Jon Searles' photos with the keyword: Vytopna

The original Prague Vytopna restaurant was actually this one, on Vaclavske Namesti. I've actually forgotten if I've ever been inside, but I don't think so. There was also a location in Brno, which is said to have been the original location in 2009, but it has since closed. The Vaclavske Namesti location was still open when I researched this caption in 2024, however.

There are actually two Vytopna locations in Prague, one here, in the Palladium Shopping Centre, and another one on Vaclavske Namesti (plus another one in Vienna, in Austria). This is a railway-themed restaurant, with mostly American-inspired food like burgers (even if the trains are mostly Czech and European), and a large G-Scale model train layout integrated into the restaurant. This is the case in both the Palladium and Vaclavske Namesti locations. The trains are computer-controlled, using a similar system to that used on the (real-life) Docklands Light Railway in London, with a signal wire down the middle of the track. This is so that they can be used to deliver drinks to the tables, although they are too small (in spite of being G-scale) to deliver food. One thing their small size doesn't impact much is their speed, as they can operate at up to 20 Km/h, comparable to real 19th-Century freight trains (at least in the United States). This means that they're hard to photograph without a good camera with a fast sensor or film. This is one of my better shots from this visit in 2015, where I managed to catch one of the gondolas loaded with two full 500ml beer glasses. Empty beer glasses also generally return to the bar via rail.

The model railway in Vytopna also has station buildings, although they're purely decorative. This station is for "Stare Brno," which is probably a reference not so much to the city of Brno (as Brno doesn't have a station by that name), but more likely the Starobrno beer brand. Despite this, when I was there Vytopna was mostly serving Krusovice, which is brewed in the city of the same name (historically, from 1581 to 1685, Krusovice was the royal brewery of Bohemia, and has passed through various owners since).