Luxury Berlin-Mitte is booming.
Contributed by Jens Hoffmann
In the “Berlin-Mitte city center”, just steps away from the city’s iconic Alex tv tower, a sparkling white façade adorns a sprawling building. This jewel of a place is the Designhotel Lux 11, a luxury hotel in Berlin-Mitte created to welcome global travelers.
We fall in love with it.
The hotel Lux 11 has its own urban Berlin style and individuality, which makes it the perfect place for every design orientated trendy, independent travellers.
Located in the Mitte district, one of the city’s most vibrant areas filled with cafés and restaurants, art galleries, one-of-a-kind boutiques, design studios and concept stores, it is quite simply to mix the old with the new. Set in what was originally built as a stately residential building in the late 19th century and later became office space for the KGB under communism, the landmark structure comprising three buildings has been refurbished to reflect the movement and innovation of Berlin’s Mitte.
The refurbished former DDR statesecurity building was rejuvenated by London-based architects Silvestrin & Salmaso with a futureproof interior design featuring snow-white walls and crisp black door frames. Berlin starts to collect fabulous boutique and design hotels like “Das Stue”, but the Lux11 is quite special, it rests in the heart of Mitte, nearby nightlife spots and the famous U8 in direction Kreuzberg and Neukölln, if you’re interested in the other hotspots of the town.
We stayed in a stunning room with a large lounge, bedroom and a fantastic bathroom.
It had a beautiful shower area, and lots of nice lotions and creams.
Unfortunately our stay was only for one night, but I am already in love.
A sweet touch, but it really sets the scene, is the automatic door swinging open upon arrival to this hotel. Check-in was quick, smooth and I really like the different kind of style of this design hotel.
The suite was spacious and comfortable, a bit like a appartment. The shower design and generously stocked bathroom amenities added to the overall feeling of typical Claus Sendlinger designhotel luxury.
The décor is sleek and modern – with cool shades of white and green– but it’s not over the top; it made me feel good. Perhaps most importantly, the bed was great and we slept very well.
Upon arrival in the room, we felt a bit like at home and we got a bit of christmas on the 27/12.
If you’re looking for a history lesson, Lux 11 can also offer you that. The building hails from the late 1800s and was used as an office space for the Stasi (DDR) and KGB under communism. The rooms ranging from 30 to 160 square meters.
Resto tip: PRINCE (next to the Lux 11)
Prince continues the tradition of the Goodtime restaurants in Berlin. Prince is an establishment dedicated to the culinary treasures of Southeast Asia and it executes its ideas with an unmistakably, unique signature. The result is an inspired concept for a room, one that offers a great atmosphere in which to enjoy delicious dishes and signature cocktails until late at night. Gently glowing walls, seductively lit tables and comfortable velvet sofas instead of chairs inevitably lead to long stays for guests – the setting makes you feel like you’ve found a secretly great place.
Undoubtedly, though, the true star is the South Asian cuisine – the culinary effect is one of a kind when it comes to quality, freshness, authenticity and creativity. Prince opens early – the menu even has a typical Asian-style breakfast consisting of sticky rice, dumplings and rice soup. For dinner, guests can choose between three different sizes of any of the dishes, mixed and matched according to their tastes and appetites. Furthermore the experience at the 120-seat restaurant doesn’t end with dinner. The wonderfully designed bar serves unique cocktails like the Szechuan Daiquiri (complete with black pepper from China), or the Edamame Margarita with soy bean chips. Finally, late in the evening, a different facet of the restaurant emerges – the long room, shimmering in semi-darkness, takes on the qualities of a lounge, with a hint of seeing something new and exciting around every corner. The effect adds up to give Prince a classy entry bid into Berlin’s nightlife scene.
We enjoyed it.
Prince-Restaurant
Later on we fall a sleep and had a great night.
The hotel is a perfect place to stay in Berlin, especially when you are interested in nighlife, art and design.
Unfortunately my favourite restaurant in Berlin-Mitte closed:
It was the Margaux – Chef de Cuisine – Michael Hoffmann
New resto tips in the hotel:
#1: Volt in Kreuzberg:
On the day of our visit, Restaurant Volt was serving a five-course diner before.
Nice Amuse-gueule, black pudding ravioli with pumpkin and pickled radish. Seared scallops with pearl barley risotto and porcini mushroom, German Ribeye steak with leeks, malt and aronia berries, Apricot, almond and thyme.
Each course that arrived at our tables was prepared with exceptional precision and attention to detail, showcasing the chef’s delicate touch and talent for photogenic plating. The flavours were distinct and identifiable, and nearly every dish was fabulous – the pearl barley risotto was a touch too salty for my liking, but that’s really a minor blemish to an otherwise wonderful dinner.
If you looking for a nice dinner venue with an atypical interior, great food and lovely service Restaurant Volt has to be in that shortlist.
LABANCA, a bit of “stylish bella Italia” in Berlin-City.
The new restaurant by Chef de Cuisine Jörg Behrend is located in the groundfloor of Hotel de Rome. The dining room is just cool. Tables are generously spaced, set with good quality linen tablecloths. The kitchen is well staffed. We tried during the opening the whole menu, eight small courses of tasting menus, including vitello tonnato, Watermelon with thunfish, caprese, Gnocci with Parma ham, Saltimbocc with spinacah, seebass. Everything was perfect, most of the vegetables on the menu came from local gardens.
The wine list has coverages from France, Germany, Italy and Spain in particular, with some rare wines as well. We tried Chardonnay by Alois Lageder South-Tyrol and a lovely Riesling from Anthony Hammond, Rheingau.
This worked well with the food, the textural contrast of the different kind of foods was delicious effective and everything tasted very fresh.
The food was attractively presented and also the Barbecue meat had a pleasant meaty taste, but the itself had a slight chewiness of texture, which I was not expecting. The vegetables had excellent flavour.
The seabass with artichokes, was an unusual dish, tasty and well balanced.
Dessert came in three stages. Classic Pannacotta, Tirami Su and a lovely chocolate bar.
A restaurant that can produce genuinely top class dishes, and the control of balancing flavors was impressive. Yummy.
Sir Rocco Forte (with his daughters) joined the opening.
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