Trip Report: 5 nights in Berlin in April 08

Quick overview of our 5-night stay in Berlin with thanks to all who have helped us with our stay. In general, we had a wonderful time. In the words of one of our tour guides, in Berlin “history is so close you can touch it.” And indeed the layers of history in practically every step make this a fascinating location. The cultural opportunities are also vast and I know we barely scratched the surface of what is available in this city.

It was hard to research this trip: Berlin seemed so overwhelming that every time I read a trip report or picked up a guide book I would get instantly exhausted. Once we were in the city, though, everything took shape and it was easier to understand. The guidebook I found the most helpful was the Rough Guide to Berlin, mostly because the edition I purchased was published in April 08 and the information was more up to date. The maps weren’t the greatest, though, and we relied on the maps provided to us by our hotel.

We also had: art/shop/eat Berlin and the DK Eyewitness guide. The latter was just too heavy to be useful and I found the layout confusing. The former was helpful as well, but not as up-to-date as the rough guide.

HOTELS:

Louisa’s Place: 160 Ku’damm. We did not stay here, but my in-laws did and we spent Sunday in their room napping as our hotel couldn’t guarantee an early check-in and we wanted to nap. The suite they had was wonderful—a little entry, small kitchen and living room and separate bedroom. It faced the back for perfect quiet.

I did laps in their beautiful and completely empty pool. The “gym” is tiny with a few lonely pieces of equipment (i.e. two treadmills). This entire area is incredibly warm and it is like swimming in bathwater.

Not so sure that this location would have been for us. Probably a 5-10 minute walk from the heart of the Ku’Damm and about a 20 minute walk to KaDeWe. But we felt it was just a little out of the way from what we wanted to see. However, the staff we met were very polite and helpful. About 16E to get from Tegel to this hotel by taxi.

Mandala Hotel: 3 Potsdammer Platz. Wonderful hotel with a modern feel and very able staff. Originally we wanted to be close to the Tiergarten so my husband could train for a marathon. For various reasons he is no longer doing the marathon, but we decided to stay with this hotel anyway. So glad we did! About 20E to Tegel in the morning.

We had a “management suite” on the 6th floor. Plenty of room for two and tons of closet space. Full tub in the equally large bathroom. The bed was a double made from two twins, but I honestly couldn’t feel where they joined up. We each had our own personal duvet, which my husband (who calls me a sheet stealer?) really appreciated. We also had a little terrace with a side view of the Sony Building, facing the Daimler Chrysler building. We could also see Haus Huth, which was the only building left standing after WWII.

The location could not be beat, just about perfect. We were 5 minutes away from the Tiergarten museums and the Tiergarten itself, of course. The Brandenburg gate and Reichstag were 10 minutes away. And it was a nice 25-30 minute walk to Museum Island along Unter del Linden. We also walked along the embassies that line the Tiergarten. Weren’t we fortunate to have such nice weather the entire time?

The gym was small with one bike, two treadmills, two "wave" machines, and a small weight room. I only used it once and it was empty. Towels and Evian are available.

We would highly recommend this hotel to anyone. Total for 5 nights was about 840 Euro—not budget accommodations, but we thought it was worth it for the quality of the accomodations and the location.


RESTAURANTS:

I cannot believe the portion sizes of the restaurants we went to in Berlin. Enough for two in practically every case! Wine lists were on par with what we pay in New York. We were also fortunate that it was the beginning of “Spargel” season (white asparagus). I sought this out everywhere I could.

Breakfast:

Our first morning, we went to Café Josty. One standard breakfast was huge enough to share with a lot left over. We definitely overpaid for this meal (13E for the classic breakfast of egg, cheeses, bread), but we were still happy with the quality. The egg was so much fresher than anything we eat at home. We also enjoyed Salomon Bagels in the Arkaden.

Lunch:

Kafer (Reichstag): Thank you all for the advice to get a reservation here—the line was truly huge! The entrance was a little hard to find. It’s on the same side as the long line. Facing the Reichstag, it will be on the right hand side, down a little ramp that is hidden by a hedge. There you will be greeted by guards and a security checkpoint. The restaurant is across the terrace after you get off the elevator.

We were seated in the glass “outdoor garden” after being told that we only had an hour and a half for lunch. We gladly took the seats and enjoyed the view, knowing that we hadn’t planned on a 3 hour lunch.

I had warned everyone that the food wasn’t going to be great based on what I had read here, but everyone (except me) was very happy with their lunch selections. I have a knack for ordering the wrong dish and the weiner schnitzel tasted so strongly of margarine, I couldn’t eat it. However, my in-laws liked the pork tenderloin very much and my husband enjoyed his veal meatballs.

The other outstanding thing about this restaurant was the 15E bottle of water! I hate buying water for so many reasons…this was the highest price we paid in our entire trip.

Potsdam: Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of this restaurant. It is located 400m from Sans Souci and was once the working farm for the royal family. The Spargel menu here was terrific, but the best meal was the “soldier’s favorite” of pig’s knuckle that my father in law enjoyed. I will look for the name.

Currywurst: Again, need to find the location of this place. Seemed like a local’s hangout where our tourguide knew everyone. Not an imbiss but a sit down café.

Dinner:
Qiu: The more “casual” restaurant in the Mandala Hotel. The food was fine, though pricey. If you are tired on your first night, it’s a good option. It would be a great place for an evening drink.

Facil: The one-star Michelin restaurant in the Mandala Hotel. Highly recommended for top-notch service and absolutely wonderful food. We are lucky enough to eat out quite a bit in New York in fine restaurants and we were delighted with this meal. My husband has a nut allergy and they had to rethink 3 of the 4 courses in our tasting menu, which they did with aplomb.

Started with two amuse bouche courses, one sardine/eggplant on pumpernickel bread accompanied by a small crisp. The other a carrot soup accompanied by a barley salad. Next up was our first course of pigeon. Then I had the monkfish cheeks in a light curry sauce while my husband enjoyed the sweetbreads, which were the best course of the night. Following was seared bison. Then dessert was served, a strawberry crème cake accompanied by a pistachio ice cream (for me) and a slice of lemon cake (for my husband). They let me take home the petit fours and brought separate chocolates out for the nut-allergic man.

There was a slight problem with the wine service for our dessert course and our sommelier was perturbed but handled it all beautifully. For most of the meal, they were careful not to fire any of our dishes before we ordered and received our wine, but the dessert was brought out too early. We were halfway through the course before we learned that they could not locate the bottle of dessert wine we had ordered. They offered us two glasses of the house dessert wine with their compliments which we gladly accepted. (As an aside, we had a bottle of Reisling and a glass of a house-recommended Bordeaux, which was tremendous. The wines by the glass here were terrific). They also offered an additional dessert which we declined (too full!).

What we really enjoyed about this experience was the subtle difference it makes when there is only one seating in a restaurant. We knew we had that table for the night so the slow and easy pace of the meal made for a relaxing and not-overwhelming experience where you can really savor and enjoy the food. We have not found this to be the case at every fine dining restaurant in New York—in fact, I have had to ask for courses to be brought out more slowly in one of the best restaurants in the city simply because it was just so rushed.

If you have the means and the time and the desire for a fine dining experience in Berlin, we highly recommend Facil.

Luttner and Wegner: We ate in the branch in Haus Huth. There was no room inside, but our waiter helped us move to a seat closer to the heating lamps (thank goodness!). My husband had the spargel with small schnitzel and I had the sauerbraten. Again, my instincts for choosing the wrong meal came in handy as I ate half my husband’s asparagus and a quarter of the giant schnitzel, which was really fabulous. The asparagus soup appetizer was also terrific.

Asia Pavilion: Our last night, hungry and tired we went to this little restaurant across from Salomon Bagels in the Arkaden. I was pleasantly surprised—I had chicken with vegetables in a garlic sauce that was so incredibly spicy it almost took my mouth off. Recommended if you need a easy, quick meal (and for me, Chinese food is my comfort food, so it was a nice break).

Will finish up directly once I find the pieces of paper that I am missing!