Pult in Prague has an approach worth stealing

We ended up at Pult because our local guide, Evan Rail, suggested it with the caveat that, as a venue, it’s a bit global Brooklyn. Well, it is, and it isn’t. On this trip around Czechia, and last year’s big trip around the Balkans, we observed a local variant of the global foodie style which is more businesslike, more austere and perhaps a touch brutalist. In Czechia, perhaps we should say ‘functionalist’. That was the dominant local architectural style in the 1920s whose slogan was “form follows function”. Pult is very much a machine for drinking in or perhaps we might say it’s a laboratory for encountering local beer. It’s self service at the counter – not traditionally Czech – and the menu is displayed on a big, easy-to-read illuminated board with black lettering on a bright yellow background. Think No Brand. The beer list is what really got us excited, not so much for what’s on it – what do we know about Czech beer? – but for the logic behind it. The idea is that the list changes…