At Inn U Jiskrů, you will be charmed by traditional Czech cuisine with a First Republic touch

Everyone uses our grandmothers’ recipes, but Chef Martin Geskra has it in his DNA. Travel the whole world with a wooden spoon for a stop in Kbelnice, at Inn U Jiskrů, offering travelers the elegance of traditional Czech cuisine and showing we have so much to offer the world, just stop being shy.

Travel inn U Jiskrů has been operating for four years, two of which were covid, what has changed since opening?

The hostel is always changing. We have new ideas and suggestions and respond to guests’ wishes. We’re still working on improving the environment, we’ve added a porch, a garden, we do weddings and we’ve prepared an array of dishes for guests to take home. Food from Špajz allowed us to get guests into the fridge, who think of us even a few days after visiting the inn.

I have a feeling post covid the restaurant will not be back to the way it was. Prices for energy and raw materials are still rising, people go to restaurants less because it is too expensive for them. I understand that, but we can’t afford all the costs on our own. However, what should not be changed is the password “our guest our guest”. I consider helpfulness and willingness to be the basis of action.

Did anything surprise you about running your own pub?

For years I’d wanted to start my own pub, but had been working on such beautiful estates that it seemed a shame to stop. Then I gathered several moments in life and started my own business with the support of my family.

All my life I have worked for someone, in conditions arranged and paid for by someone else. It’s exciting to fight over a Michelin star, but when someone else is paying. Frankly speaking, it is unsustainable in normal economic performance. We try to cook to the best of our ability, and that’s what our guests value most, not the arrangement.

I was negatively surprised working with people. I’ve never had to worry about HR and I’ve never been prepared for it. Unfortunately I have had some bad experiences with the staff, I was completely struck by their irresponsibility, self-confidence, rudeness, unprofessionalism and completely unfounded ambition. Fortunately, I was able to find two great colleagues, South Bohemia diamonds and myself to pamper, but there are not enough of us to maintain exemplary service and quality over the long term and at the same time not give up on our personal lives. That’s why we’re always looking for new colleagues.

Good beer goes with a snack in the pub! Try, for example, the recipe for a wonderful drowning according to the step-by-step video recipe

You can find the full recipe here here

What dishes do guests like that they didn’t like very much?

From the start, I cook with flexibility, wanting to have complete freedom to decide according to my current supply of ingredients, the season and my moods. We do not have a permanent list. I write the daily menu in the morning, but we’re often full before I post it. I’m glad people trust me enough to experiment with my kitchen and not go for a particular dish. We have a choice of 6-8 meals each day, ten meals at the weekend. We always have something sleeping in the woods, running on two or fours, swimming and growing. Each meal has different side dishes and there is usually bread. We’ll bake thousands of them in one year, because they’ve become an unofficial currency here in Strakonick. With themed menus, we always have an escape dish for those who don’t feel like killer or fried food. Grandpa’s sirloin steak is a bestseller even on themed menus, apart from schnitzel, schnitzel wins there.

Try the proven recipe for sirloin sauce with Moravian dumplings according to the video recipe tutorial

You can find the full recipe here here

Before Christmas, your cookbook and recipes from the mobile lodge have been published. How did you choose the recipes for it?

It was based on standard favorites we’ve already cooked thousands of times for our inn guests. To a greater extent, they are chosen by the guests themselves. I also added ox glands, tripe, and radishes, which are not very popular anymore. Half the guests love them, half would never order them, but the book wouldn’t be complete without them. I wanted to capture all the beauty of Czech cuisine. At the same time, it is my author’s book, tested in detail, How I Cook Czech Cuisine.

How did you compile the special list?

I was looking forward to them, and at the same time experiencing a somewhat subtle challenge to myself. I didn’t want to write complete seasonal classics like Strawberry May or Easter, but at the same time I wanted to serve beautiful seasonal dishes, so that they are traditional and at the same time elegantly unconventional, as is usual for us at the inn. So I declassified the recipes for the special events that we organize at the inn during the year. In the last weekend of January, we celebrated Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová’s birthday, and cooked her dishes, for example, hairdresser with sausages, cholik or Spanish fowl. Saint Martin, of course, must remain. The provocative name Trhni refers to the popular jerky. They are vacuum-cooked to retain maximum flavor and then cut into pieces and then baked or boiled. We serve it, for example, in a salad with cabbage and dill with dill. Lesů pán shows off the beauty of venison. Christmas in South Bohemia is not to be missed due to our location. The dumpling menu offers an endless variety of dumpling preparation. The popular Schnitzel menu includes Czech and European schnitzels.

Among the popular Dutch cheese schnitzel. Prepare it according to our video recipe

You can find the full recipe here here

Do you always work with the same suppliers?

We have a few suppliers, but not all of them. There are several reasons – they went out of business, they changed their offer, I have other requirements, they can’t provide the required quantity… Fortunately, there are many offers and I can choose, even if unfortunately the local suppliers are decreasing. We are now solving the problem of fresh fish, local fishermen use backed fish from Poland, which our price cannot compete with. We don’t take enough fish to the lodge to keep them running, but I don’t want to take low quality fish.

How does the Jíme jih collaboration work? Are you afraid of competition?

Not at all, I see the association as a good restaurant community and people who think similarly to us. The strength of the bond is manifested, for example, in putting pressure on suppliers, for example that they grow or produce some raw materials only for us. For example, distilling gin or Kontušovka in quantity for one restaurant can be very expensive and complicated, when there are four of us, it is already worth it and we can even start it up. We enrich each other with ideas and experiences, and I am glad of that.

Source: Author’s text, Prima Fresh Magazine