Until February 20: Annual Seafood Festival ‘Shrimps In Bruxx’

Bruxx restaurant is a stylish brasserie focused on Belgian cuisine and Belgian beer located in Náměstí Míru Square. Until 20th February, ‘Shrimps in Bruxx’ will be taking place at the restaurant, as part of their festival.

The restaurant hosts six sea-food festivals annually, the most popular being the lobster festival which usually occurs just before Christmas, and the shrimp festival just closely behind.  It is a fantastic way to celebrate their strong menu which is comprehensively seafood, but also showcases just how and why they are one of the best in the country, as the chief chef uses this opportunity to present some new recipes.

The festivals in the past have proved themselves to be very popular, and the ‘Shrimps in Bruxx’ event is no different as the 14th and 15th  are almost fully booked. To make a reservation you can call the restaurant directly, or make a booking in person, or via Restu.cz.

The festival’s tagline is “Food Without Cutlery” in which they encourage you to use your hands to eat, the menu will include food to be shared between two people to encourage the fun and sharing aspect of the festival. The original menu will be available alongside the additional festival menu, which will have a brand new five speciality dishes all featuring shrimps from Argentina, Vietnam and Bangladesh. Chosen specifically for their quality and size.

Bruxx is a Belgian restaurant through and through when I asked the chef Oldřich Matoušek if he was ever tempted to put a Czech twist on a recipe he responded: “The recipes are so far apart, that would be practically impossible. I am always conscious that I am cooking at a Belgian restaurant, so at most the recipes will be a combination of French and Belgian cuisine.” 

The restaurant offers over sixty kinds of Belgian beers, and every 14 days one beer from the local brewery is added to the spigot. “Three and a half tonnes of mussels are consumed every month” at the restaurant. “With 250 seats the restaurant can easily feel like a big family house when full.”

National House on Namesti Miru Square has stood for 150 years, so its part of the rich cultural story of the neighbourhood. Bruxx Restaurant manager Honza Pina recalled “As a local of Namesti Miru, I can definitely say we had been waiting for a restaurant like Bruxx for a long time, from the style, comfort and design its very comfortable. Previously you would only have found carpeted restaurants that were small and served in the cellar.” 

“We are for local people, around Christmas time we see visitors from around the republic cities as well as from small villages. If I had to make roughly give some figures I would say 80%  are Czech people, 15% foreigners working or living in Prague, and they know us because of our rating as the top 10 restaurants in the republic, but still we are not familiar or known to all of the expats, and tourists would only make 5% as we are not located in Praha 1”

Though being rooted in a local community, the restaurant being for everyone was a repeated sentiment with the manager, as he mentioned the adjustments that were made to include a children’s corner for children with a supervisor every weekend nearly 3 years ago, as well housing a DJ from Wednesday – Saturday. And “We are for everyone, we are gastronomy for the 21st century, so that plays a lot into our culture here at the restaurant as we try to be classic, accommodating and trendy” he added.