Perhaps on an afternoon when you’ve found yourself at the Basel Zoo, you might wander past a converted waterworks, only to realize that this former pumping station is now an Italian osteria with garden.
Local nighthawks could’ve told you that Acqua Osteria is also a hipster hangout for an after-work “apero” (a Swiss-French word for “cocktail”) and that the leather banquettes, at that hour (and through much of the night), are as crowded with glamazons as is the giardino in clement weather.
Serving simple and fresh Italian cuisine, Acqua Osteria is a taste of Tuscany – and particularly when seated outside in the giardino. Extended families congregate alongside film industry heavies and art mavens for an afternoon meal in the Swiss sun.
Inside, behind the leather banquettes, huge bouquets of seasonal flora line the industrial windows, while candles and chandeliers provide rendez-vous lighting, making Acqua Osteria the sort of place where you might want to flaunt an illicit romance.
Scrawled across an antique mirror is an Italian aphorism, which translates to “The appetite is to the stomach what love is to the heart.” Acqua Osteria is a lounge, bar, restaurant, caffe cum club – but most of all, it’s a recipe for living la dolce vita.
LINK: Acqua Osteria
