Among the many reasons why I am a Very Special Person is that (drumroll) I actually like Czech food. No, I'm not making a joke at the expense of Central Europe's most scoffed-at cuisine. Maybe it's because I lived in the Czech Republic long enough (13 months) to get familiar with the local grub, yet not long enough for this familiarity to breed contempt, but when I hear the words dobrou chu' (that's čeština for jó étvágyat) I am still drawn back, like Pavlov's slobbering dog, to the humble hospody I used to frequent near my old office on náměstí I. P. Pavlova. So it was without a single Czech food joke in my head that I headed down for a bit of pivo and jídla at the Ferdinand Monarchia Cseh Sörház, which a few weeks ago became the latest attempt to bring the best of the Czech beerhall and kitchen to Budapest.

Since one of the great joys of Czech pubs and pub food are their very simplicity, I'll try to keep this short. According to this article on cspv.hu from which we learned about the restaurant, the owner - one Imre Martin - said his aim was to create a place offering an "original Czech atmosphere" serving traditional Czech dishes. (Before you rush to write in the comments about the Bohemia - Restaurant & Beerhall on Liszt Ferenc tér, they just confirmed to me that despite their name they don't consider themselves a Czech place, but an "eastern European" restaurant.)

One indication of how seriously Ferdinand takes the food side of its offering is the fact that Martin had a "gastronome" from Southern Bohemia help him create a menu and profile for the new place, and then went and got himself an actually Czech master chef. Meanwhile, in keeping with its heritage, the place is named for a beer; Martin says he is the only local distributor for Pivovar Ferdinand, which is brewed in Benešov near the famous Konopiště castle that was the favorite hang-out spot for Archduke Franz Ferdinand, after whom I assume the beer is named.

Even though I lived in the Czech Republic and love Czech pubs, I must confess I actually don't know nic about beer. So I called up my friend Evan Rail, author of (among many others) the Good Beer Guide Prague and the Czech Republic, who basically said that Ferdinand is just fine, if not skvělý. It's a very reasonable Ft 450 for a big mug of the light stuff, and Ft 550 for the "red". My only other comment is that they are listed as having alcoholic content of 10% and 13%, respectively, and they didn't taste that strong to me. But like I said, I don't know beer.

The atmosphere seemed friendly and authentic enough, even without those little scraps of paper the waiters in Czech pubs use to keep track of how much your table has consumed. Moving on to the food, the first thing to note is that the menu is in Hungarian, Czech and German, rather than the now-traditional HU/EN or HU/EN/DE. Since I can do HU and still a bit of CZ this didn't bother me, but FYI. What did bother me was that they didn't have Česneková, the wonderfully bracing clear garlic soup I used to keep the Czech models away. But they did have nakládany Hermelin (above, Ft 750), the equally wonderful spiced and pickled camembert appetizer/beer snack.

As for mains, we sampled a trio of pretty standard-looking dishes: vepřová pečínka se zelím a bramborovým knedlíkem (roast pork with cabbage and potatoes, Ft 1,450, way up top), Česka guláš s knedlikem, křenem (Czech gulyás with dumplings and horseradish, Ft 1,650, above), and the painful-just-to-think-about-pronouncing Do růžova pečená panenka v celku s hříbkovým ragů a křupavým bramboráčkem (pork chop with forest mushroom ragout and potato pancake, Ft 1,750, below).

Everyone agreed that the food was just okay, even given that we were all pretty hungry, and the stuff had taken quite a while to come to the table. (Which brings to mind the old Czech saying hlad je nejlepší kuchař, or "Hunger is the best cook.") Still, everyone left in good spirits, and I doubt I'd have trouble rounding up the same gang to go back. Check it out.