Russia: Barrandov restaurant – a combination of Czech beer and Czech cinema

The new Czech beer restaurant Barrandov is named after a renowned cinema studio in Prague where such movies as Amadeus, Mission Impossible and the latest Casino Royale were filmed, The Moscow Times published on December 5. Appropriately, its interior nods to a cinema-studio theme -- and like the 75-year-old studio, it's huge, almost cavernous.

Barrandov's many rooms are a plus when it comes to escaping its deafening live music. It also allows for a decent nonsmoking area, not just the usual poky little afterthought of a room. Several of the halls are painted black and its high ceilings are fitted with mock studio lighting, but other than that, it is really just up to a few historical movie posters to create a cinema-set ambiance.

The menu doesn't differ greatly from those at most of the city's other Czech beer restaurants, with its mix of Russian, German and Czech dishes. The lighter dishes are the traditional Russian beer snacks -- prawns boiled in dark beer with spices (290 rubles for 300 grams) and dried vobla fish "Czech-style" (it comes with cheese sticks, 190 rubles).

Other, more hearty Czech-style offerings include the Barrandov pig's knuckle (550 rubles) and wild boar with potato cakes (520 rubles). As has become compulsory for local beer houses these days, there is a sausage menu. The bratwurst, beef kupaty, spicy Nuremberg-style (all 295 rubles) and the half-kilogram Eight Sausages dish (760 rubles) all come with two sorts of hot sauerkraut and pickles.

There is a good selection of Czech beers, better than at most of the city's other Czech places. Besides the usual Staropramen light (0.5 litres -- 130 rubles) and dark (0.5 litres -- 180 rubles) there is also the semi-dark red Staropramen Granat (190 rubles) and two sorts of nitrogen-gassed beer: the lighter Velvet (0.4 litres -- 180 rubles) and the darker Kelt (0.4 litres -- 190 rubles).

Most intriguingly, Barrandov serves B. B. Budweiser Burgerbrau beer (0.5 litres -- 170 rubles), the brewer of which is in a legal dispute with the Czech brewer Budweiser Budvar, which is in a legal dispute with U.S. giant Anheuser-Busch brewer over the use of the name Budweiser.

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