Lit primarily by candlelight and busy until the early hours almost every night of the week, Hotel is arguably the most perfect distillation of what makes a Berlin bar unique. It’s decor suggests that someone found an abandoned building and started selling alcohol there, encouraging patrons to bring their own cast-off furniture; the spirit bottles are kept behind the bar in ancient wooden crates and the selection of beer is fine if unremarkable. But once you get settled in with a few drinks, it’s the sort of place you might never want to leave. If Hotel is no longer quite the well-kept secret it used to be, it’s nonetheless an excellent place to catch up with old friends and to make new ones.
