Sunny terrace in industrial environment - I love it!

Dreispitz is currently changing it's appearance every day. The former purely industrial warehouse district is now hosting art galleries, exhibitions and museums. The newest addition to the hip crowd in Dreispitz is the restaurant Schmatz, run by Baselcitystudios, a company known for multimedia and music productions and events. As we know catering can be an important factor for the choice of a music studio, when many artists follow special diets and recording schedules can be gruesome. So it makes sense that Baselcitystudios is expaning also into restauration and catering. The next logical step would be high class accomodation to host a full state of the art service for musicians and artists using the studio facilities.

http://www.baselcitystudios.com/schmatz/

I did not have the opportunity to taste the food yet, but the bar area looked fab, just as the indoors and outdoors facilities. The bar is well stocked and the weekly menu can be read online on the website of baselcitystudios. I simply loved the quiet green elevated terrace which is a nice counterpoint to the grey and noisy outdoors around it.

It is a pity that the restaurant is only open over noon during the week and will therefore mainly be frequented by the people working at the galleries, RadioX and Baselcitystudios. It would be lovely if it were open for the people who go to the exhibitions, to the Shift festival or other art venues in Dreispitz.

The whole restaurant can be rented for events. Catering is provided by baselcitystudios.

Elegant Country Style Dining at "Schaellenursli"

Since a thousand years the Church of St. Margarethen towers above the city in Binningen. Attached to the church is a farm managed by Urs and Christa Rediger.

With the help of the Acqua team they have now transformed one of their farm barns into a fine dining experience called "Schaellenursli" where you can enjoy local farm grown food and long forgotten rural specialties.

On Thursday to Sunday night you can choose among two menues, one of them vegetarian. The menues are in the middle price range with a four course meal costing about 50 CHF without beverages.

On Sunday morning you can enjoy a farmers brunch.

As the tables are highly booked early reservations are mandatory, especially for Saturday nights.

More information on http://schaellenursli.ch/

Basel finally got its Beach!

Soon to happen near Gundeli... at the Markthalle: Basel City Beach

The Event Agency First Soirée Basel will open the first Indoor Beach in Basel in the Markthalle on January 9, 2009.

The beach will of course feature white quartz sand, swimming pools, whirlpools, lounge and bar areas to get that summer feeling - in Winter! Judging that this winter is going to be exceptionally cold, this new venue will certainly be the hippest place to be this winter.

The Grand Opening will be on January 10th at 12 noon.

Opening Times: Thursday, Fri from 17.00 , Saturday from 12.00

During the day the venue will offer Yoga classes, massage etc. and on Thu, Fri, Sat Happy hour from 17- 18h...

More Information:
http://www.presseportal.ch/de/pm/100015212/100575699/city_beach_ag
http://www.bazonline.ch/basel/stadt/Citybeach--Markthalle-wird-zum-Stadtstrand/story/10397721

Medienfalle "The Media Trap"

Several interesting cultural organisations are located at Gundeldinger Feld. One of them is the Medienfalle, the Media trap. Medienfalle is a subgroup of the Theaterfalle (theatre trap), which both engage unemployed youth for media and theatre productions.

Media Education - Medienfalle Basel offers customized media education projects and offers access to media education to learners and teachers.

Artistic projects and contract projects - They offer an alternative to highend productions to artists, private persons, enterprises and organizations .

Events - They also offer teambuilding or corporate events which encompass theatralic or media related activities or offer video recording of your corporate event.

Laughing out Loud....

If you are tired of watching the telly and want to see some real good standup comedy from the UK, go to Jesters. Jesters takes place every second Sunday evening at Kuppel in Basel and presents the finest of UK's standup comedians live and in a showcase setting! I am sure that you'll meet quite a few friends there too. It is advisable to reserve seats beforehand.

More under: http://www.jesters.ch

The Art of Tart

If you are looking for a really extravagant wedding cake, a birthday cake that looks like an armadillo or intoxicatingly delicious petit fours or gold or silver foil plated impeccable chocolate cakes Dolce Farniente is the right address in Basel.

Wencke Schmid, Mastermind and Cake Designer, is the woman behind Dolce Farniente. Her creations are far off the ordinary with exotic and exquisit ingredients and pure luxury for a moderate price. All products are freshly produced in their premises in Kleinbasel.

Visit their website under http://www.dolce-farniente.ch/

If you want to order cakes with Dolce Farniente, be aware that they are heavily booked and you need to contact them at least a few weeks ahead for a custom made cake. If you want to taste their creations at once there are several addresses where you can buy Dolce Farniente products in Basel:

Globus Delicatessa, lower floor bakery (you will get the Petit fours and the gold and silver foil chocolate cakes there, try out the Absinthe Petit fours!)

At Novartis in the guest café at Fabrikstrasse 6.

For Ciba and Syngenta people at Badischer Bahnhof at Les Gareçons to go ( www.lesgarecons.ch)

Or at Choco Loco at Spalenberg.

Lonely Expat?

You have just only reached Basel and want to get to know new people besides work?

Basel offers quite a few options for expats to quickly get to know new people:

The Curry Club: A group of usually expats tests a local curry restaurant. Those dinners take place once a month. Check out the baselexpats.com website for information.
http://www.baselexpats.com/pn/html/index.php?name=News&catid=&topic=3

Del Mundo Brunch: If you live in Gundeli, come to Del Mundo on a Saturday at 10.00 AM. There will not only be me, but a whole lot of friendly people to get to know too!

Viva Training: Your husband has taken up a job in Basel and you have not yet found a job or friends here? Join Viva Training at Güterstrasse. It will not only keep you toned, but you will get to know a lot of lovely people.