Sandwiched in an old strip mall between a flower shop and a dog grooming salon just outside the quaint part of Falls Church is a little slice of home for the area’s German and Swiss communities and a goldmine for the thrill-seeking shopper.

The German Gourmet offers Germanophiles 14 types of bratwurst, a cornucopia of soft and hard European cheeses, homemade German potato salad, homey spätzle, soft pretzels and rolls, and enough specialty pastries to keep customers trying new varieties every day for a month.

And it doesn’t end there, thanks to German Gourmet purveyors Mike and Cliff Haene. German beer and wine, steins, candles, quaint ceramic tchochkes, and inscrutable herbal medicine packages fill every remaining nook on the shelves of this store, whose narrow aisles are packed floor to ceiling with things we didn’t know we needed until we saw them.