I came to label the standard Czech menu as "Pig and Stodge". Their prime culinary boast is being the nation that invented the dumpling. That said, they do good dumplings. My favourite place to eat in Prague is on Narodni truda, opposite the National Thatre - it used to be a classic workers' cafeteria from the Communist era, and last time I was in there the decor had changed but the menu was much the same.

If you have food allergies you won't find it easy. Marion has gluten and dairy intolerance, and most stuff in shops is only labelled in Slavic languages (not even German). Czech and Slovak have just as many words for wheat- or milk-containing ingredients as English does, so however explicit the labelling it's difficult to work out what it implies. If you're a vegetarian it will be even more difficult.

Czech beer is fantastic, but like almost everything else their culture is known for, they've turned it into tourist megabiz. U Fleku (as in "The Good Soldier Svejk") is the only pub I've been in that has a foreign exchange booth at the door.