Luxury Berlin by James Henderson

Expectations are running high in Berlin at the moment. But then so are energy and enthusiasm. The city is busily recreating itself, keen to place itself at the pinnacle of German, and European aspirations. In fact Berliners intend their city to be the ‘capital city’ of the twenty-first century, as New York was for the twentieth and Paris the nineteenth.

Berlin has as many facets as the mirrored column at the centre of Sir Norman Foster’s glass dome on the Reichstag, the German Parliament building. It is the political nerve-centre once again (not exclusively--some ministries have remained in Bonn), but elsewhere Berlin is busily reclaiming the cultural vanguard too. For some, it is classical music and art, to others it is a buzzing, Bohemian escape. The famous Berliner tolerance is there still, so anything goes. As for luxury, that is certainly there and it is developing all the time as new restaurants, hotels, bars and clubs shops up.

The Reichstag is certainly the place to start exploring. Above the Parliamentary chamber, the glass dome stands bold but unexpectedly flighty on such solid foundations. Its spiral walkway looks all around onto the new united city. Much of the interest of Berlin (particularly if you haven’t visited since Cold War times) lies visible from here in the former East.

Once marooned on the division itself stands the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s Triumphal Arch and symbol. Quadriga (the lady in her chariot) is riding exultantly down Unter den Linden, Berlin’s most famous street. Follow her. The embassies and monumental public buildings lend a gracious, unhurried air, despite an underlying resonance of jackhammers and the occasional pile of concrete communist nonsense. Recent rebuilding has maintained the regulation 22 metres of façade and eight to the rooftops, but most new exteriors are fairly uniform. Interiors are often the key feature. Check DG Bank at Pariser Platz No. 3 for a magnificent construction of fish and net in glass.

Shopping is a complex business in Berlin. Each area has its style. As you approach Friedrichstraße, passing the two major porcelain makers (Meissen and KPM) you will feel the commercial buzz. Turn right, then head downstairs at the Galeries Lafayette (another surprising interior, two glass cones superposed), where ‘Passage’ 205, 206 and 207 host all the marques of international fashion.

Eventually you will emerge onto the Gendarmenmarkt, a strikingly beautiful square where two delightful domed churches (now museums) stand either side of the classical Schauspielhaus, home of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. The square’s girding of cafes makes it ideal for a pause. Try Möhring (sadly not the famous Kurfürstendamm original, which is now closed) or, for a drink and domination by leggy nudes, the Helmut Newton Bar.

Back at the foot of Unter den Linden architectural magnificence (and some excrescence) glory in even greater and grander space: the Staatsoper (German State Opera), with its Operncafe (another good stopover), the Prinzessinnenpalais and the Neue Wache (former site of the goose-stepping soldiers, now home to a sculpture by Berlin artist Käthe Kollwitz). If possible during restoration, peek in at the delightful baroque Zeughaus (Arsenal) with its sculptures of the Dying Warriors.

Oddly angled, on the site of the former State Palace, is the former East German Palast der Republik (Palace of the Republic), a faceless copper-tinted glass box. Unlike Honecker’s office (diagonally opposite), this deserves to go, but it has become a rallying point. Exasperated former East Berliners joke that soon the only thing left of their former lives will be the happy green chappy lighting pedestrians across the road.

Now look north to the Museumsinsel (Museum Island; actually an arrowhead division in the river). The grandiose Dom (Cathedral) looks positively over-excited next to the calm, clean lines of Altes Museum and the other classical buildings (strangely still pocked with Second World War bullet-holes). Here you should definitely visit the Pergamon Museum with its (late Hellenistic) Pergamon Altar, the Market Gateway from Miletus and the Babylonian Ishtar Gate.

In just a few hundred yards, across the river to the northeast, the monumental, sedate atmosphere evaporates. Hackesche Höfe is Berlin’s hip district, now gradually extending northeast to Prenzlauer Berg. The Hackeshe Höfe themselves are a series of interlinking yards, once department stores and now they buzz with shops, cinemas and cafes. This area is good for avant garde design, try Quasi Moda in Hof IV.

Built on a section of Cold War wasteland, Potsdamer Platz is a brand new district (shopping comes in a modern mall here). A clutch of international architects have created the DaimlerChrysler Complex and the Sony Complex—the latter, with its sail roof, is architecturally more interesting (for details, see the Red Infobox). Nearby in the Kulturforum you should visit the Gemäldegalerie (Gallery of Paintings) for an excellent collection of Dürers and works by Cranach and Hans Holbein the Younger.

All this is not to forget the old West Berlin. Interestingly there is lots of development there too (see the Armadillo building on Fasanenstraße). And Charlottenburg and the Tiergarten. But Berlin is a big city. To get the best of it you will have to exercise those now suppressed Prussian values—punctuality and discipline.

Kurfürstendam, Berlin’s other best-known street, is mercantile mayhem--Laura Ashley, Timberland and Meissen stand shoulder to shoulder here. And the other facet of the shopping equation, elegant fashion, is here. Try German designer Palto Modedesign on the ‘Kudamm’, or the big international names on nearby Fasanenstrasse. If you are interested in German art between the late 19th and mid-20th century, try Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner.

On Kantstraße, you should definitely visit Stilwerk, an emporium of modern design that glistens in chrome and glass. Their bistro Stil is a hip lunchtime stopover. Or you can take a restorative break in the delicious, fresh-smelling foodhalls on the sixth floor of KaDeWe (pronounced kar-day-vay, from Kaufhaus des Westens) Berlin’s famous department store. Perhaps the trendiest lunch-stop is Borchardt, back in the East near the Gendarmenmarkt. Here the tiled and brass-railed interior burbles with the chat of mediamen and politicians, including, from time to time, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

Berlin is not traditionally known for its dining, but restaurateurs are upbeat just now. There are currently four restaurants with a single Michelin star and expectations of more to come. These prepare a seasonal cuisine of course, so in the autumn you should look out for truffles, the many varieties of wild mushrooms and berries, and wild meat.

At the cutting edge is Vau (after the German letter V), which offers a delightful dinner in stylish surroundings of pear wood, dark bench seats and copper-burnished flatware. Dinner, which comes in menus of up to eight superb courses, literally frolics on your tongue. Magnificent. Equally voguish, Mensa has made a stand and gone to West Berlin, to Lützowplatz. In a glass-bright dining room with the lightest brown table-settings they serve French-based cuisine with Mediterranean and Asian touches. In contrast, Bamberger Reiter keeps the cosy ambience of an elegant German Stube. It is set in an unpromising block, but once you heft aside the wooden door you find yourself in an old apothecary, with glass-fronted cabinets, wood-panelled walls and waitresses in dirndls. Excellent international cuisine. Just as the Hackeshe Höfe attract a bohemian crowd by day, so the streets around them teem with hip cafes and restaurants. Schwarzenraben has a lively buzz and some fine, creative Italian fare in the setting of cavernous, khaki and stone-yellow walls.

The hotels of Berlin have taken varied paths too, some reliving the luxury of glorious times past, others cutting to the twenty-first century chase. The Hotel Adlon holds pride of place on Unter den Linden and echoes its heyday of a century ago, when it was the most famous hotel in town. The finest rooms, leaner and less frumpy nowadays, give onto the Brandenburg Gate. Their Lorenz Adlon restaurant, which has been awarded a Michelin star, is one of the most elegant in town.

On the Gendarmenmarkt, the Royal Dorint Hotel is firmly fixed on the coming century. Once you pass the frankly alarming (1970s communist) exterior you reach a haven of sleek comfort and style, almost a study in how to make the colour brown look cool (as only the Germans can). You should choose a room overlooking the square itself. The art ‘otel berlin mitte pushes style to aesthetic hip and is decorated throughout with the works of modern German artist Georg Baselitz. The view in 501 and 301 is so spectacularly horrible that it makes them the best in the house (well, the Pet Shop Boys loved it anyway). Unexpectedly, the attached Ermeler Haus has an exquisite rococo dining room with original Cristo sketches.

Away from the city centre, there is the luxurious grandeur of a suburban palace at the Ritz-Carlton Schlosshotel in Grunewald. Each individually decorated, the nicest rooms are in the original building, where you can even stay in Karl Lagerfeld’s own private suite sometimes, with its massive bed.

The classical arts are extremely fine in Berlin. There is plenty of choice in music, including the Berliner Symphoniker and the Berliner Philharmoniker, probably due to be headed by Sir Simon Rattle in 2001. The city has three opera houses. And then there are the famous clubs—if the Kit Kat Club seems a little steamy you might try Far Out, Abraxas or actor Ben Becker’s Trompete.

Finally of course there is cabaret. For the British, Christopher Isherwood and Liza Minelli are still probably the most enduring image of Berlin. For non-German speakers political cabaret might be a bit hard, so try Chamäleon Varieté in the Hackesche Höfe. The Berliners are quick to say that the twenties and thirties haven’t returned. Everyone is world-wiser now, and besides, Berlin was a fearful, decadent city then. Now it is on a roll, optimistic for its future.