Balkans + Italy = Luka Lu

Luka Lu is a lovely and colorful restaurant.

Luka means harbor, and this suits restaurant very well. It’s atmosphere, interior and menu really do capture the essence of a lovely Mediterranean harbor. Luka Lu is a harbor in Prague 1 (Mala Strana), with it’s courtyards, colorful decorations. Also little birds and it’s friendly staff, mostly from the ex-Yugoslavia. This place is the youngest and finest sister of your well-known Gitanes and the nearly forgotten Dolly Bell. Born in Prague, peaceful and wild, sweet and rebellious, she always harbours two personalities. One inherited from her Italian father, an adventurer and Bohemian, the other from her mother, a calm and simple Bosnian. Many cross the Vltava River to see her beauty rather than taste the delicious food and wine. But it’s not truth.

The unusually colorful and cheerful restaurant includes paintings of fishermen’s boats on the walls. A friendly and helpful staff that make you feel like home. And a menu that offers mainly traditional Balkan cuisine with some inspiration from the other side of the Adriatic. Most meals in the menu are not overly complicated since they are mainly prepared according to traditional recipes. But the results are extremely enjoyable with all the ingredients keeping their natural flavors. Luka Lu is a must for all the seafood lovers. As well as for all those who look for healthier lifestyle choices. The Chef takes pride in always offering his customers plenty of fresh vegetables. And of course variety of fish, and other fruits of the sea.

Recommendation

Try to taste Cheese with Ajvar for a starter, the Homemade Fish Soup, the Caesar Salad, the Linguine ai Frutti di Mare for the pasta course, the Traditionally Prepared Octopus for the fish course and the Bandit’s Skewer for a meat dish and don’t forget about delicious Baklava for dessert! The wine list is an excellent assortment of Italian, Croatian, Macedonian, Montenegran and Czech wines, sure to introduce you to some new favorites. Luka Lu is a peaceful harbor in the pulsating city of Prague. A harbor filled with an unpretentiously-warm atmosphere and delicious meals, which do not ruin your body or budget. Enjoy a holiday by the sea without leaving the beautiful historical quarter of Mala Strana. We recommend checking out the extraordinary winter garden with its glass roof, and keeping your eyes open for celebrities in this popular establishment!

It is similar with wine: you can start with Macedonian and the best Serbian wines, carry on with Herzegovinian wine to the wines from the sunny peninsula of Pejlesac… and then along the coastline all the way to Istria… If that’s not enough, you can try Slovenia or Italy! Collaborate with small, family-owned wineries which only with the help of the Sun and God fill barrels and bottles with the most important liquid on Earth after water – wine!

Some words about traditions

As they say themselves, the restaurant owners, the Djorem family from Sarajevo, cultivate a culinary tradition of a country that no longer exists. Luka Lu draws on the cuisines of all the constituent parts of former Yugoslavia and adds an Italian touch to them. The restaurant appears to be the Balkan embodiment of magic realism: bold colours, flowers, parrots in cages, and trinkets sticking out of the least expected nooks and crannies. Grilled dishes make up most of the menu at Luka Lu. The pljeskavica, made from of minced meat spiced up with chilli peppers, is renowned, as is the equally flavoursome cevapcici (Balkan-style sausages). You can also order very tender sliced veal, chicken stuffed with spinach and gorgonzola, strongly-flavoured lamb sausages, calamari, and prawns. At this imaginative establishment, situated at the bottom of Petrin Hill and close to Kampa park. You’ll feel that it’s always a public holiday, no matter what the calendar says.

Interior and menu

Luka Lu is a truly unpretentious Balkan Prague Party Restaurant bursting with life and color. Many Balkan and Mediterranean elements decorate Luka Lu. You can see real creativity here – Luka lu is full of brightly colored kitsch. Walking into this eclectic Prague Party Restaurant, will leave you amazed.  This is because the decor is similar to no other place in the world. Likewise, creative and inspiring design and cuisine will take you on a journey far beyond the magic of Prague. Above all, the amazing Balkan and Mediterranean cuisine always features fresh fish and friendly service that as a result, have you coming back for more.

The menu features a nice selection of Balkan and Italian inspired meals, including cevapcici, pastas, and various fresh fish entrees. This is straightforward, family-style fare, the kind you might find in a tucked-away little restaurant in Sarajevo, or, better yet, on the dining table of a Balkan home. Luka Lu describes itself as the child of an adventurous Italian father and a calm, simple Bosnian mother. This assessment makes perfect sense: the unpretentious food is hence, the work of the mama. And you only need to take one look at the interior design to see where the boisterous Italian side comes in.

The restaurant boasts a beautifully fun and eclectic winter garden.  There is also an oasis summer garden, allows diners to experience their meals in a fantasy land of colors and flavors. Therefore at Luka you can choose between continental cuisine dominated by grilled meat dishes typical for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and seaside cuisine dominated by fresh fish and other seafood typical for the coast of Croatia. Also thought about those who like pasta and Italy…

And finally

Guests and at the same time friends praise the interior of our Prague Luka Lu restaurant. When you come over, you can choose where to spend a pleasant afternoon or evening: at the small street garden, in one of the two lounges or the winter garden. In the gallery-lounge or the larger courtyard garden which ends where the Petrin Park begins. The rooms are separated for non-smokers and those who indulge in the habit.

And one more thing – the staff is very artistic: every month a painter or photographer presents his or her works in our gallery, they are organize small as well as bigger concerts. What else to say… Come over if you haven’t yet been to this restaurant; Luka Lu is simply love guests and hope the guests love them…