The Oat Bar in Karlín is All About Traditional, Homemade Icelandic Food

Eating healthy and having the ultimate comforting food is not a paradox anymore. A cool takeaway cafe/restaurant opened a couple of months ago in the heart of Karlin. 

The Oat Bar serves yummy oat, skyr based breakfast, and lunch bowls along with Doubleshot coffee and homemade goodies.

We met Anita, the manager of The Oat Bar.

‘I wanted to challenge the ‘eating healthy is boring’ dogma and came up with a concept that fits busy people by offering healthy yet tasty food on the go. I always pictured this place to open in an area where people could be very receptive to new ideas and fill the gap on the healthy takeaway food market, so Karlin seemed a very obvious choice for the café.’

The idea to open a restaurant crossed her mind quite randomly after a 6-months-long backpacker trip. ‘I have always been a big foodie, but have always had a corporate job for 13 years, the whole thing seemed crazy. But getting so much great feedback and lot of happy returning customers is giving me the hint that it was a good decision,’ she says

Everybody knows oatmeal, for many of us it is dull, quick-fix stuff to eat in the morning, but it makes us feel good we did something for our health. However, as Anita says ‘The Oat Bar oatmeal is different from what people usually make for breakfast. Our oatmeal is made of an unprocessed type of oats, cooked for long, keeping all the healthy benefits and resulting in a very creamy texture with a nutty taste. ‘

Out of the compact menu of 9-10 options, getting close to lunchtime being adventurous, we ordered the season-hit Strawberry Cheesecake oatmeal bowl with homemade salted caramel sauce and Tex-Mex savory oatmeal with homemade avocado mash, bacon and cheddar. The bowls seemed at first glance rather small (sold as regular size), but in the end, we hardly could finish them. These oatmeals definitely keep you satiated for long hours!

So the yummy skyr, another specialty of the place, we could only try in a dessert cup form. Our chosen flavors were peanut butter – dark chocolate and one with apple sauce and granola.

This Iceland-inspired dairy treat, which the place is very proud of, is sourced from a local organic farm and based on a unique recipe, only available in The Oat Bar. ‘I fell in love with the Vikings’ super protein in Iceland and since I couldn’t really have the same experience with the commercial skyrs back in the Czech Republic, I decided to make my own, without compromising on the taste, texture, and pureness of the product,’ she added.

The cool thing is that actually all ’sweet’ bowls you can have both with skyr and oatmeal as a base, which gives you even more options to try.

Being a big peanut butter lover, I couldn’t resist getting my hands on a Salty Peanut Butter Bar for takeaway. The gluten and guilt-free treat has no added sugar or flour and gives you the feeling of having a healthy, very tasty ’snickers’. The place offers also vegan and lactose-free sweets, everything made in-house, using carefully chosen bio, organic ingredients.

The Oat bar itself is a small place on a corner just by Krizikova metro with a couple of bar chairs in a low-key, cozy atmosphere.

The café is ready to serve hungry oats and skyr lovers within a relatively short time, with a friendly approach of service that adds a lot to the charm of the place.

The Oat Bar is a great option for a quick and healthy breakfast with surprisingly good lunch offers and tasty homemade desserts. Open only on the weekdays, from 8.00 till 15.00, home delivery is also available.