Adrie Reinders

Today, my old friend Jan and I had some business to attend to. In my other life as an entrepreneur, business consultant and copywriter I’ve come to the point where I need my own homepage. Jan on his side is one of the best screen designers I know, so we decided to meet for an impromptu design briefing today. Since we generally do as much business as possible over breakfast, lunch or dinner here in Berlin, it was his turn to come up with a suitably refined location for a 11:30 late breakfast.

At 11:30 sharp I heard the horn of his ‘78 Mini Cooper outside my door. And off we went to a place he had announced as a “true hidden gem”. As it turned out, he has been breakfasting there often over the past two years. As it further turned out, “hidden” is quite accurate when it comes to this gem. We drove down to Kreuzberg and then some. Where Görlitzer Straße meets the Landwehrkanal: that’s where you find Salon Sucré.

At first sight, I was both amused and reassured. This would not be Berlin if Salon Sucré was merely a bistrot, a cafe or restaurant. No: it’s all that AND a hairdresser. The place is run by a French patissier, Eric, and his Brazilian girlfriend Katia, who’s a hairdresser. Today, though, the salon was closed and she was helping to wait tables. Very endearing, all that, and Jan as a regular was warmly welcomed.

A closer look at the food on display revealed that Eric specializes in what the art of French baking has to offer. On the downside, this means that for breakfast you won’t get any eggs or toast or cereal or yoghurt. On the plus side, you will get croissants with any conceivable stuffing. I took three: one filled with marinated salmon, one with French cheese, and one with French ham and Dijon mustard. Jan took a croissant and a paté with tomatoes. Thus supplied, we sat down at one of the small tables outside, enjoyed the tranquility on this remote end of Görlitzer Strasse, sipped our Café au lait and lazily went to business.

Business, however, didn’t stop me from noticing that these were the best croissants I have ever had. The filling was tasty and well-spiced – you easily notice that this was miles from the prefab stuff you get at LeCroBag. The croissants exuded homemadedness – juicy and firm at the same time. Beautiful!

After a while, Eric came out with a bottle of crémant rosé and two glasses, which he waved in front of our eyes invitingly. As he poured us two glasses, he explained that this was to say sorry for the fact that they’d be closing Salon Sucré down for summer, so that Jan would have to look for another place to have breakfast until September 17th. Eric did that in his truly colorful German – it doesn’t sound fake at all when he talks half German, half French, frequently ending his sentences with “et voilá, Monsieur!”. When we came in to pay our bills, he calculated out loud: “Un Euró quatre-vingt, trois Euró quatre-ving dix, sept Euró… ca fait neun Euro achtzig, bitte. Merci beaucoup!”

On this occasion a word about the pricing. The deliciously stuffed croissants come at 1,60 € a piece. After three of them, it’s you who is deliciously stuffed. Need I say more?

As we paid, both Jan and I identified some French pastries that we wanted to take home for the afternoon. I chose a blueberry pastry that had already caught my eye as we had arrived. Now before writing this text here, I just finished the last bit of it, and Dear God, it was a piece of heaven! Blueberries of a size and sweetness that clearly designate them as Polish produce (I will have to write about the merits of Polish food another time), a mild and tasty crème and the perfect shortcrust. If there ever was the quintessential Sunday Afternoon Pastry, I found it!

And so can you – unfortunately not before Sept 17th, though. And only Thursday to Sunday, unless you want to have your hair cut – the salon is open Wednesday to Saturday.

What a sweet place!

Salon Sucré

Regent Hotel Berlin
www.theregentberlin.com

49 Charlottenstraße
10117 Mitte, Berlin, Germany
+49 30 2033-8

In the middle of the centrum of Berlin, you will find the Regent Hotel, five star accommodation and probably the most luxurious hotel in Berlin. Thanks to E.Factor’s great concierge service, I managed to get a room her at a nice price AND I received an upgrade on arrival. As the pictures show, elegance all around. The beds are very comfortable and the service is what you should expect in a hotel in this class. The room had a beautiful bathroom and the hotel a well-equipped gym. Breakfast is typical german and superfluous with the best bread you can possible imagine.

The hotel is located right in the heart of the nicest shopping area of Berlin, hosting the flagship stores for many great brands. In all, a hotel you can come home to after a hard day’s work and relax. And don’t forget to “do tea” in the lobby at the end of the afternoon – a real high tea the traditional English way.

Food: 8
Service: 9
Comfort: 9
price/quality: 9 (for E Factor premium members)

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Papa Pane di Sorrento.Ackerstrasse 23, Berlin, www.papapane.de

In the area “Mitte” you will find a real pizzeria at Papa Pane’s. Mitte is comparable to Soho in NY,  a little bohemian, many galaries, restaurants and alternative initiatives.

Papa Pane’s is a modern looking, mainly decorated in white, restaurant with a gorgeous terrace outside. It looked pleasant and modern, well furnished. Service was reasonable but not great, a little too much showing a professional disinterest. The pizza’s however, were outstanding. I had a Pizza Formagio which was delicious.

According to many Berlin-experts – this ranks as a “Cool” restaurant.

Food: 8.5
Comfort: 8
Service: 6.5
price/Quality: 7.5

BTW, no credit cards accepted, which is the same in many restaurants in Berlin

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Alpen Stueck, Gartenstrasse 9, 10115 Berlin, www.alpenstueck.de

The term “Contemporary German Kitchen” made me wonder. In the heart of Mitte, the most trendy neighbourhood in Berlin, you will find a modern restaurant that serves typical German cuisine. It has a limited menu – only 5 main courses – and offers stark, white, modern surroundings. I sat outside myself as the weather was extremely hot whilst I was in Berlin. Comfort was OK, nothing special, service was good, friendly and professional.
My eye immediately fell on the Wiener Schnitzel mit Kartoffelsalat (potato salad) – and it was obvious they know exactly how to prepare that. It was of the highest quality and extremely enjoyable. If you’d like to try German food, this place does come recommended. It’s a breath of fresh air even if you have become used to eating mainly french or italian.
Credit cards aren’t accepted, so make sure you do bring plenty of cash.

Food: 9
Service: 8
Comfort: 7
Price/quality: 8

The centre of the creative world in Germany

I had 6 meetings in Berlin this past Wedensday, all with creative people from the web design scene there. In that case, there is only one place to go to meet all of them – the St. Oberholz, a fashionable »digital boheme« café with 2 stories. The place to meet each other – throughout the day the cafe is filled top to bottom with people working on laptop (Apple!) computers, headsets perched on their heads, shooting movies, eating and drinking endless streams of coffee. A real meeting point, and surprisingly comfortable even for an extended stay. Bit like Starbucks, but much cooler and… one of the very few places in town with free WiFi.

A must if you want to meet the in-crowd of creatives in Berlin.

Food: 6
Service: 7,5
Comfort: 8
Price/Quality: 8

A brandnew experience

The Regent Hotel, Charlottenstrasse 49, Berlin www.theregentberlin.com

Our travel concierge Katie Nitka, part of the exclusive High Road package we offer on E.Factor, booked us into the Regent hotel in Berlin.  The hotel is situated close to the Brandenburger Tor and the Friedrichstrasse – where you have access to shops and the unique culture of the city.

The hotel is relatively new but decorated in a classic way – very comfortable and elegant. The beds are excellent, the service is great and breakfast was super – and what was very noticeable, was that true to all generalisations about Germany, everything worked without a hitch.

Apart from all “normal” things you expect a hotel to have, they also have a well equipped Health Club and Spa. This hotel comes highly recommended to any business traveller who needs a quiet and peaceful moment in an otherwise busy schedule.

Comfort: 8.5
Service: 8.5
Location: 8
Price/Quality: 8.5

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