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Image by Katerina Vankova
If you love Vietnamese food, you should check out the so-called little Hanoi aka Sapa, situated in Prague.
TTTM Sapa, located in the south surround of Prague called Písnice is a wholesale market where you can buy a lot of stuff (the majority of the items sold come from Asia of course). Actually it’s like a town in a town with different amenities for the Vietnamese community: restaurants and bistros (including some bubble tea places) beauty salons, a school, a temple etc.
I’m a big fan of Sapa especially because of the food. I like the Vietnamese groceries, where you can buy different ingredients for Asian cuisine that you can not buy anywhere else (or they are way too expensive) – various vegetables and fruits, herbs, sauces, frozen prawns, alive crabs, strange looking meat, tea, rice, tofu and much more…
Besides checking the shops you should definitely eat there. The criteria of a good place to eat is simple: eat where local people eat! Places which are oriented in one type of food are usually the strike home. My favorite place is a tiny place named Hai Há – the have the best bún chả- it is rich and savory.
P.S. if you go to Sapa by bus, you can take bus 113 from metro station Kacerov (C line) – that is the best way. A second option is the bus 198 from Smichovske nadrazi metro station (B line). The place is really on the outskirts of the city so don’t be surprised 
Sapa | Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants (Vietnamese) | Bún chả CZK 90.00
Libušská 319/126
09:00 – 20:00 daily
Thanks for the metro / bus detail keterina !
If you go.. and live in Praha or the Czech Republic
Treat yourself to a 25kg bag of Rose Brand Jasmine Rice..
800 kc (40 bucks or so)
My wife is Taiwnese, I’ve recently moved from Asia to Praha.
This is the best Jasmine rice we’ve found around here…. Cheaper and better than the stuff you get in Carrefour / Billa etc and 25kg can feed family and friends in a pinch….
Lots more worth getting there!!
Worth a few trips if you live here….
As a tourist??
It’s a block of warehouses full of sauces and flip flops and Asian herbs….
Thanks again Katerina
Hi Christian,
thank you for your comment. Welcome to Prague, I hope that you will enjoy your life together with your wife here! Regarding Sapa – yes, it is of course a good source to buy various ingredients for cooking. However I think that for tourists it might be interesting as well, especially if they are in the mood for some authentic Vietnamese food. The number of pho places around the city centre grows, but Sapa is still the place where you have the most variety (and the best bun cha).
this place is gross and depressing it’s in the middle of nowhere.. I went there hoping to find some good vietnamese food but it was deserted..I went in a restaurant to get vietnamese coffee and the lady shook the coffee up in a dasani water bottle. EW.
Dear Shaina, thank you for your comment. I´m wondering, what day (and also what time of the day) you went to Sapa. I usually go there during weekend (Saturday or Sunday noon – mid-afternoon) and it is always busy. The bistros are operating when the market is operating – during the day. I admit that it migh be kind of difficult to find the right places to eat for a first-time visitor, but it requires a bit of patience and a lot of curiosity. I can only recommend what is written in the article – eat where locals (Vietnamese) eat and go where it smells well. And speaking of gross – I do not know if you have been in South-East Asia, but despite how the place looks like, if you keep some rules, you can experience a better dining experience than in restaurant with silverware. And trust me, if you would see the backstage of some Czech restaurants, you woud be quiet surprised regarding the hygienic standards…
Hope you will have better luck next time!
hi katerina
yes it is the one in holesovice i ment …
Well okay i think we will go there this time we have been to Prague a few times now but never at SAPA didnt know there was a market called that … ty for your quick response
Best regards KAte
Hi how is this market is it better than the other market with the chinese people ? we have never been here at this market befor but been on the other alot of times .. is it posible to “work” the prices like on the other market ?
Best regards kate
Hello Kate,
thank you for your comment. I’m not sure, what other market you mean – maybe the one in Holesovice? Sapa is good because you have many shops where you can buy ingredients for Asian cuisine plus you have quiet a lot of places where you can eat. And yes, I think that some prices are always negotiable
Hi Costas, you can take the metro C to the station Kacerov and then eg. bus 133 to the stop Sidliste Pisnice.
Hi,
it sounds very interesting (plus appetizing : )! Any idea on how one might get there by public transportation? Thanks!
Rory: Yes, indeed
Sapa is where its at. The Phở shop is where its at…
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