An ambitious exercise in the art of perfection, lunch or dinner at Michelin-starred Facil presents a culinary experience of impeccable taste. Head chef Michael Kempf serves up a selection of dishes infusing traditional German ingredients with modern, haute-cuisine flair, gathering 80 percent of his kitchen’s ingredients from small local farmers—the spices, for example, are culled from Kreuzberg’s bi-weekly Turkish market on Maybachufer. It’s a menu that changes each month, following a two-week tasting period where the six-member kitchen staff perfects new creations.

Seated on the fifth floor inner courtyard of the Mandala Hotel, guests are surrounded by expansive walls of glass, including a hydraulically controlled filigree-like glass roof. Honey-colored stone floors, polished mahogany, iGuzzini lamps and comfy Donghia chairs provide an atmosphere of sophistication that feels relaxed, not stuffy—just as Kempf likes. “You can come in with jeans or Armani and feel comfortable,” he says. “It doesn’t matter.”