I discovered Puro the very first week I moved to Prague, and have written about it before here.  It continues to go from strength to strength, so I feel that it’s time for another review.  I didn’t use to go to Puro very often (it’s so small that I worry about not being able to get a seat, and I don’t deal well with disappointment when I’m hungry), but now I’m quite the regular and it is satisfying all my needs.

Daily Menu:

Last August when Dr HH was on school holidays, we went along for lunch even though we weren’t particularly excited by the daily menu (they post the full weekly menu on Facebook every Monday).  And then it turned out that we both loved the dishes we ordered!  I got this cauliflower pizza – in an exciting twist, the base was made of cauliflower. I thought it might be a bit of a let down compared to “normal” pizza, but far from it:  I loved it!

Dr HH had this dish, which involved mashed potato, mushrooms stuffed with couscous and cheese.  Like me, he said he wouldn’t usually have chosen this, but he’s glad he did.  It just goes to show that we should always have faith in the Puro daily menu!

We weren’t back until February, when we stopped by at around 6pm (they close at 7pm) and were able to order the burger and marinated skewers, which are available every afternoon/evening, but not at lunchtime.  Dr HH really enjoyed the burger, though he had to take a knife and fork to it, which is never ideal.  The patty was beautifully crisp on the outside, and he enjoyed the mayo.  His only complaint was that there was substantially more bread than filling.

I absolutely loved the skewers!  The fake chicken pieces were just perfect:  the texture was lovely and the meat was beautifully seasoned.  The peanut dipping sauce was delicious too and, surprisingly, I really liked the salad as well.  The white pieces are coconut!  I have since popped back along for another helping of these on more than one occasion.

Also in February, I saw that they had moussaka listed on their weekly menu and had to go.  They did not skimp on the potatoes, and I was very happy indeed!

Light Bites:

As well as the daily menu so beloved in these parts, they also serve an assortment of bagels, wraps and light meals to eat in or takeaway.  When they have quiche I always try to snaffle a slice.  This one was tempeh, mushroom and courgette, which I’m sure you can imagine was rather delicious.

The burrito is also reliably good, and is pretty hearty, as it’s chock full of rice and cheese.

There are two different bagel fillings available every week.  This one contained smoked tempeh and a puree made from celery – usually I detest celery, but somehow this was delicious!

 

Sweet Treats:

Puro also has a dessert counter that combines chia puddings, raw sweets (like this Twix and Bounty), raw cakes and sponge cakes.

Here are some of the raw cakes:  chocolate and blueberry (amazingly rich) and rawfaello (light and coconutty).

And what about this rich and sensational peanut butter pie?

And they usually have both raw and baked brownies – the baked ones look superb, but unfortunately weren’t quite as dense and fudgy as I’d hoped.

I was a huge fan of this apple and cinnamon cake – the sponge wasn’t too sweet, and the apple filling was lovely.  Also, you can’t argue with a classic flavour combination like this.

It’s quite rare to see a vegan carrot cake in Prague, so when I spotted the last slice of this, I just had to have it! And it was divine – the cream cheese icing was especially pleasing.

And finally, this cake.  I liked the look of it, but didn’t recognise the Czech word describing it so asked the server for a translation.  She told me that she wasn’t sure if there was a direct translation, but it was some kind of spice and it was really good, so I decided to give it a whirl.  Neither Dr HH nor I could place the spice, except to say that it tasted like Christmas!

Breakfast:

And Puro also serve breakfast too! We’ve had the socca a couple of times , and it’s highly recommended: a nice light chickpea flour pancake with some delicious toppings.

The full English breakfast might not meet British standards, but it’s still pretty good.  There’s plenty of tofu scramble and spicy beans, but they skimp on the sausages and bread, and there’s no potato at all.  Calling it a “full” English isn’t entirely accurate then, but it’s definitely still a good choice, though it seems to have disappeared from rotation at the moment.

And the raw coconut porridge is nice too – the flavours are beautiful and it’s good and creamy, though I was a bit surprised to find no oats in it!  It’s nice for a lighter breakfast.

They’ve even started serving chocolate croissants on some Saturday mornings too!  The filling is a delicious chocolate hazelnut spread, and they’re lovely and flaky.  One of these with a cup of the thickest, most delicious hot chocolate you’ve ever had is a beautiful start to the day (though it’s worth checking their Facebook page on a Friday night to check if they’re on the breakfast menu – they don’t always have them).  The hot chocolate is the kind you have to eat with a spoon rather than drink, it’s so thick – I absolutely love it!

Shop:

The little shop is still one of my favourites for finding good vegan products.  As well as the more common cheese, mayo and mock meat products, they’ve started getting some more unusual things in.  Like, for instance, this camembert.  It was a bit of a splurge, but definitely worth it for a treat – we baked it and enjoyed it with some bread.  It was my first vegan camembert ever, and it seemed very realistic to me. Definitely one to keep an eye out for.

I also picked up some feta, another cheese I’ve never tried in vegan form.  This one is actually made from tofu.  I really enjoyed it – I used it to make the roasted Greek salad I used to love when I was vegetarian, and the feto was just perfect.

Puro is a great place for finding seasonal treats as well – they had advent calendars and chocolate Santas in December, and they’re the only place I’ve seen stocking vegan Easter eggs.  I couldn’t resist when I saw this one!

These days Puro has shifted a lot of their merchandise to their new shop on separate premises, which I haven’t had chance to look at yet.  They’re possibly the only reliable source of Nutritional Yeast I’ve found in Prague so far, and for that reason alone it’s always worth having a little snoop around their shops!