Discovering Schöneberg with Carsten Colmorgen III
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. In Part II, we went to the wonderful Südwind delicatessen, the chic Gret&Luis boutique and the neo-gothic Apostel-Paulus church. Read on to find out more about this incredibly diverse area and some its hidden treasures…
the twice-weekly food market at Winterfeldtplatz
Before we reached our end destination, the popular Winterfeldt Platz, which is home to the beautiful St. Matthias Church and one of Berlin’s best twice-weekly food markets, Carsten showed me some of the less well known attractions, including a shop dedicated entirely to apples. In fact, the owners refer to it as an apple “gallery”, rather than a shop, and they hope to elevate the humble fruit’s status and educate people about its many varieties and uses.
The "Apple Gallery" at Goltzstraße 3 in Schöneberg
We also visited a cool little cafe called ‘Morsh’, on the quiet, residential Vorbergstraße. Here you can buy tickets to some of the best concerts in town once you’ve finished your coffee, as the box office of the local concert organisers Trinity Music is housed in the same building. Alternatively, you can pop next door to the trendy record store and pick up music from the likes of Morissey, Nick Cave or The Jam.
Morsh at Vorbergstraße 8 in Schöneberg
Carsten also pointed out one of his favourite places to eat out in Schöneberg – a rustical little Taverna named Ousies, serving some of the best Greek food in Berlin.
Taverna Ousies at Grunewaldstraße 16 in Schöneberg
The Makrönchen Manufaktur at Apostel-Paulus-Straße 4 is dedicated to the French macaroon; Carsten appreciates the huge variety of flavours here, which include passion fruit, Pina Colada, and rose petals, not to mention the more unusual savoury varieties such as goat’s cheese-quince, ginger-carrot, and tomato-basil.
All in all, I feel like I got to see a different side to Schöneberg, and I hope you did too. Many thanks to Carsten Colmorgen for showing me his neighbourhood. Stay tuned for more neighbourhood walks with Hotel Concorde Berlin personalities!
