Prague Confidential #2

Catching the sun at Café Neustadt

Hidden in a pretty courtyard, the terrace of the Neustadt café is the haunt of students, hipsters… and a few gray hairs spending hours in front of an espresso, a quiche or a small cake. Opposite, under an archway, a mobile piano waits to be teased by a musician.

Karlovo namestí 1/23. +420 775 062 795. cs-cz.facebook.com/cafeneustadt

We are on the right foot with Botas 66

Under the Czechoslovak communist regime, athletes had a (limited!) choice between a pair of Novesta (Týnská 15) or Botanas (now Botas) sneakers. Since then, the two brands have come out of a long slumber and adorn themselves with all the trendy feet. Thanks to designers Jan Kloss and Jakub Korous, the Botas 66 line holds the upper hand in the Old School of the East.

Křížkovského 18. +420 775 676 966. www.botas66.com.

We're back with plastic from Guma

Rubber in all its forms – and plastic too! Founded in 1937, this shop has gone through the ages while remaining in the same family. We unearth improbable objects like the Fatra inflatable giraffe, a classic for Czech children. The variant? The inflatable racing car revisited by a local designer.

Ječná 24. +420 605 257 198. www.gumapraha.cz.

We're racing for paper at Papelote

Notebooks easily dethrone tablets of all kinds. Here we find the pleasure of touching paper, writing our diary and wrapping our books. The iPads (and yes, they too) find a nice pouch and the legendary local koh-i-noor pens, a nice case.

Vojtěšská 9. +420 774 719 113. www.papelote.cz.

We taste the canapes of Sisters Bistro

At noon, the people of Prague feast on chlebíčky (canapes). They often swallow them standing up in neighborhood canteens. At Sisters, these canapés are layered on ultra-fresh farm produce. A treat for a few crowns (euros), a stone's throw from the tourist traps.

Dlouhá 39. +420 775 991 975. www.chlebicky-praha.cz.

We try Maso's butcher's pub in Kobliha

There is only one “rosbeef” to transform your Land Rover into… barbecue! The Englishman Paul Day is a mad lover of meat and Asian cuisine. As a result, we owe him Sansho (Petrská 25), The Real Meat Society butcher and, more recently, Maso a Kobliha. His pub-butcher serves sausage sandwiches or hot ham with beer, Czech, of course!

Petrská 23. +420 224 815 056. www.masoakobliha.cz.