Art Hotel Luise

Eating

Breakfast is not included in the room rate, but it's worth paying for the excellent spread on offer at the neighbouring restaurant, Habel Weinkultur. You sit in a lovely, tall room with a generous buffet of scrambled eggs with salmon and herby cream-cheese, the usual delicious German breads, yoghurts with fruit salad and fresh fruit, and plenty of salamis, hams, cheeses, tomatos and cucumber should the local penchant for savoury breakfasts have rubbed off on you.

Habel re-opens for lunch and dinner, a popular venue for businessmen and politicians who nip over from the Reichstag; the Habel family (founder Johann was cellar-meister for Frederick the Great) has even served kings in their time. You can sit in the main hall, book a vaulted cellar for a private group, or spill out onto the lawns in summer. Choose from a set menu (anything from classic Berlin to French); or a help-yourself buffet ranging from Italian minestrones to Scandinavian seafood, with lots of good German fare en route. Soups might be mushroom and marjoram or salmon and mustard, mains include smoked pork in caraway reduction, smoked fish or a sausage platter with Spreewalder Gurken (the gherkins made famous in 'Goodbye Lenin') and potato-beet purée.

If you fancy a change one morning, book breakfast at the rooftop Kaefer restaurant perched alongside Norman Foster's Reichstag dome: not only does it offer bird's eye views and beautifully presented fare, but booking breakfast here allows you to sidestep the often lengthy morning queues into the dome. It's not cheap, but it's a fantastic start to the day and only 5 minutes' walk away; or you can really splash out and book a Feinschmecker dinner here (that's haute cuisine to you and moi), high above the city lights.