ORBIS city intelligence

Buying in Strasbourg: Pain d'Épices and a Ninety-Year Butcher

Two shops here are worth the walk and both were founded in 1933, which is a coincidence that makes them easy to remember. Expect an Alsatian tradition in each rather than a general French one.

Mireille Oster: forty recipes of one thing, at 14 rue des Dentelles S1

Pain d'épices is the Alsatian spiced honey bread, and more than forty varieties are worked here. Treat that as a specialism rather than a range, and ask which is closest to the traditional loaf.

The house trades from 14 rue des Dentelles. Branches run at 2 rue du Marché in Obernai and 12 rue Vauban in Colmar. Ask which recipes are spiced hardest if you want the traditional version.

Maison Klein: the smoked and cured pork behind choucroute S2

Alsatian charcuterie means the tradition that sits behind choucroute garnie, and this family butchery has worked it since 1933.

Ask what needs cooking and what is ready to eat, because the two look similar on the counter. Ask for vacuum packing on anything that has to survive a journey home.

Maison Kammerzell is a medieval timber-framed house on the cathedral square. Carved astrological symbols run across its front. It is architecture and a restaurant rather than a shop, so treat it as something to look at.