A Visit to Bern in 2015 (Switzerland)

I am still mostly not at work (so far I've managed two hours at a time, two days last week: it was exhausting) but I am feeling better enough to attack all the tasks that have been sitting uncompleted on my own computer.

Way back in in 2015 I started a photobook. I usually make one for our proper holidays; a visit to Florence or Venice or somewhere, but I don't usually make a book for day trips. But in 2015 we didn't go away. We stayed home, either in the UK or in Switzerland, and made some amazing day trips.

Why am I telling you this? Because the first was a visit to Bern. Just for the day. By train. And while we enjoyed looking at the fabulous clock (800 years old according to wikipedia) and the weird statues Bern has to offer, and the fascinating way that restaurants in a city full of politicians and tourists are so reluctant to serve lunch at lunchtime (we eventually found a charming cafe run by Italians who seemed to know most of their customers by name), and the trams, and the bears (no longer thank goodness kept in a horrible concrete pit), and the fountains, we were delighted to end the day at a department store. What's better than a little light shopping?

Globus doesn't have a branch in Sion which is our nearest city, so I wasn't aware what a lovely shop it is. And I didn't know that in the basement it has a wonderful food department. Globus is handily close to the railway station so we knew we didn't have far to drag our purchases. So we bought delicious fresh pasta, and wine from the canton of Bern, and could I resist investigating the crisp department? What do you think?

Look, here's a reminder of what we found at Globus. The top shelf has Boxerchips (from Ireland) and the bottom row has Burt's (British, from Devon I think), Nandos (not sure but certainly available in the UK) and Roger's, which are from Belgium.

Globus does also sell own-brand Globus tortilla chips. but as I noted in my post they are not made in Switzerland at all but in the Netherlands. And if you like you can read all about my purchases by clicking on the links.

Globus Tortilla Chips au Chili

When we were in Bern in the spring I picked up this packet of crisps from the Food Hall at the big department store Globus. It wasn't so much that I thought these tortilla chips would be fabulous, more that they were the only Swiss crisps on offer.

Only, they aren't Swiss at all. Globus, based in Zurich, have their tortilla chips made in The Netherlands.

So finally I have dredged these crisps out of my basket of goodies because it's about time we tried them. Don't worry. They aren't months past their sell by date so we won't die a horrible death. Or not on account of this crispy snack.

I am really very impressed at the chilli taste of these tortilla chips. You won't be surprised to learn that I'm not mad about chillies. But that doesn't stop me being impressed at this taste. It's absolutely right.

According to the Blogger search function, over the last 3 years or so we have tried 42 different crisps and crispy snacks featuring chilli. And this is the first to taste like a fresh chilli. Remarkable.

Aside from the remarkable taste this is an ordinary tortilla chip: triangular, orange and crunchy.  The Chef and I tried them with a selection of dips from Waitrose: onion & garlic, pecorino & basil, and sour cream & chive. All of them worked very well and I think we were pretty happy with our taste test.

The packaging is clear with a very small Globus label so I'm going to show the paper carrier bag we got from the Food Hall instead.

San Nicasio Extra Virgin Potato Chips con Sal Rosa del Himalaya

These crisps from Cordoba say they are extra virgin potato chips (selected potatoes, extra virgin olive oil and salt) and the salt.... is Himalayan pink salt (a gastronomic treasure).

Yes, well it may be a treasure but the enormous disappointment is that you cannot see the pink salt.

Call me stupid if you will but I was honestly expecting to see the crisps strewn with teeny weeny pale pink salt crystals. Why not dark pink I can't tell you (maybe that didn't seem a realistic prospect), but to see no pink crystals at all is very disappointing.

The crisps are quite fine cut, with not a bad crunch. They look good, some of the crisps are very big,  and have quite a nice lightly salted taste.

Seriously though, would I have bought these Spanish crisps had I not been seduced (in the Bern branch of Globus) by the lure of pink salt? Maybe, maybe not but basically what we have here is a packet  of salted crisps. It's a very nice packet of (slightly lightly) salted crisps. But nothing very fancy.

Himalayan Pink Salt comes from Pakistan and takes its colour from iron oxide but is not really pink at all. It's kind of orangey brown (by the look of the picture online).

Terrifically swanky pink and silver packaging though. Extremely smart, although put together slightly on the skew.

Frutos Secos Chips a la Flor de Sal de Ibiza

There's a very odd thing that some packets of crisps do when subjected to sudden changes of pressure or temperature. The pressure is more obvious - just try packing a bag of crisps in your case when you fly home from Greece. Has all the air been sucked out and the crisps turned to crumbs? It can happen. Or maybe the bag has swollen up like a football? I try to pack my crisps in Ziploc bags and suck out as much air as possible before travelling, but it doesn't always work.

Plus sometimes you really aren't expecting this weirdness. We bought this perfectly ordinary bag of crisps at Globus in Bern where they have a very nice food department in the basement. This bag felt just like any old bag but then we came home through the Lötschberg Tunnel. I don't know if it was the pressure or the heat (it certainly was a very hot and crowded train) but by the time we got home we had a little football. Full to bursting with air. I stabbed it with a sharp knife before snipping open the top.

Aside from this oddness with the packaging (which is a handsome eau de nil and gold), this is a very nice crisp indeed. Lovely crispy aroma, great big crisps with some nice bubbles from the frying, good colour and a fabulous salty yumminess. I can hear the Chef crunching away behind me. What could be better? Flor de Sal de Ibiza is obviously top quality salt. Very very tasty.

Made of potatoes, sunflower oil, flor de sel and sea salt, and lots of love. OK! Truly Cristal de la Vida (it says here).

I think these crisps qualify as superb, and the Chef (not quite so given to superlatives) thinks they are very nice.

The packaging seems familiar and I'm wondering if I've seen them in London - Fortnums perhaps - when I was looking for something else.

Boxerchips Salty Malty Vinegar

It seems a little harsh to try these salt and vinegar crisps so soon after the wonderful version by Pipers Crisp Co which we tried the other day, but every crispy snack must stand on its own merits.

Boxerchips say the fact - best damn potato chips in the world; the fiction - our crisps are a made from Farmers' Hats. Which, let's be honest, is a slightly strange thing to say. But they say other strange things on their website which also tells you all sorts of things about Boxerchips that you may find amusing, and there's "ye olde blog" disguised as latest news. You can even find out about spud juggling. In New Zealand of all places!

Anyway, back to the crisps. Which I bought on my Easyjet flight to Geneva. Still not seen them anywhere else, but perhaps I have had such ready access to other exciting crisps that I haven't really looked.

Quite nice. Good colour, quite a hard crunch, not too harsh a taste of vinegar (which we know can be a problem) and good and salty. But these crisps are a bit sweet. Not sugary but mysteriously remaining me of golden syrup. Could this be an "oh, so it's only me then" moment?

Remember, these are the crisps that come in a strange oblong cardboard box which you open up to get at the crisps. I had a lot of difficulty last year battling my way into the packet but maybe that packaging was defective. At any rate, this time it was quite easy to open the box and create a little cardboard serving dish from which to carry out my taste testing.

I think I liked the Boxerchips Savagely Salted better though.

Update on Boxerchips: by chance we went to Globus in Bern which is a large department store with a great food section in the basement. And guess what? They sell Boxerchips. Well, they do in March 2015. I was busy buying crisps I'd not seen before so I didn't look too carefully, but in case you are looking for Boxerchips you could try here. Quite close to the main railway station. Probably hard to miss this huge store.