Viktoria pastry shop based in Prague has a big name in the industry. Cakes and petits fours are prepared by a team of twenty people under the leadership of a pastry-chef Martin Polanecký. More than two hundred wholesale customers regularly take Viktoria’s amazing products from their small factory in Prague 3. Among these customers, you can find prestigious hotels, catering companies, and restaurants. Their products are not only beautiful, but they are also excellent in taste as more than thousand wedding attendants, birthday persons, hosts of the World Ice Hockey Championship, Davis Cup and Laver Cup held in Prague can confirm.
Neither one of ten thousands satisfied customers are unaware of some traditional delicacies from Viktoria being prepared with Moravský Vaječný Tradiční. ‘We’ve tasted six or seven eggnogs but not a single one hasn’t been as good as Metelka’s. Its taste and consistency is just perfect for our products,‘ Martin Polanecký praises its features. They use almost four hundred litres of Moravský Vaječný Tradiční every year. They use it for cognac and caramel desserts, Christmas sweets, or pralines called Eggnog.
The renowned professional, who has been in the business for more than twenty years, emphasizes that they use only fresh and high-quality ingredients in Viktoria. Their products are based on traditional recipes and procedures. ‘We made our own petits fours, cakes, ice cream, mini desserts, pralines, and chocolate as well. We work only with real whipped cream, butter, flour, and milk. When we prepare chocolate products we use only a high-quality chocolate, usually, from a French chocolatery Cacao Berry,‘ says Martin Polanecký.
The amount of ingredients they use in a year is astonishing. They used almost 15,000 litres of heavy cream, 11,000 kilograms of sugar, and 160,000 eggs in 2017. Martin Polanecký expects from all ingredients to be in high quality and this is valid even for liqueurs. Eggnog isn’t the only one liqueur used in Viktoria. ‘In addition to eggnog, we also work with tuzemák. Without these products, I don’t think any Czech pastry-chef would survive. But not all my colleagues have the same opinion because they are able to put anything in their products, such as artificial aromas,‘ shakes his head. He admits to like an orange liqueur. ‘It’s great in taste and it can be added to many products,‘ he says.
However, he admits that some customers don’t like alcohol in petits fours. ‘When they find out, they don’t allow children to eat it. Even our grandmothers and mothers have always put a little bit of alcohol into cakes or Christmas sweets. Children always have been allowed to eat these sweets,‘ smiles the pastry-chef of Viktoria. ‘I’ve noticed this trend of ‘modern’ moms who take their children to pastry shops and dictate them what to eat. If it’s unhealthy, children can’t eat it. I just don’t get why they even take their children here. Sometimes, I experience many comic situations,’ he says in disbelief.
Despite negative public opinion on Czech customers, Martin Polanecký thinks that a Czech customer appreciates the quality and the Czech tradition. ‘At least, this is our experience. Quality production of sweets reflects our effort to honour the nostalgia of pastry shops during the First Czechoslovak Republic era. We offer only the best and always fresh products and Metelka’s products help us a lot,’ the boss of the pastry shop Viktoria in Prague appreciates the liqueurs.
More info here www.cukrarstvi-viktoria.cz
