French restaurant in Alexandria Hotel. A jewel within a jewel

Mrs. Monica, history is being written here, by the way, what is it? The hotel itself, as far as I know, opened in the turbulent times of the beginning of the Protectorate...

Yes, it's true, accurate historical sources are not exactly easy to come by. But what is certain is that the local French restaurant opened as another piece of true luxury, and modernity for the time, a few months afterwards.

Great personalities, including film stars, used to be guests here. Jaroslav Marvan, Vlasta Burian, Adina Mandlová, and later Miroslav Zikmund, Jiří Hanzelka, and then Karel Gott, for example...

There were many more famous faces and influential people, across all historical peripeties, regimes and time periods. Quite simply, this restaurant, with its beautiful paintings and furniture, has always been and hopefully will continue to be the showpiece of our spa.

Somewhere I've researched that the hotel has been surprisingly non-smoking since the 1950s, not without interest...

That is certainly interesting, as is the fact that it's in a spa with a priority on upper respiratory treatment. One president, not so long ago, broke that though. (chuckle)

The restaurant smells of refinement, the young waiter confirms it, he says he's very happy here, you know that?

Of course, to be a waiter in Alexandria, here in a French restaurant, it's a real honor. Otherwise, there are more experienced colleagues who have been working here for many years, but rejuvenation is welcome.

If you had to pick something that makes this restaurant what it is,

certainly its decor, the paintings, the furniture, there's more than one thing. But if something is truly classic, and has been since the first moments after it opened eighty-five years ago, it's 100% flambé. Our guests love it, it's a spectacle, an experience."

French restaurants have an amazing history, there must be a sea of those who have created it, I'm thinking now of the staff.

Mr. Vincenc Jančarik, a master waiter. He remembered important visits, was a kind of encyclopedia of the first decades. He worked here from 1942 until 1968, when he went to his second home, I think first to Switzerland and then to Canada. He also published his memoirs in book form in 2000.

When one looks into the period press, one always finds something of interest...

Undoubtedly, perhaps the most interesting surviving newspapers are those from the very early days of the opening of the Alexandria Hotel and then the French Restaurant. It says that it was these ventures that brought Luhačovice into the select company of world-class spas.

For example, the fact that every room is equipped with radios and telephones...

Well, for the time, a real world luxury.

In 2010, a new building was added to the original one, adding a much-used antique-style spa. So what era is the hotel and restaurant experiencing today?

I think we are still a hotel with a wonderful restaurant, proper sound, refinement and luxury. That's what Mr. Alexander Lozovsky, as the original owner and donor of the hotel, envisioned for his wife.

Categories: Company, Culture, What to do in Luhačovice, Spa, History, Why to Luhačovice, Luhačovice, Hotels, Hotel Alexandria, Interview, Restaurant