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Raffaele Sorrentino on Berlin
Chief Concierge of Hotel Adlon Kempinski reports on the finest places in the city
By: Raffaele Sorrentino
My restaurants:
Lorenz Adlon in the Hotel Adlon Kempinski - There is honestly no other gourmet restaurant in Berlin with such a fantastic atmosphere and view. The maitre d', Gerhard Retter, is the most charming Austrian you can imagine, and Thomas Neeser's cooking is traditional French.
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FACIL, on the fifth floor of The Mandala Hotel near Potsdamer Platz, is like a glass house surrounded by a year-long green terrace. It is very purist but somehow cosy at the same time. Chef Michael Kempf's set menu might start with terrine of vegetables with cod and basil ice cream.
Aigner, on Franzoesische Strasse, is an evolution of Vienna's Café Aigner, founded in 1903 but closed in the 1980s (the original furniture was shipped lock, stock and barrel here, to the Berlin restaurant, which serves Austrian and South German cuisine).
Altes Zollhaus, on Carl-Herz-Ufer on the Spree River, has a fantastic summer garden. It is well known for very good German food.
My clubs:
Felix - just behind the Adlon, do not miss the after-work parties on Thursdays (they are unforgettable!).
Babalu on Friedrichstrasse is all in white: the club is on the ground floor, immediately upstairs is the dining room, where you lie rather than sit, and the private dining is on the floor above that.
Spindler und Klatt is a great place on Köpenicker Strasse for dining, lounging, drinking and merely chilling out.
My shops:
KaDeWe is, like my hotel, celebrating its centenary this year. On Kurfürstendamm, this is definitely a place for everyone to see - even if you do not want to shop! Yes, there are such brands as Louis Vuitton, Versace and YSL but you also have over 70,000 sq ft of the world's best food shopping (it is certainly the biggest food emporium in Europe). You can find everything from lemongrass to oysters. There are said to be 1,800 different cheeses, and 400 types of bread.
Quartier 206, in Friedrichstadtpassagen, is a very exclusive and elegant department store (even the building is awe-inspiring). People go there for their favorite brands, be it Gucci, Rive Gauche, Strenesse by Gabriele Strehle or whatever.
Ermenegildo Zegna's Berlin flagship opened on Kurfürstendamm in March 2006 -
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it was designed by Gianmaria and Roberto Beretta of Studio Beretta in Milan, and it is currently 'the' shop for trend-setting men.
Budapester Schuhe has many stores - I like the one on Kurfürstendamm. The stores have exquisite shoes, mostly handmade, for both sexes.
My Sunday ideas:
Walking from the Brandenburg Gate to the Berlin Cathedral on the boulevard Unter den Linden you can really see the beautiful architecture of this city. Stop for a coffee at Café Einstein or for lunch at Dressler (of course the Sunday brunch here at Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin is renowned!)
Visit Bebel Square next to the Staatsoper where the burning of the books took place in the early 1930s. Have a look at the Humbold University or at the Neue Wache. The German Historical Museum will teach you the most significant history about Germany.
The Berlin Cathedral is one of the few Protestant cathedrals anywhere. Today's building dates only from 1905 but the history of the cathedral can be traced to a chapter founded in the palace chapel in 1469. Spare time, too, for the Pergamon Museum (archaeology), Old Museum (Egyptian), Old National Gallery (German Impressionists) and the Bode Museum (Byzantine Sculptures). And if the weather is really good, you might just want to take a boat ride on the river through Kreuzberg (the Turkish area) and Charlottenburg.
Raffaele Sorrentino was born in Naples but he has lived in Germany since 1984. He came to Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin in 1998 and he admits that he personally loves going out and about in Berlin. The city, he says, is so spontaneous, and you do not need to dress up, no matter where you go. www.hotel-adlon.de
Hotel Adlon Kempinski Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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