Gran Fierro — Prague, Czech Republic

Documentary maker-turned-restaurateur, Juan Cruz Pacino is doing his bit to boost the burgeoning Czech food scene with the launch of his second venture. Located in the centre of Prague, not far from the National Theatre, the restaurant, which is housed on the ground floor of a modernist block built by Adolf Foehr in 1930, has been outfitted by budding architects, Dagmar Štepánová and Katarina Varsová. Here, their affinity for clean lines and spacial fluidity is evident with a crisp baby blue palette, rounded off with roughhewn woods, industrial lighting fixtures and mid-century furniture, including a series of leather Les Arcs chairs by designer Charlotte Perriand. Bolstered by the shop-front’s floor-to-ceiling windows, the entrance and bar is fresh and uncluttered, leading the way to a shadowy, more intimate posterior, designed for some serious eating. Like its sister restaurant, the menu is meat-heavy and the kitchen makes good use of the traditional Argentine grill or ’parrilla’.