Switzerland Guide
Basel
Eating
1 Pfalz Münsterberg 11 
www.salat-laden.ch Tiny, bright nook, with excellent fresh juices, sandwiches, quiches and a salad buffet. Opening time: Closed Sat & Sun
2 El Platanero Webergasse 21 www.platanero.ch Incongruously exuberant little corner deli-café, with two or three tables for chorizo picante con arroz and fried bananas, with red-hot salsa bottled on the tables and playing on the stereo.
3 
Zum Isaak Münsterplatz 16 www.zum-isaak.ch A tranquil, much-loved tea-drinkers' café and cellar-theatre that knows its Darjeeling from its Lapsang Souchong, and also offers lovingly prepared snacks and full meals. Also with a courtyard terrace. Opening time: Tues-Sun
4 Zum Roten Engel Andreasplatz 15 Cosy den on a secluded Old Town courtyard, with trestle tables outside and amiable, alternatively minded regulars scoffing veggie snacks, fresh juices and full meals (Fr.16).
5 Kaserne Klybeckstrasse 1b www.restaurantkaserne.ch An alternative-style hangout, with shady outdoor trestle tables and benches, offering veggie menus from Fr.16 and a very popular weekend brunch buffet that exemplifies the difference between laid-back Kleinbaslers and their more traditional neighbours across the river. The evening bar section retains much the same atmosphere, on Tuesdays becoming Basel's premier gay and lesbian meeting place. Opening time: Tues-Sun
6 Café Damas Steinenberg 23 Small Arabic eatery on one side of Barfüsserplatz, offering takeaway falafel and kebabs, as well as sit-down dishes like magloubah (chicken with rice).
7 Country Life Sattelgasse 3 www.countrylife.ch Small veggie and wholefood diner off Marktplatz for weekday lunches only (menus Fr.17–20). Opening time: Mon-Fri
8 Manora Greifengasse Self-service restaurant in this department store chain.
9 Mr Wong Steinenvorstadt 3 www.mister-wong.ch Popular fast-food joint just off Barfüsserplatz that piles your dish high with fresh-cooked Asian fare for Fr.12 or so. There's another branch by the SBB train station.
10 Pinar Herbergsgasse 1 www.restaurant-pinar.ch Simple Turkish neighbourhood diner, with inexpensive pide (Turkish pizza). Opening time: Mon-Sat
11 Au Violon Im Lohnhof 4 
061 269 87 11 www.au-violon.com Very pleasant brasserie in a renovated old building near the Leonhardskirche, offering seasonal specialities prepared with care. Menus from Fr.20. Opening time: Tues-Sat
12 Bruderholz-Stucki Bruderholzallee 42 061 361 82 22 www.stucki-bruderholz.ch One of Switzerland's best-known restaurants, awarded a Michelin star for its classic style and inventive touches. Expect menus starting from Fr.85 – if you can book far enough ahead to secure a table. Opening time: Tues-Sat
13 Gifthüttli Schneidergasse 11 061 261 16 56, www.gifthuettli.ch . The best place for traditional local cooking (even the menu is in Basel dialect), whether in the standard Stube downstairs or the more formal restaurant upstairs. They specialize in cordon bleus – slabs of cheese-slathered meat – with thirteen choices (around Fr.33), as well as plenty of other Swiss belt-bulgers. Opening time: Mon-Sat
14 Gleich Steinenvorstadt 23 061 261 48 83 www.vegetarisches-restaurant.ch Upscale, very genteel vegetarian restaurant, with nothing but the tinkling of cutlery to disturb the low hum of discreet chat. Opening time: Mon-Fri
15 Kunsthalle Steinenberg 7 061 272 42 33 www.restaurant-kunsthalle.ch Contemporary art gallery with a leafy terrace café favoured by Basel's sizeable crowd of arty literati. The restaurant section is a reliable city-centre choice, open daily with 600 covers and a range of menus from Fr.20 upwards.
16 Teufelhof Leonhardsgraben 47 061 261 10 10 www.teufelhof.ch Gourmet restaurant ("Bel Etage") attached to a super-trendy design hotel. The food is of impeccable quality, although the cuisine is like the art: avant-garde. No classics here, with a constantly changing menu marrying diverse flavours and styles, with panache. A broad array of wines by the glass and bottle complete the picture. Expect to pay well over Fr.100 a head. Opening time: Tues-Sat, except Sat lunch
17 Wilhelm Tell Spalenvorstadt 38 061 261 15 38 Cosy, quiet den for solid Swiss fare – rösti, sausages and all, from Fr.15. Opening time: Mon-Sat
18 Zum Goldenen Fass Hammerstrasse 108 061 693 11 11 Quality formal restaurant with an informal air, in a Kleinbasel residential neighbourhood. Excellent, top-quality organic food, lightly prepared (plus veggie options), with lunchtime menus around Fr.20, evening ones double that.
19 Zum Goldenen Sternen St Alban-Rheinweg 70 061 272 16 66 www.sternen-basel.ch Gracious old riverside wood-beamed inn, restored perfectly, serving upmarket, old-fashioned French cuisine in the banqueting room and the waterfront garden terrace, with a number of highly regarded fish dishes. Expect to pay Fr.25 and up.