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Working-class Žižkov might not be the first place you’d look for daiquiris, martinis and gin fizzes, but sink into a sofa and enjoy. Warning: the room is tiny and fills up fast.

This refined pub takes its name from Bohumil Hrabal’s novel Too Loud a Solitude (see Bohumil Hrabal). Neither loud nor solitary, guests come for the excellent beer and food.

Bořivojova street boasts more pubs per metre than any other place in the country, and possibly the world. There’s nothing elegant about nad Viktorkou, but it’s the ultimate Prague pub.

This French-owned café does a solid business of crêpes, waffles and other Gallic delicacies. A nice selection of French and other imported wines, too.

This relaxed French vinothèque pours outstanding table wines and sells the finer stuff for scandalously low prices. The French community fills it nightly, nibbling cheeses and listening to the occasional live gypsy band.

The junk-shop setting has been a favourite of neighbour-hood hipsters and students for years. It’s an excellent spot to spend a rainy afternoon sipping tea or Moravian wine.

“The Mousetrap” is a perfect blend of old-fashioned beerhall and modish gastro-pub, serving light and dark Bernard beer and good, filling food.

“The Wounded Goose” is the place to go to watch football over fish and chips. Several domestic and imported beers for a loud and lively clientele.

Tuck into a plate of pickled sausages or herring at Vinohrady’s favourite no-nonsense pub. Simple but clean, with perfunctory service; they don’t make them like this anymore.

The name “At the Shot-Out Eye” is a tribute to the half-blind Hussite general Jan Žižka from whom Žižkov takes its name and whose enormous statue looms overhead (see Žižkov TV Tower>).