Largely lard

Since I descend from a breed hellbent on clogging its own corpuscles with internationally renowned culinary standards such as the deep-fried Mars bar and the deep-fried pizza I am genetically engineered to like lard. Can I convince noodlepie readers that that slab of crap pictured above really is worth a triple bypass or two? I think I'll just let the snap speak for itself. This is Pho mai chien kieu tiep (Czech style fried cheese) from the Hoa Vien Brauhaus at 28bis Mac Dinh Chi Street in District 1. You'll need 72,000 sobs for the pleasure. The authentic Eastern Blocesque grease stained plate, with intricate thumb and fingerprints dotting the rim, comes free of charge. The half a boiled potato and single sliced tomato will please the salad bar set, while the splodge of Mayo'll help keep yer flab flabby. Quality comfort fill. Good drinking food. Recommended. No, really.

Comments

[santos]

fried is fried the world over--what makes it czech? (laughing) the boiled potato?

[pieman]

I think you can replace the word Czech here with 'no imagination', 'we don't really care for frills' or 'this sounds crap and it is crap' deep-fried cheese. One or all would probably do.

[naomi]

fried, breaded cheese is pretty common in central Europe. it's standard vegetarian fare in Hungary too. often served with cranberry sauce. although i wouldn't want to eat it regularly, for obvious reasons, it's not that bad - and if you're a vegetarian on holiday - or even if you're not veggie, but fancy a break from pig fat based dishes, it's worth a try.

re the 'no imagination' comment - it's more to do with 'no choice' - culinary diversity wasn't high on the priority list in post-war Central Europe.

[pieman]

Thanks Naomi- interesting. Eastern Europe isn't quite the pauper region it once was, interesting that these kinda dishes still prevail. Maybe, it's not so much to do with wealth or availability of ingredients these days, but the choice of the people? Czechs really dig this stuff?

And I agree, it is good once or twice a year, not every day. I really do like this dish even, or because of, all its obvious 'issues'

[GregoryD]

In the US, fried, breaded mozzerella sticks are often served with marinara sauce at sports bars.

[FatMan Seoul]

Eh .... we have those deep-fried mozzerella cheese sticks here in Korea too. Usually downed with a lager or two. Then off for a quick bypass at the cardiac ward down the street.

[G. Perreault]

Dear Sir,

I've been living for ten years in the Czech Republic; as I read your piece on a Czech restaurant, two things strike me that you might want to know:

- The Czech Republic is not in Eastern Europe (is Mexico in South America?);

- To my knowledge, the only Czech places that will serve you fried cheese are CocaCola booths at central train stations.

It is beyond my understanding how you got the idea you are "writing features about travel/food".