Metzgerei Eiche Grillstand, St. Jakob Park, Basel

We headed to Basel to see Switzerland play Germany in an international friendly game of limited competitive value. To avoid a bout of hunger during the game – since I refuse to eat at all these new stadium catering areas using electric grills and following a corporate food efficiency manifesto – we hunted down a real butcher’s stand. Figuring this was Basel with a strong cultural heritage drawing on swiss, german and french influences we’d be sure to get something decent. We queued for a (real) beer and some sausages at the grill stand of Eiche a local butcher. After a german supporter validated all the clichées about Germans by cutting in front of us in the queue, it’s our turn to order.

I let my self be consulted by the guy at the register to make sure I am optimally supported in the sausage selection process. Gluttony beats common sense and I go with the Chääs-Chlöpfer and the Basler Wurst. The cheese sausage is nicely spiced with cumin which makes it stand out from most other grill stands, unfortunately like with most cheese sausages, there’s not much cheese taste just hot fat squirting into your mouth as you take a bite. The Basler Wurst was just wrong, it was acutally seasoned with Leckerligewürz which is the typical, chewy cookie from Basel. It was just bad. Really I was somewhat apalled at the weirdness of the idea and clearly a prime example where creativity and originality can go too far.