Hotel Concorde Berlin Blog

Discovering Schöneberg with Carsten Colmorgen II

The Hotel Concorde Berlin’s General Manager Carsten Colmorgen was kind enough to show me around his neighbourhood in Schöneberg recently. In Part I, we explored the legendary Deko Behrendt fancy dress shop; the wonderfully authentic French patisserie ‘Aux Plaisirs’; and the iconic Schöneberg town hall, where John F. Kennedy made his ‘ich bin ein Berliner’ speech in 1963 to thousands of delighted West Berliners, not to mention many more East Berliners watching from behind the Berlin Wall. Read on to find out more about this incredibly diverse area and some its hidden treasures…

We stopped for a coffee outside at Café Sur at Akazienstraße 4, before heading next door to the adjoining Südwind delicatessen, which is must-see if you’re in the area. It is packed full of gourmet fare, from unusual cheeses to fine wines, the likes of which you certainly won’t find in the supermarket. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and are happy to let you try before you buy.

On the other side of the road we stop for a look inside a particularly chic branch of the high-end fashion store Greta&Luis. Here you will find a handpicked selection of clothes and accessories from both international designers (such as Filippa K, Drykorn and French Connection) as well as homegrown talent (such as Mynuka, IQ Berlin and Liebeskind). The store itself is a design feat in itself: it is urban, chic and minimalist, just like Berlin itself! There is another branch a just around the corner which is specialised in younger, more casual fashion.

Further down and on the other side of the road at 22 Akazienstraße, we pass the Double Eye coffee shop, which coffee connaisseurs claim serves some of the best coffee in Berlin, but, as Carsten points out, “There are always huge queues and nowhere to really sit and enjoy your drink!”

At the end of Akazienstraße we stop to admire the magnificent neo-Gothic Apostel-Paulus-Kirche, which is surrounded by trees and a children’s play area.

To be continued…