Buddha - Bar - Hotel Prague

When all the well-constructed hype wears off, will anybody still care? And, more importantly, should they?

They might, but they probably shouldn't. It's true that the new Buddha-Bar is something to behold, for its unapologetic gaudiness if nothing else. The downstairs space (referred to as 'Buddha-Bar' proper; the upstairs area is occupied by the Siddharta-Café), though smaller than some of the other Buddha-Bar incarnations, is huge by Prague standards.

But Buddha-Bar has at least one major flaw: the boldness of its décor doesn't extend to its menu. The selection is mostly a hodgepodge of well-worn Asian favorites – you've got your sesame-encrusted tuna, your pad thai, your Madras curry. None of them was particularly terrible, or especially great, but they all lacked any sort of ingenuity. The food was, in a word, boring.

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The restaurant opened Jan. 29, 2009 in a restored 1916 Art Nouveau building on Jakubská street, off Old Town Square. It is just one part of the vast Buddha-Bar complex, which also includes a funky café, a lounge and a five-star boutique hotel. Buddha-Bar owners say this is the first time they’ve attached one of their restaurants to a hotel.

The Buddha-Bar menu features fusion dishes based on cooking styles from China, Japan, Thailand, India and Vietnam. The menu covers everything from Peking-style duck to grilled lamb chops with honey and five spices. For all the savory dishes on the menu, though, the first thing that jumped out was the price: This is not a place for diners on a budget. For an appetizer, we chose the Vietnamese spring rolls (365 Kč), which, to our surprise, arrived fried. Still, the rolls managed to keep a sense of lightness and were delicious.

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I started with the Buddha Chicken Salad (295 CZK). It was really delicious.The chicken itself was amazing - impossibly tender with blackened edges. It was mixed with a sweet wasabi cream. There was crunchy cabbage and noodles in the mix. Black sesame seeds were sprinkled on top.

This was one of the cheapest things on the menu, but it was a large portion, enough for two to share. This was a dish I'd come back for.

I figured the word "bar" is in the name of the place, so I decided to try a gin gimlet.It was excellent -- not too tart, not too sweet.

For fun, I ventured a guess about much it would cost. I said 180 CZK. It actually was 190 CZK. That's a little above average for most Prague cocktail bars, but not out of line with prices in other world capitals. With the dollar ascendant these days, it felt better to think that it was around $9.

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This month, Buddha-bar opens the first in a new line of eponymous hotels. East meets West in 39 stylish rooms, while spa facilities include a hammam steam room (though you can get a “buddhattitude” treatment right in your bedroom). Naturally, you’ll find their signature seated Buddha presiding over the restaurant and lounge — here, a bi-level underground space.

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