At seven o’clock, Friday evening, Bill and I presented ourselves at Alchemist Basel, an unusual restaurant just around the corner from Les Trois Rois. This place, which is very casual and innovative, focuses on unique, experimental, interesting dishes and drinks. Bill discovered the restaurant before we left Germany and made a reservation for us.

We were immediately shown to a two top table, right next to the open kitchen. Our server, who spoke perfect English without much of a distinctive accent, greeted us and invited us to have a look at the menu. We immediately wanted to try the Spirituum Et Circenses, which is a novel way to order a cocktail. The server brought out a little box that had a dreidel, miniature tarot cards, and a four sided die (triangular). The drink would be prepared according to the results of the spin, toss, and card drawing. I ended up with a rum based cocktail topped with cotton candy. Bill’s drink was whiskey based with dry ice. Both were tasty. Of course, if we’d wanted something more conventional, or even wanted the surprise cocktail without alcohol, we could have done that, too. Below is a video I made…

For dinner, we had a five course “surprise” dinner, which included dishes on the menu, along with novelly prepared cocktails put in laboratory equipment. We had things in beakers, test tubes, and jars, with chemical sleights of hand all over the place. The dishes were mostly vegetarian and vegan friendly, although since we’re meat eaters, there were also a couple of courses that included meat. One dish had chickpeas in it. I was amazed by the array of different flavors, some of which I probably never would have thought to try at home.

Below are some photos… I thought the magnifying glass was pretty inspired, given how dark it was in the restaurant, and how small the print on the menus was for some of us…

I think Bill really enjoyed Alchemist. He likes to try new and different foods. I didn’t mind it, and would go back another time, but my tastes in food are a bit more pedestrian than his are. I also found the restaurant kind of noisy and crowded, which isn’t much to my liking. However, the menu concepts are fresh, innovative, and fun, and I loved the surprise cocktails made by chance. It was exciting to watch other patrons getting cocktails that were presented with different gimmicks. Sometimes, the gimmicks didn’t work as intended.

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel, noticing that across the street was one of Switzerland’s three Carl’s Jr. outlets. Carl’s Jr., in case you don’t know, is a fast food outlet that is based in California. The company bought Hardee’s, which is a fast food chain popular in the southern and midwestern states. I used to like Hardee’s when I was younger, but I haven’t eaten at one in years. I thought maybe we’d try Carl’s Jr., since I’ve never been to one. But we never got around to getting our fast food fix. It’s just as well… I need fast food like I need a second asshole. 😀

When we returned to our room, we found that the housekeeper had been by to do turn down service for us. That was the only night we got turn down, because we’re not really night people anymore. We went to bed, and unfortunately, neither of us slept very well. The mattress was a little too firm for us. But that seems to be the case in most of the hotels we’ve stayed in lately.

In the morning, we decided to go across the street to Bachmann’s Confiserie for breakfast. This is a Basel based chain store that offers a light cafe menu, breakfast, and chocolates for sale. Since breakfast at the hotel was 55 Swiss francs per person, and we knew we were going to be dining at the Cheval Blanc for lunch, we decided the cafe was a better place for a light breakfast. I see from my search that there’s another Bachmann’s Confiserie in Switzerland, but it appears to be owned by different people and is located in Lucerne.

I really enjoyed the breakfast at Bachmann’s Confiserie of Basel. For 16,50 CHF, you can get a breakfast with a hot drink, fresh orange juice, a bun, a croissant, jelly, and butter. I fell in love with the bread rolls, which were slightly sweet, soft, and yeasty. The gipfeli (croissant) was also excellent… not crispy or crumbly, but soft and flaky. And I loved the fresh squeezed orange juice. The service was also friendly and professional.

After breakfast, we walked around the Rathaus and explored downtown Basel before our much anticipated lunch at Cheval Blanc. I will write more about that in the next post.