Elegant Summer at Regent Berlin

With the 'heat wave' - for me, between brackets because, seriously, 30C is nothing more than a very normal temperature - coming back to Berlin for a while, one may notice how easy is to find a simple place for a drink or two. Things are a bit complicated if you are looking to pay not only for the hydration, but for the ambiance. Where you want to feel good and be served with a good offer, while being surrounded by people like you.

You need to rely on local knowledge for that. Discretely located in the busy area of Gendarmenmarkt, Regent Berlin is that oasis of elegance where you would perfectly spend a couple of long hot summer days and evenings. You go there to see and to be seen but without too much hussle, get a 5-star plus service and menu. Sounds fair?

First and foremost, the summer terrace, open daily between 10am and 10 pm, has a Veuve Clicquot bar. Simple, elegant, yellow and ready to treat your wishes. For the healthy conscious, you can have tasty smoothies and ice tea and beverages recommended by their famous Master Tea Gold Roland Pröh. The menu includes salads and snacks to balance the booze, but also various local (drinking, again) products, such as Belsazar Vermouth, Adler Gin or Rollberg Beer.

For the first time this year, if you are visiting the terrace between 12 noon and 12 pm, and 6pm and 10 pm, you can order there lunch and dinner from the gourmet restaurant Charlotte&Fritz. Previously Fischer Fritz, it was renamed based on the guests' suggestions and recently re-open to the public after an intense renovation process. Nowadays, in a Belle Epoque ambiance, you can taste regional dishes with eclectic influences from all over the world, with a weekly changing menu, created by chef de cuisine Jörg Lawerenz. 

There is another great chance to have a taste of the restaurant exquisite dishes: recently, together with Babor Institute by Christiane Lingner, Regent invites you to lunch, after a beauty treatment offered around the corner. The one hour of wellness is offered Tuesdays and Saturdays and is suited for both men and women.

Regent Berlin is more than a posh hotel where to spend your night. It offers histories and stories. And, what is not so easy to find in Berlin, an exquisite afternoon tea that I was lucky to try a couple of years ago. Master Tea Gold Roland Pröh highered the stakes even more, by a completely innovative package for the non-English realm: Victorian afternoon tea. On flowery painted China, you will be served at the same time sweet and savory pastries, and tea with hot water and milk on the side. The afternoon tea is bookable for minimum of three persons on the weekend, between 2pm and 6pm.

With a long list of local and international personalities on their guest lists, among which Tom Cruise and the team of FC Bayern, Regent Berlin is happy to share local stories with their guests. As this year the innovative German architectural Bauhaus movement celebrates 100 years, the hotel offers special 8-hour packages, with private guide and chauffeur, during which you will discover the most representative buildings in Berlin and their unique stories. 

Regent Hotel is part of the Berlin story, which invites you to become a local, while maintaining your usual standards. A story which already goes on and on successfully for many years.

Disclaimer: I was a guest of the summer terrace of Regent Berlin, but the opinions are, as usual, my own

For more travel stories, follow my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilanatravels

Elegant afternoon tea at Regent Hotel Berlin

Berlin, and Germany in general, does not have a historical gourmet tradition of afternoon tea, but with an increasing demand for luxury services and so many long cold afternoons, there is an impressive potential to improve and diversify the local offer. A couple of weeks ago, I was the guest of the very elegant lounge of the five-star Regent Hotel, situated in the equally stylish Gendarmenmarkt, in Mitte. Once you cross the luxurious lobby, walking under massive chandelier you arrive in the special room where the afternoon tea is served. The leather armchairs with comfy pillows, the English-style paintings, and massive marble wall coverings - every small detail is sewed together to create a distinguished space. A well-balanced combination of high-elegance, delicacy and the strength of the maturity, features noticed during my tour of the hotel facilities as well (review coming up soon!).

It was summer afternoon and the ambiance was inviting to a very relaxing lucid dreaming, but I was there for a mission, so needed to switched back instantly to the alert journalistic mood. The tea at Regent Hotel is different from other available offers in town not only because of the ambiance and the quality of the pastry, but also because it has a special certified Tea Master Gold - by the famous Ronnefeld tea company - helping the guests finding the right blend for their afternoon tea. Out of 35 different kinds of tea, Roland Pröh will recommend then right combination, based on the taste and personality preferences. It sounds and definitely tastes too better than any kind of therapy. 

As for me, I settled on for the Meissner Rose blend: Chinese green tea with dried grapes from Meissner vineyards and delicate touches of rosebuds. It is refreshing, elegant and bringing back your well deserved body balance that you might easily forget about during crazy days, weeks or even months of hard work. It was served in simple Meissen porcelain, another trademark of pure luxury in Germany. Cold ice tea can be also served, but as usual, it depends very much of the blend, as most of them are perfect only when hot.

The three-tiered treats are the great companion of a relaxing afternoon, matching the soothing live piano music. Delicious enough to make you focus on the conversation, while biting little by little mouth-watering aromas and quality cooking. The cucumber and salmon sandwiches are simple yet made with care for quality. The scones with strawberry jam or clotted cream - with a fancy pansy on the top - were fresh and prepared according to the highest standards of French pastry. The small gingery jellies were not too sweet and matched unexpectedly my perfumed tea. My favourite was the raspberry tartelette, where the taste of the fresh pastry met the spotless fruits for creating a unique new taste.  The key-word is 'normality', but in the highest sense of the word, and due to the beginning of the afternoon tea offer in town, it's a well deserved feature. On special winter holidays, there are slight changes into the menu, adapting the pastry to the traditional German dishes.

During the summer, there is no need of reservation too much time in advance, but due to the high demand during the winter, such a booking is necessary - preferably 3-6 days in advance. It is served regularly between 2 and 6 pm.

With so many teas to taste and such an elegant ambiance, I bet I will be back soon, probably in the winter, trying to retire for a short while in a small island of warm and beauty denying the ugly weather outside. Everyone has the legal right to look for his or her own normality, isn't it?

Disclaimer: I was the guest of Regent Hotel for the afternoon tea, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.

More about my Afternoon Tea Project on my dedicated Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/ilanaontheroad/afternoon-tea/

Regent Hotel: the unexpected oasis of luxury

I never have enough time to explore Gendarmenmarkt, except when I have to go to a concert or I am looking for a quiet place near Brandenburg Gate. Or, after the long tours of shopping visits at Galeries Lafayette. This time, I am happy to be the insider of Regent Hotel, a five star hotel with a well established 10-year tradition among the luxury brands in Berlin.

At the first sight, the modernist simple facade doesn't say anything about what is hidden behind the doors. People are coming and going around, busy or simply ready to find out where their new tourist destination is. Once I enter, all the rush and colourfulness of Berlin is left outside. A little palace of elegance and quietness, with huge beautiful flowers and marble walls.

Regent Hotel was described by Condé Nast Traveller 'one of the best places to stay in the world', but it comes with a culinary delice: the two-star Michelin restaurant Fischers Fritz. Under the gourmet coordination of chef Christian Lohse, it also offers daily business lunch menu, but can also set up private dining, for a room up to 15 persons. The ambiance is very private, and no wonder that big world stars are often guests of this place. Like Bruce Willis, for instance, who paid at least one visit here during his stay in Berlin.

The hotel is also the proud owner of a lobster press, one of the five in the world (out of which one is part of the collection of Christofle Museum). The lobster is introduce inside, in the dedicated compartments and press swiftly till the flesh is coming up. As usual, good gourmet results involves always a lot of technique.

The hotel has 195 rooms, decorated in the elegant simplicity of Biedermeier style. The variation of colours is pastel, the rooms being painted in lime or the very powerful salmon rosé, my favourite. The space is well portioned, the massive classical furniture being placed in order to give a lot of space and freedom to the guests.

The beauty is made of small details. The lobby of each store has wallpapers with motives inspired by nature that are matched with Art Nouveau lamps.

Given the special home-made ambiance, no surprise that the hotel is offering extensive packages for children. The little ones are offered gifts such as cuddle toys, colouring books or chocolate candies. A nanny service is available for the families looking to have some private time during their stay at Regent. During this time, the children can be kept busy too, among others, with classes where they learn the good manners. The Executive suites do have adjacent rooms for children, provided with special amenities, such as child tailored DVDs. The guests who make their reservation up to 30 days in advance, may receive a complimentary upgrade.

Visiting the rooms leaves you with a special feeling of quietness and strength. It is not difficult to make yourself at home and enter that unique ambiance you are longing for when you are on the road. Especially when you travel a lot, the need to be in the middle of familiar spaces is always there, despite all the glamours of the travel life.

The rooms are provided with everything needed for creating an elegant privacy. Wifi is free of charge, the housekeeping service is done twice the day at least. The concierge service is available all round the day. At the spa, luxury massage and beauty treatments are available. Berlin tour guides, in German, English and French are available. The premier suites do have a small kitchinette space where the dinner can be prepared by the concierge. The concierge is available to help and plan various plans of the stay of the guests, such as car renting, booking flights etc.

Another unique feature of Regent Hotel, is the possibility to have your own jogging concierge. Head concierge Stephanm Mehlhorn, an experienced sportsman himself, is ready to show the guests the most beautiful routes for jogging across the city (besides the well known Tierpark). Special jogging maps are offered, with directions and various recommendations tailored to the jogging needs of the customer.

Sometimes we are reminded that the well-being and luxury are not for ever and while we are thankful for the moment, we need to consider the fate of those who have nothing. Regent Hotel is involved as well in charities, last year being awarded the Franz von Mendelssohn Medal for charitable commitment.

The presidential suite is often hosting high-class VIPs, from the world of sports - like the VIPs of FC Bayern - politicians or movie stars. The small French style balcony was used by Tom Cruise's daughter Suri for learning her first independent steps. In order to offer her special protection, a plexiglass shield was set up around the metal fence. With such a beautiful view, you might be inspired to walk by yourself to see all those place by youself! Cruise stayed here during the filming for his movie Valkyrie, that was partly shot at the Babelsberg Studios in Potsdam.

Inside the hotel, a conference room can host up to 180 people. Press conferences are often organized there, as it happened this February, for the two Pussy Riots members Nadejda Tolokonnikowa and Maria Aljochina, during their first trip abroad as free persons. I am sure that the walls of the hotel saw many other personalities and their choices, but what happens in Regent Hotel, stays in Regent Hotel. 

It is time to relax, and the simple afternoon tea is the happy ending of my short stay at Regent. Served in Meissen porcelain, it is prepared under the close supervision of the Tea Master Gold, Roland Pröh. Nearby, there is the terrace, which this year has a lavender summer theme.

It is not easy to say 'good bye', and I can feel what the long-term guests may be going through when they have to part ways with this beautiful island of luxury. However, modern technology helps to keep in touch, and a special app, downloadable for free, helps the customers to keep in touch with the newest highlights. One of the newest offers is the special package made in cooperation with Rolls Royce and KPM Manufaktur, offering a high class experience with luxury cars and perfect porcelain.

Stay elegant, Regent Berlin, hope to see you soon!

For more insights from Regent Hotel, visit the dedicated Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/ilanaontheroad/regent-hotel-berlin/

Disclaimer: I was the guest of Regent Hotel for an overview of the rooms and an afternoon tea, but the opinions are, as usual, my own.