The only thing gray about this cat is the love-it-or-loath-it, concrete facade of its futuristic “L40” Mitte address. Inside, Le Chat Gris is an ultra-chic bar and club, brought to you by the owners of the nearby Neue Odessa. Style-wise, it’s also in the vicinity (black and gold dominate) but far from suffering any déjà vu—the floor-to-ceiling windows and hued mirrors give this space a touch more sparkle than its low-lit comrade. Catering to the scrubbed-up guys and dolls from the media, fashion and art scenes, Le Chat Gris has a snazzy drinks menu to match. Crémant, rosé and champagne flow plentiful here as well as some seriously quaffable cocktails combos. And downstairs, the mirrored club room makes Le Chat Gris more than just a schmoozerama bar, as the Mitterati put their heels to the test at Friday’s after-work hoedown.

Tucked away just north of Lausitzer Platz, Vögelchen is a labyrinthine little café-bar where TLC rules the roost. The owner’s indefatigable approach to the finer details mean that almost every corner is littered with hand-picked ornaments and oddball furnishings: from a primed typewriter for the day-dreaming coffee fiends, to the antique piano for those of an ivory-tinkling inclination, or a wardrobe whose doors leads down to a Narnia-like, rentable party Keller. So whether it’s Kuchen o’clock in the afternoon or Negroni hour late at night, this is one nest you won’t want to leave in a hurry.

The old Trust—brainchild of Weekend owner Marcus Trojan, Cookie’s head honcho Cookie and photographer Sascha Kramer—was a place where Mitte’s movers and shakers went to be seen and heard. So naturally when the most exclusive mini-club on Torstraße closed its doors in 2012 many a scenester was left wondering where their nightlife would go from there…

They needn’t have worried. Fast forward a few months and messrs Trojan, Cookie and Kramer are at it again in a new, bigger location that sprawls underneath the railway tracks at Hackescher Markt. It’s still that unmarked-door-and-peephole sort of exclusive, but to immerse yourself in what lies within is more than worth enduring those scrutinizing eyes—a straight up lesson in urban cool, expertly realized over two floors of exposed concrete and flashes of gold.

Drinks-wise, like the Trust of old, it’s all about bottles of Champagne and spirits (available in 0.2 or 0.7 liter) and they’ve even made the concession of stocking beers as well. If you order one, though, you’ve missed the point and will have to endure the ignominy of having it served in a brown paper bag. Because nothing decimates a hip cat’s image more than drinking hobo-street style.

It can be tough living in the shadow of a big sibling. Lava, the little bro of acclaim-hoarder Lavanderia Vecchia, is having none of that—having taken over the front of the same Flughafenstraße building. By no means is Lava content playing a mere supporting role, it’s not even going after the same formula. Replace the belly-busting set menu with a more refined à la carte offering and a focus that stretches beyond the Italian peninsula into the wider Med.

The first room doubles up as a deli-type establishment, with a mamma-mia meat counter housing a deluge of carefully-cured hams and stink-tastic cheeses—from which you can whip up your own delicacies zu Hause. Then, follow through to the other rooms—one with an LED-light adorned leaking bathtub (art, presumably) and the other a more intimate, low-lit affair of surrealist dark greens and black-white checkerboards. It all lends the Trattoria, a curious Alice-in-Wonderland feel that detracts from the food not a jot. Lava is a sequel, but its top-notch cuisine and quirky touches are the match of its original, no doubt about that.

Sunken at the forefront of the RAW maze-like compound, Urban Spree is a graffiti-laden brick and concrete self-proclaimed “(re)creative space”—but don’t let that put you off. Pretentious parentheses in the description aside, if you walk on by you’re missing out. Upstairs, an artist’s laboratory and workshop rings with buzz-words of Berlin’s urbanization: engage, interact, collaborate, fuck off Media Spree etc. With the multifaceted city itself as an inspirational source, the program of events is fittingly schizophrenic. Previous times have seen the space give a temporary home to a Flohmarkt, a short film festival, Berlin fashion week, even a Korean food night, plus all the usuals – so keep your eyes on their schedule as there’s no telling what’ll come next.