It’s been a culinary weekend of ambrosial proportions. Chef Jan Horák, jovial and serious all at once, stirs fat, black snails over an outdoor grill. A woody aroma wafts through the air, tinged with a generous peppering of rain. Chef Horák bats away the smoke while I huddle beneath a stone exterior arch, part of Prague’s still active 13th-century Augustinian monastery, St Thomas.
Perhaps it’s the shadows, but I swear I see a monk peering out a Gothic window with hunger in his eyes. At Prague’s Augustine, a Luxury Collection hotel, which has been exquisitely designed to be enveloped in the bones of the monastery and to co-exist with it and its six remaining monks, I’ve been eating Horák’s sustainable, locally-procured fare for days. While he shows me how to make my own amuse bouche – smoked yogurt, deer, berries and foraged mushrooms stacked into a neat tart – during our rainy picnic, I sip unexpectedly elegant white wine made by his friend Tomáš Trejbal, whose experimental winery Trejbal lies in the hinterlands just outside Prague.
I’ve been shadowing chef Horák to find out more about the recently launched immersive partnership between The Luxury Collection and MAD Academy, Copenhagen’s global nonprofit founded by René Redzepi of Noma fame. MAD (which in Danish means “food”) is led by notable hospitality professionals and has a mission to empower culinary and hotel workers around the world. They strive to initiate a transformation in our food systems – and to seek pathways for cleaner and more sustainable food gathering, preparing, serving and consuming. For its part, The Luxury Collection, which originated as a group of characteristic, upscale hotels in 1906, has long been dedicated to inviting – even encouraging – its guests to partake of local customs.
Satisfying guests’ curiosity via hotel-supported exploration stands out as The Luxury Collection’s brand ethos. Naturally, that effort extends to food and drink. Together, MAD Academy and The Luxury Collection have joined to train and inspire hotel chefs’ instincts for eco-conscious kitchens and sustainable menu offerings. As allies, they hope to jumpstart something substantial in a sometimes flailing and uncertain world. Their message is one of hope.
Last November, 13 of The Luxury Collection’s top chefs traveled to Copenhagen to study MAD’s curriculum. Chef Horák was one of the tutorial’s stars, and returned from the program more impassioned about his local culture and Czech homegrown/made products than before. As I gambol with him through Prague’s bucolic woodlands, visiting farms, wineries, castles and fisheries, I see how much Czech heritage plays a role already at the five-star Augustine on all fronts.
That’s why the hotel’s (and chef’s) kitchen was ideal for launching the gastronomic alliance with MAD. A slew of locavore-worthy elements have been well entrenched already and partner producers embraced – whether at breakfast, dinner or in the remarkable 600-year-old St Thomas Brewery, part of the hotel. One of Prague’s oldest beer joints, historically run by the monks and serving their own brew (eponymously named St Thomas), it remains within the hotel (and monastery), hewn into its moody, underground ramparts. Besides beer made from the original, 600-year-old, secret recipe, the speakeasy-like pub also offers Czech spirits and liqueurs, as well as hearty Czech fare, such as schnitzel and sausage.
When I visit the brewery with Horák, he pulls me a half pint of St Thomas’s famous beer. It’s epiphany-making. Robust, brown as a monk’s cassock, it tastes of ancient prayers.
Stay
For centuries, the St Thomas Monastery served as a haven from rowdy throngs. Today, Augustine, a Luxury Collection Hotel continues to be a refuge from Prague’s animated street life. A sanctuary tucked into Prague’s historic Lesser Town, it sits steps from Charles Bridge and minutes from most of the city’s top monuments and museums. The famed castle can be seen from some of its 101 rooms and suites. Created from the creative nestling of seven different buildings, including the monastery, the hotel has stunning artwork (some of the pieces reproduced from the monastery’s own collection) and interiors by hotel maven Olga Polizzi, known for her lavish design flourishes, unexpected accents, contemporary pops of color and almost maximalist opulence. No room here resembles a monk’s cell.
For a sinful indulgence, book one of the six Signature Suites, each of them immense, unique and jaw-dropping. I joyfully occupied the two-bedroom Moser Suite, an elegant bolthole, dressed with graceful masterpieces – vases, carafes, sculptures, drinking glasses – from the legendary Czech luxury glassmaker, Moser. For stunning views of Prague, opt for the Tower Suite, a regal treat on three levels. A dream come true for art lovers, the Fresco Suite with original, centuries-old frescos transports guests to former times.
Dine
Trained in the world’s most sought-after restaurants from Copenhagen to Napa, Horák cleverly combines French techniques with bohemian earthiness. Augustine, the hotel’s all-day restaurant, looks across a courtyard that showcases part of the monastery. While the aforementioned St Thomas Brewery serves up classic rural specialities, Augustine is the place to sample Horák’s twist on seasonal, contemporary cuisine, to taste his partnerships with farmers and to see his sense of harmony at play.
Fearlessly combining unexpected ingredients that he intuitively puts together because “they grow or exist in the same space,” he invites diners to taste the terroir – but playfully. Try the daikon radish appetizer, prepared with parsley root puree, tomato and olive sauce and sour cream or chicken with truffles, garlic spaetzle and red peppers.
Once the dining hall of the Augustinian monastery, The Refectory Bar blends old and new, playfully enlivening the soulful antique furniture and Baroque frescoes with an immense portrait of Blondie behind the bar. Light, small plates complement seriously creative cocktails.
For centuries, the St Thomas Monastery served as a haven from rowdy throngs. Today, as Augustine, a Luxury Collection Hotel continues to be a refuge from Prague’s animated street life. A sanctuary tucked into Prague’s historic Lesser Town, it sits steps from Charles Bridge and minutes from most of the city’s top monuments and museums.
Trained in the world’s most sought-after restaurants from Copenhagen to Napa, Horák cleverly combines French techniques with bohemian earthiness. Augustine, the hotel’s all-day restaurant, looks across a courtyard that showcases part of the monastery.
The hotel’s stunning artwork and interiors come courtesy of hotel maven Olga Polizzi, known for her lavish design flourishes, unexpected accents, contemporary pops of color and almost maximalist opulence.
For stunning views of Prague, opt for the Tower Suite, a regal treat on three levels.
Explore
With a redone spa and fitness room, Augustine also wants guests to step out of the hotel to experience Prague and its environs off the beaten path. Join an art studio tour, led by a museum curator or embark on an epicurean tour with Chef Jan. The concierge can arrange for tours of the monastery and its Baroque chapel, as well as VIP tickets to Prague’s many impressive museums. Wellness buffs: look for future meditation, yoga and journaling retreats now in the planning stages.
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