Sansho Restaurant, Prague: Asian Cuisine in the Petrská Quarter
The crab came to the table first. Whole, fried golden, its legs splayed across the plate and a folded steamed bao bun on top. Soft-shell crabs are caught right after molting, before the new shell has time to harden, so you eat the whole thing - body, legs, everything. Sansho is a pan-Asian restaurant in the Petrská quarter of Prague's New Town and one of the standout names on the Czech Michelin scene. And the fried crab with wasabi is the most famous thing on its menu.
From an English Butcher to an Italian from Lake Como
Sansho was opened in 2011 by Englishman Paul Day, a trained butcher who had cooked in London at Nobu and at Nahm, a Thai restaurant in the Michelin Guide. His formula was Asian flavors built on meat from Czech farms, with the kitchen using the whole animal. Michelin was quick to respond: the restaurant earned a Bib Gourmand from the 2012 edition onward and kept it until 2020. Today the guide lists Sansho among its recommended restaurants (Selected), and the Michelin plaque on its sign has since been joined by two Gault&Millau toques.
In the meantime, the kitchen and the whole company were taken over by Italian Giona Fedrigo, who grew up by Lake Como. In Prague he first cooked for his fellow Italian Riccardo Lucque at La Bottega Gastronomica in Žižkov and came to Sansho as a guest - he asked Paul Day for a job himself. A regular who went on to become head chef and owner: in 2022 he bought the restaurant from its founder. And every now and then he slips a little bit of Italy into the Asian menu.
Lunch from Crab to Sticky Toffee Pudding
I'd been looking forward to the soft-shell crab slider with wasabi mayonnaise (285 CZK/11.40 EUR) ever since my booking was confirmed, so I simply had to start with it - and it exceeded my expectations: the crab was crunchy yet still juicy, and the bun was fluffy, not the least bit dry. I haven't come across fried crab in a bun on any other menu in Prague. Sansho was already frying its crab with wasabi in the year it opened, and apparently it has never left the menu.
The beef tartare with cilantro crackers, pecorino and butter toast (375 CZK/15 EUR) sounds like a European classic, but it's the cilantro crackers that take it somewhere else - original and nicely seasoned.
The dumplings filled with porcini and black truffle, with miso butter and black vinegar (325 CZK/13 EUR for four), were really good: the dough was so delicate that for a moment I felt more like I was in a top Italian restaurant - and yet underneath them sat Japanese miso butter and Chinese black vinegar. With an Italian running the kitchen, that's hardly a coincidence.
The mains range across Southeast Asia: we tried the pork belly with broccoli and a three-pepper sauce with jasmine rice (475 CZK/19 EUR) and the caramelized pork with coconut rice (495 CZK/19.80 EUR). Yes, two Czechs at a pan-Asian restaurant ordered pork and pork. The Czech in us comes out even at a Michelin table - one came smothered in the three-pepper sauce, the other in caramel with sliced chili and fried garlic, and both tasted great.
Sticky toffee pudding (195 CZK/7.80 EUR) is a British classic, a sticky date sponge with toffee sauce - at Sansho they add banana ice cream, pistachios and candied orange, and it was the orange that made me happy, because I love candied fruit. The pistachio financier with caramel mousse and burnt chocolate (also 195 CZK/7.80 EUR) was even better, though: the mousse was as thick and rich as homemade whipped cream. The little almond cake got its name long ago in France after the financiers around the Paris stock exchange, since it didn't get their fingers sticky while they traded; here they've turned it into a full-fledged dessert. And let me dwell on the price for a moment: 195 CZK (7.80 EUR) is a surprisingly friendly amount for a dessert at a restaurant on the Michelin list. And the portions were definitely not small.
Mezcal, Kimchi and Ginger Liqueur
It was Friday after a tough week, so we added cocktails to our lunch. The Mezcal Negroni (275 CZK/11 EUR) is a take on the classic negroni with mezcal standing in for the gin; it surfaced in New York bars in the late 2000s, and nobody claims to have invented it. Here they build it on the Mexican Gusano Rojo - a brand famous for the worm in the bottle, which ended up in mezcal thanks to marketing, not tradition - and round it off with their own vermouth brand, The Happy Monkey. It gave me a nice kick, and the smokiness came through beautifully.
The Yuzu Elderflower Fizz (325 CZK/13 EUR) sticks to the classic fizz formula - a spirit, citrus and bubbles: here vodka, the Japanese citrus yuzu and elderflower, topped up with organic prosecco. Maybe it's a ladies' drink, but I'm not afraid to admit it hit the spot for me too. The Kimchi Mezcalina (275 CZK/11 EUR), mezcal infused with kimchi and agave, is the bar's own creation - it comes with a chili-salt rim and skewered cornichons. Next to the spicy food its bite got lost, but once I'd finished my main course it was a really nice drink. And the Sansho Harvest (275 CZK/11 EUR) combines Sul gin - a Hamburg gin made with Portuguese botanicals - with apple and cilantro, with a dried apple slice floating on top; it was every bit as good as the rest of the lineup.
Meanwhile, the miserable October weather had set in outside, so to finish we asked for a recommendation and ended up with ginger liqueur. They brought the bottle with slices of ginger inside to the table and poured it right in front of us: a ginger liqueur from Galli Distillery with a gold medal from the Pálenka roku (Fruit Spirit of the Year) 2025 competition on the label. A warming finale, just right for the kind of weather when you don't feel like heading back out after lunch.
A Living Room with a Flamingo
The interior is pleasantly eclectic: none of the tables match, one has a tablecloth, the next is bare wood, there are retro armchairs with colorful cushions, dark red velvet curtains and a pink flamingo in the doorway. I felt like I was in someone's living room - and that's exactly how relaxed we felt the whole time. The decor is a joy to take in: on a wine-red retro fridge the candles have drooped into arches, and propped against the wall is a collage of a man in a red jacket with the head of a moth. Monkey business from The Happy Monkey, whose signature is all over the place.
The staff were pleasant, helpful and, above all, knew how to give advice: when we asked what to choose, we got a concrete recommendation, not a helpless "it depends what you're in the mood for". In the evening the kitchen serves only a six-course tasting menu (2,150 CZK/86 EUR), so the lunchtime à la carte is the more accessible way in - and it tends to be full, so booking is worth it. They also cook on New Year's Eve (see Where to Spend New Year's Eve in Prague).
We arrived for lunch at 12:10pm, and I don't know why I expected the place to be half empty. It wasn't. Those two and a half hours flew by in the blink of an eye. We got the last free table and were the last table still occupied when we left.
Restaurace Sansho
