sign in sign up
<<
Home , City West, Kulturforum

SHORT The BREAK symbolises German unity following the fall of the The city’s west side has rediscovered its groove, building on its reputation as the go-to district for culture, luxury and a hint of nostalgia, says Lollie Barr

his November marks the 25th Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, the spotlight 0049-30-810 0660) and Das Stue (doubles from anniversary of the fall of the has shifted, illuminating the former West AED 1,140; 0049-30-311 7220, das-stue.com) – Berlin Wall, reunifying the once- Berlin as if she were a theatrical veteran in that have taken over buildings old and new. divided city into a massive creative her comeback role, exuding a confidence The Waldorf Astoria Berlin (doubles from AED metropolis. The former East that only comes with maturity and long-held 1,530; 0049-30-814 0000, waldorfastoriaberlin. Berlin quickly laid claim to being authenticity. The shops, restaurants, theatres, com) inhabits a gleaming new high-rise, at the T the cultural epicenter of the city palaces, parks, opera houses and outdoor once neglected and dangerous Zoologischer after artists, punks, musicians, squares bustle with a new-found energy as Garten station, a place that feels epochs students and eventually developers moved investment pours into City West, as it has away from the hotel’s gleaming black-and- into the previously decaying districts of , been rebranded. white Art Deco interiors, impeccable service Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain. As a Among the changes are a slew of new five- and heavenly Guerlain Spa. This is where result, today the area has become so gentrified star hotels – Sofitel Berlin Kurfürstendamm Hollywood and rock royalty rest their heads: – young, trendy Germans mingle with bum- (doubles from AED 570; 0049-30-800 9990, Dustin Hoffman and John Goodman were bag-toting tourists and global hipsters sporting sofitel.com), Ellington Hotel (doubles from recently guests, and I spotted Steven Tyler war-time haircuts – that the old city exists AED 692; 0049-30-68 3150, ellington-hotel.com), from Aerosmith, in head-to-toe white, flanked only in memories. Hotel Q! (doubles from AED 640; hotel-q.com, by fans on the hotel’s red carpet before

28 CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER SEPTEMBER 2014 The Gemäldegalerie SHORT BREAK at Kulturforum, an important centre for the arts. Below: Cycling in Volkspark

Bikini Berlin, which sat empty for a decade, reopened as a concept mall and has been successful in luring achingly hip young The playful foyer at designers from the 25hours Hotel east side of town Bikini Berlin

scurrying into a waiting van. Sip on a situated in the 1911-built Haus Cumberland LNFA Shop (0049-30-2347 2059, lnfa.de) signature Sesame Daiquiri at Lang Bar on Kurfürstendamm. The Ku’Damm, as cherry-picks the best of Berlin’s designers, (0049-30-814 0000, waldorfastoriaberlin.com), it’s known to Berliners, is a 3.5km-long, including Esther Perbandt, Ewa Herzog, named after legendary film director Fritz tree-lined boulevard imagined by chancellor Aurelia Paumelle and Trippen. Lang of Metropolis fame, which was shot at Otto von Bismarck in the late-19th century Sharing a border with the Berlin Zoo (0049- the Babelsberg Studios in 1927 when Berlin as a promenade of fine stores beneath grand 30-25 4010, zoo-berlin.de), downstairs in the was that generation’s Hollywood. The studios residences. After a long period during which complex you’ll find boys with tightly coiled are still in use today; The Bourne Ultimatum it languished, his vision has once again been buns and rolled-up trousers and girls in black and Inglourious Basterds were shot there. realised with cafés and restaurants spilling out drinking coffee across from the glass-fronted The Lang Bar looks on to the Fifties-era on to the wide promenade. And luxury brands monkey enclosure of Germany’s oldest zoo, as Zoo Palast cinema (0049-180-522 2966, have returned to the preserved villas between the simians watch the hipsters and vice versa. zoopalast-berlin.de), which reopened last Olivaer Platz and Joachimstaler Strasse. Here Within the complex is the playfully relaxed November and hosted red carpet premieres you’ll find clean-shaven men sporting jackets boutique hotel 25hours Hotel Bikini Berlin at the Berlinale film festival. arm-in-arm with women adorned in gold with (doubles from AED 790; 0049-30-120-22 1103, This end of town has long had a history belligerent French bulldogs on leads, as well 25hours-hotels.com) with its eclectic interiors of glamour and culture. It was home to the as all the big names, from Chanel and Dolce featuring hanging bicycles, an old Morris Mini decadent “Golden Twenties” of the Weimar & Gabbana to Hermès. Minor and street art in the foyer. On the 10th Republic, when the likes of Nabokov, The (0049-30-2 floor is the Monkey Bar (0049-30-120-22 1210) Kandinsky and Dietrich enjoyed political 1210 kadewe.de) on Tauentzienstrasse 21-24, and the restaurant Neni Berlin (0049-30-1202 and artistic freedoms, which inspired is Continental Europe’s biggest department 2120), which propagates a sharing-is-caring Christopher Isherwood to write Goodbye store, and stocks a dazzling array of the world’s attitude to cuisine that includes everything To Berlin (which was later adapted into the finest designers. But it’s the food hall – one from Middle Eastern to Spanish, with a musical and movie Cabaret) as the Nazi era of the world’s largest – on the sixth and side helping of views over the neighbouring loomed. The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial seventh floors that will have you salivating in zoo and the expansive 520-acre TiergartenTiergarten. Church (0049-30-218 5023, gedaechtniskirche- anticipation of a worldwide culinary adventure. Created at the end of the 17th century from berlin.de) with its ruined steeple is a visual On a more modernist note, the Fifties’ a former hunting preserve as a “pleasure reminder of their inglorious legacy, when over Bikini Berlin (0049-30-5549 6454, bikiniberlin. park for the people”, the best way to explore 70 per cent of Berlin was destroyed. de), which sat empty for a decade, reopened is by bike. Recreating a pre-war atmosphere is the last year as a concept mall complex featuring The west side of the city is blessed with a exquisite Art Deco Café-Restaurant Grosz carefully curated boutiques, concept and profusion of huge parks such as the Volkspark (0049-30-65-214 2199, grosz-berlin.de), named flagship stores (alongside a hotel). It has and PreussenparkPreussenpark, the latter of after George Grosz, the socially critical painter been successful in luring achingly hip young which is great for a Thai picnic with numerous

PHOTOS: CORBIS, ALAMY, FOUR CORNERS FOUR ALAMY, CORBIS, PHOTOS: who caricatured Twenties’ Berlin, and is designers from the east side of town. The stalls on weekends. Palace

SEPTEMBER 2014 CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER 29 SHORT BREAK MY BERLIN OwnerOw of lifestyle tour agencyag Berlinagenten, HenrikH Tidefjärd’s ininnovative Gastro-Rallye cculinaryu tours takes guestsgu to three carefully curatedcu restaurants in anan evening accompanied byb a charismatic insider guide.gu Here, his top gastronomicga tips for theth city

he sweeping, glamorous “Tboulevards of Kurfürstendamm are once again on the radar of foodies. High on atmosphere, the legendary Paris Bar (0049-30-313 8052, parisbar. net) has seen Madonna and Robert de Niro enjoying fish, foie gras and lamb Clockwise from top left: Enjoy a concert at Berlin chops. Brel (0049-30-3180 0020, Philharmonic; a sculpture frames the Kaiser Wilhelm cafebrel.de) offers a local French Memorial Church, the symbolic centre of City West; pick up local designer wares at Bikini Berlin mall brasserie vibe. The artists’ soup – a strikingly vivid dish made of radishes – is inspiring and delicious. Another and Gardens (0049-30-32 0911, spsg.de) was into Bowie’s hedonistic Seventies’ Berlin, classic brasserie is Franke Brasserie erected as the summer palace of Sophie including a visit to the legendary Hansa Studio (0049-30-3155 1030, frankerestaurant. Charlotte, the first queen of Prussia. Today, where he recorded “Heroes”. de) in the Wyndham Berlin Excelsior. Rolls-Royces and Mercedes queue as For something a little more high brow, Totally organic, newlyweds wait to be photographed in the the Deutsche Oper Berlin (0049-30-3438 their grill offers the famous Baroque gardens. Beat the crowds 4343, deutscheoperberlin.de) is housed in a juiciest entrecote in by attending the Berlin Residence Concert glorious Sixties Modernist building designed town. Restaurant (0049-30-2581 0350, concerts-berlin.com), by Fritz Bornemann at 35 Bismarckstrasse, am Steinplatz featuring masterpieces from the Baroque and while (0049-30-25 (0049-30-554 4440, early Classical eras, in the Great Orangery on 4880, berliner-philharmoniker.de), led by the hotelsteinplatz.com) Beef carpaccio Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings. inimitable Simon Rattle, makes its home at situated at the Hotel at Franke Deep within Charlottenburg, life moves the famed -designed concert am Steinplatz has Brasserie at a rather genteel pace in the elegant hall at the Kulturforum (0049-30-26-642 elevated traditional heavy Berliner neighbourhoods surrounding Savignyplatz. 4242, kulturforum-berlin.de). Besides Museum fare to an art form. The Königsberger Here, you’ll find the Art Deco classic Hotel Island in the east of the city, this is the most klopse (boiled veal dumplings) are am Steinplatz (doubles from AED 1,163; 0049- important centre for arts in Berlin, featuring melt-in-your-mouth light. Meanwhile, 30-554 4440, hotelsteinplatz.com), designed the New National Gallery for modern art, the Diener (0049-30-881 5329) holds by August Endell. It began operating as a Gemäldegalerie for paintings and the on to its storied past with old-school hotel in 1913 and was refurbished 100 years Museum of Decorative ArtsArts. food and atmosphere. Dark walls are later capturing the glamour of that era with Berlin is known as a city of the night. While hung with portraits of artists who’ve contemporary flair. Through the years, a minimalist techno resounds across the eastern frequented the establishment. You famous roll call of names – Vladimir Nabokov, side, nightlife in the west is – arguably – more must try the eggs in mustard sauce, Zarah Leander, Heinrich Böll, Günter Grass, sophisticated. Rum Trader (0049-30-881 1428), a local favourite. At the other end of as well as film stars Brigitte Bardot and Romy the oldest cocktail bar in the city, conjures up the spectrum is Balthazar (0049-30- Schneider – passed beneath its scalloped an image of pre-war Berlin. With room for just 8940 8477, balthazar-restaurant.de), façade. At the Bar am Steinplatz (hotelsteinplatz. 30, its décor has remained the same since it purveyors of “Metropolitan” cuisine com), both locals and guests meet to enjoy opened in 1975. The current owner, Mr Scholl, that plays with a spectrum of flavours classic cocktails as well as new concoctions looks like he’s stepped out of the Forties with – Asian, Italian and German. The Asian such as the Beetroot and Pineapple Smash. his retro spectacles and waistcoast. The bar lobster salad is a revelation. For a From Kurt Weill to Bertolt Brecht, Lou specialises in impeccably crafted drinks, all post-dinner drink, Universum Lounge Reed to Iggy Pop, Depeche Mode to Nick served in vintage glasses, and you have to (0049-30-3276 Cave, the western side of the city has provided ring the bell for access. 4793, universum a soundtrack to more than one generation. While the East thrives on youth, City West lounge.com), When David Bowie arrived in 1976, Berlin was is a bugle call for the mature palate with cultural with its Sixties- wounded by the war and torn in two by the attractions, luxury brands and rich history that style design, is Wall. Berlin Musictours (0049-30-3087 5633, come together to weave a tapestry of uniquely a must. musictours-berlin.de) offers an insightful glimpse old-school Berlin experiences. Brel restaurant 30 CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER SEPTEMBER 2014