For another hip way to mix music and a meal, Radost Fx combines the unusual duo of trendy vegetarian eatery and techno/hip-hop night club. Radost’s restaurant is comprised of three separate sections. A narrow rectangular room, the café, clad in Versailles-esque golden furnishings, is visible from Bělehradská Street in Prague 2. Enter the building and continue past Radost’s dark and dingy stairwell that connects the upstairs eating and bar area with downstairs nightclub. Down the hallway is the lounge area, with an impressive assortment of oddly shaped chairs in floral damask fabrics, and the gallery, a room designed with a Moroccan flare and lined with long tables and plush cushions, perfect for cocktails with friends.

The restaurant’s eclectic tastes are also reflected in Radost’s globe-spanning cuisine that offers meatless twists on everything from Mediterranean to Mexican. Amidst the wide selection it is easy to forget that the menu is completely vegetarian. Listed under “foreplay” in the thick wood covered menu, the appetizers seemed to good to resist on paper. Yet, while the vegetarian grape leaves (125 Kc) were delicious, the dry and flavorless garlic cheese bread did not live up to expectations.

If you intend to visit the club downstairs late in the evening it’s probably best to stick to the lighter fare. Both the warm goat cheese salad and greek salad are noteworthy choices and the sandwich #5 melting with mozzarella, spinach, roasted garlic, tofu and artichoke hearts is also surprisingly enjoyable. The flavorful combination of tomato, garlic, and parsley in the ratatouille are, however, brought down in presentation by awkwardly large chunks of tomatoes and eggplant and in taste by the dryness of the couscous.

After dinner it is easy to transition into party mode by enjoying a cocktail at your table and then making your way downstairs to the club. A variety of international and local DJs are brought in to keep the party going way, way after most night venues in Prague have closed. Most often the crowded dance floor is packed with a young and touristy crowd getting down to a techno or hip hop beat.