit!
Sounds like a wonderful place! I hope your efforts bring them MANY new visitors!
It is Stephen! I thought that the least I could do was to give it some well-deserved publicity 🙂
Ricky: Those pictures of your beer and food at your new restaurace are beautiful. One of my favorite meals while living in Czech Republic was broiled trout. I would order that dish whenever I could find it on a menu. I can’t seem to find it in the States, although I admit I haven’t tried too hard. I also had it in Hungary several times and it was delicious.
I do miss the Pivo. Czech beer is available in the U.S., but it is limited to bottled Pilsner Urquel which is fine, but any beer is better on tap. I ran into a very good beer in Tabor CZ., but that is not available here. There aren’t many pilsner beers available in the U.S. , and I prefer pilsners over lagers. I would love to visit your Bar Restaurace U Soni, but the travel cost would be prohibitive. Thanks for the memories.
Bob Doolittle
Glad you enjoyed the photos, Bob. I’m a great trout fan too &, as you say, it is regularly available on menus in the Czech Republic. Likewise I agree with you – beer is far better on tap than from a bottle. I’m sorry you can’t visit but I’m very happy to give you some good memories.
Hello Ricky!!
I was a bit surprised you never even considered moving back to the UK, but as things are turning out there, one might as well stay off. And I really agree, that is a very beautiful part of Gods creation and you are just the right people to enjoy a place! The love and affection that runs through every post make it clear to us that life wherever you go, is very enjoyable.
Your affection for this place won’t escape us, and in due time, this place and that restaurant may have to expand when we all come tumbling down the hillside!!! Hope you will get your kitchen working soon. Happy to see you get installed and coming to peace. Bless you, may the Lord watch over you!
Hello Solveig!
There are two reasons why I have chosen not to retire back to the UK. The first is the one you allude to in your comment – it is an unhappy place at the present time with a government which is the laughing stock of Europe. The second is that I can’t afford to retire there but I can afford to retire here in the Czech Republic & enjoy a reasonable standard of living. I’m also able to enjoy continuing my English-language ministry at the Frauenkirche in Dresden.
I’m happy to do my bit publicising the delights of this area. As I said in response to Sean, it is popular with Germans & the Dutch, as well as Czechs. But Scandinavian visitors are welcome too!
You certainly won’t have any reason to miss the bar-restaurants you knew in Prague with this splendid find on your doorstep, Ricky. Wonderful food beautifully presented, and with lovely views and no traffic noise to spoil things. What’s not to love? 🙂
It certainly is a great find. But when I first looked at the house, U Soni didn’t look very open. So I fear that whilst it is currently open every day during the summer months, there is likely to be limited opening during the winter.
P.S. Given how far you are from Prague and Brno now, where are you going to church these days?
When not in the Frauenkirche, Dresden, I’m planning on worshipping with my nearest Old Catholic congregation in Varnsdorf & improving my liturgical Czech 🙂