10. Food, drink, and shops

Dormitory shop

In the spring of 2012, a dormitory shop was opened on the ground floor of building B, on the site of the former smoking room. However, it was closed in December of 2024, and since 2025, there is an automatized 24/7 shop.

For access you need a telephone with Android or iOS. Registration requires an identity document, selfie, and some time (days) for their approval (and sometimes a message to support).

The shop contains not only food, but also drugstore items (such as toothbrushes, shampoo, and toilet paper) and stationery items (pens, glues, scissors). They have mainly non-perishable food (alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, canned goods, sweets/savories, instant meals), but they also have eggs, small ice-creams, and soon (October?) hopefully even fruit, vegetables, and fresh bakery products.

Baguettes, chilled food and beer at the reception

Food and drinks can be purchased at the reception in building A. The current offer is displayed in the fridge opposite the reception.

Baguettes and sandwiches cost around CZK 52–63, and they are delivered at night before Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It happens that they sell out the day before the delivery.

Chilled meals are delivered by the canteen on Friday around 5 p.m. (except summer). The meals are meant to be heated in the microwave and have a shelf life until Tuesday (thanks to the cold shock technology). There’s usually a selection of several types of meals, which are typically sold out by Sunday or Monday. The portions are large (about 1.5 times bigger than in the canteen) and cost around CZK 75.

The beer is Matfyz’ Pěkný číslo (“Nice number”). It is sold chilled in half-liter bottles, contains an above-average 2π % alcohol, and costs CZK 31 plus a CZK 3 refundable deposit for the bottle.

Food and drinks can be paid for using a student ID card / an ISIC card at subsidized prices, or by card/cash at full prices. You can also top up your student ID card / ISIC credit here using card or cash. Services (such as borrowing a vacuum cleaner, etc.) can be paid for with cash only.

Vending machines on the ground floor

On the ground floor of both buildings, you can find several vending machines for drinks. Currently, building A has a coffee machine, a drinks machine, an energy drinks machine, and a (long-term out-of-order) ice cream machine. In building B, there is a coffee machine and a machine for drinks and energy drinks. The vending machines accept cash as well as contactless card payments.

Lokni water fountains

We have water fountains in both buildings, where you can get filtered sparkling or still water. It used to be free and completely unlimited, but Lokni (formerly Filtermac) decided to introduce restrictions during the corona crisis. Now you must scan a QR code from the app before getting water, and there is a limit of three litres per day. The Lokni app is available for Android at Google Play and for iOS at the App Store. After registering in the app, you need to select the “University” tariff. If you don’t have a smartphone, try writing to their email address and asking them to generate a QR code for you.

Canteen

Canteens are dining facilities for students and employees of universities. One of these can be found in our dormitory. It is officially called Menza Troja and is located in the basement of building A.

The quality of the food is not up to the standards of top restaurants (but definitely better than high school cafeterias), but as the closest source of food, it is quite popular. There is usually a choice of five different meals, one of which is vegetarian and one is vegan. As in other CU canteens, food prices are around CZK 22 for soup and CZK 80–120 for a main dish. In addition, our menu offers a selection of salads, desserts, pizza slices, draft soft drinks and non-alcoholic beer, other cold drinks or ice cream. Since 2022, it is also possible to get a nice, fresh pizza for a fraction of the price on the market, which you can also take with you in a pizza box.

You can also buy1 “Rekrabička” – a box that can be used over and over again; hygiene forbid to use own box.

You can also buy more than one meal – we have two warm meals (including pizza) available with the student discount per day, so you can e.g. buy one meal for lunch and take another for dinner.

The canteen is open only on school days from 10:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. (on Fridays from 10:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.). It is usually closed on holidays. You pay with credit charged to your student ID card / ISIC card. This can be topped up directly in the canteen, at reception A (even outside the canteen’s opening hours), at housekeepers, or on the website after logging in (on request, they will generate a password for you at the cash desk in any canteen) in the section Account management → Payments.

You can order food in advance on the website (where you can also see the menu without logging in), in the MobilKredit 2 app (for Android and iOS) or directly at the canteen. For each meal, in addition to the ordered meals, a certain amount of freely available servings are also cooked, so ordering is not necessary. Before 12 noon, there are usually dishes available for all meals on the menu, but around 2 p.m., we would definitely not count on it.

Café at the Faculty of Humanities

Since 2020, after the opening of the newly built Faculty of Humanities, a café/buffet has also been in operation in its building. The café is accessible from the outside, opposite the entrance to building A. They offer a relatively wide range of buffet food and drinks – baguettes, sweet pastries, coffee, hot chocolate, soft drinks, Matfyz beer Pěkný číslo, and others. It offers quite pleasant (and, thanks to several couches, comfortable) sitting indoors, and in good weather, wooden benches and tables outside (however, smoking is strictly prohibited there). There are also discounts here:

and maybe there will be special menus (Halloween, Erasmus day, …).

Shops (not only) in the vicinity

Port7

On the other side of the river, between the train station and the riverbank, there is complex Port7. Besides a canteen with a small cake shop, and a café, there is a pharmacy, an optician, and a gym.

A Small grocery shop in Holešovice

When you arrive at Nádraží Holešovice by bus and cross the road with the tram tracks, turn right. The first door you come across leads to an Asian minimarket with reasonable opening hours.

Small shops at the metro (subway/underground) station

On both sides of the metro entrance, there is an opportunity to buy food – on one side, there is McDonald’s and Relay, on the other Minit, two bakeries, two Relays, Pizza Merlo, and more. There are also several ATMs here and two branches of Zásilkovna – in one of the Relays and at the ticket office by the trains.

Smaller supermarkets in the vicinity

Albert and Billa at Florenc – Billa is right next to the metro entrance (on Křižíkova street), Albert is across the street. Both are average in size and have all the typical features.

Albert on Komunardů – Classic Albert with all the advantages and disadvantages, a short distance from the dormitory at the stop Dělnická (trams 6 and 12 direction Palmovka / Sídliště Barrandov). Albert is hiding in the building of an old brewery, and you have to go back a bit from the stop. You will see it behind the gate to the courtyard on the right side of the street (next to the DM drugstore). On the way back, you can use the stop U Průhonu, which is even closer to the store.

Billa on Argentinská – This classic Billa is located on Argentinská street (part of the “Magistrála”). You can get there by bus 156 from Nádraží Holešovice or Strossmayerovo náměstí (it goes in a circle).

Albert and OC Stromovka on Veletržní – If you go down the street to the left after arriving at Veletržní palác (trams 17 and 6), you will come across Albert. If you go to the right, you will come to the Stromovka shopping centre with many different shops, such as Lidl, Delmart, DM, a stationery shop, Datart, Sportisimo, but also the interesting concept “PARKet” – a floor dedicated to gastronomy, bars, cultural events, and other things. You can find more information on their website.

Albert at Kobylisy – The supermarket has only a basic assortment, and completely lacks, for example, packaged sausages and cheeses, but it is open until 10 p.m. You can find it right behind the escalator from the metro at the tram stops. You can get there either by metro or by tram no. 17 from the Trojská tram stop.

Albert at Ládví – Classic Albert with all the essentials. You can get there from the dormitory by metro or tram with a transfer at Kobylisy.

Billa on Letenské náměstí – This classic Billa is located on Letenské náměstí. You can get there by tram no. 12, Letenské náměstí stop. Used mainly by students from Malá Strana, who can return to the dormitory via Letenské náměstí.

Prague “Holešovice” Marketplace – There is an abundance of merchants in the complex, Penny and Norma supermarkets, and in Hall 22, a market with vegetables and fruits. You can get there by tram no. 12 (Tusarova stop) or no. 6 to Dělnická and walk a short distance and take the first street to the right, past Alza, until you reach the market.

Kaufland at Libeňský most

Kaufland is located a short distance from the Libeňský most tram stop. They are open until 10 p.m. You can also get there by bike in no time (it’s about 3.5 km) on the bike path leading directly from the dormitory.

Tesco in Letňany

Tesco is open non-stop in Letňany. The 201 bus goes there from the Kuchyňka stop during the day (until half past twelve and from about half past four) and the 911 bus at night. It is a longer journey, suitable for larger purchases. Get off at Tupolevova (about 4 minutes from the Letňany stop), cross the street and through the nearest entrance to the shopping centre, which you pass by keeping to the left.

Food delivery and shopping services

Services that deliver food to your dormitory have recently become more and more popular. Among those delivering ready meals from restaurants, the most popular are Foodora (formerly Dáme Jídlo), Wolt, and Bolt Foods, each with its own restaurant menu and other specifics. Rohlik.cz, Košík.cz, iTesco, Billa and other stores make it possible to buy primarily food items and have them delivered to you.

Pubs and restaurants

Cross club

On the corner of the “Magistrála” and Plynární (that’s where the trams run), there is an absolutely exceptional facility, an architectural work of art. You pay for the beer at the counter and take it to one of the rooms, or there is also a disco. On the first floor, compared to the rest of the building, there is a slightly quieter café. They have a wide selection of drinks and food, but the prices are rather high. You can often smell weed here and meet the corresponding individuals.

Restaurant Loděnice

The restaurant is located right on the Troja Channel. Although it has slightly higher prices, they cook well. Those who are not fond of alcohol will certainly welcome a draft Kofola.

Castle residence

A stylish restaurant with two bowling alleys is located a little to the east of the dormitory. You can get there by a path leading from the parking area. The environment there is very nice, though the prices are expensive, except for the lunch menu, which has a choice of four dishes in various price categories.

Family restaurant of Vietnamese and Thai food at Rokoska

A short distance from the Rokoska bus stop (the first stop after Kuchyňka in the direction of Holešovice; after getting off, go back about 50 m in the direction of Kuchyňka) is a classic Asian restaurant cooking from semi-finished products with traditional prices.

Other places and services

The list is certainly not exhaustive. Due to the limited scope of the guidebook, we want to stress the importance of not being afraid to look for the best offers and good places yourselves using Mapy.cz or Google maps using a keyword “restaurants”, “občerstvení” or “hospody” or even asking your fellow students, your friends or neighbours.

Speaking of neighbours and places to go, we also have some cool bars and dancing places in Prague as the city night life is quite famous. One of such places is the boat Altenburg 1964 that sometimes can be found on the Vltava river during the summer right next to our dorms. Sadly, their concerts (although amazing, we are sure of it), tend to be very very very loud. So loud you may struggle to fall asleep even with the windows closed. We therefore recommend investing in nice sleeping earplugs (not all of them are good for sleeping!).

The earplugs are also going to save you from what sounds like an apocalyptic concert rather than cooking of your neighbour in the early morning, the people sitting and chatting on the dormitory stairs, not knowing when to go to bed, or fun and always loud “Blanka” tunnel… Personally, we can recommend https://www.earplugs.cz website as they have a lot of types (suitable for small and big ears as well) and some other interesting options.

  1. CZK 80 deposit + CZK 2 per use.↩︎