The Bar at Marques (Closed)

Address: Graefestrasse 92, 10967 , Berlin, Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 1732 055 283
Door: Open door
Style: Cocktail bar
Food: Bar Snacks

Review

You won't find a cocktail menu at Marques. Instead, you'll find Marcus Wolff, a friendly former five-star hotel barman who has set up shop in the basement of the Marques Spanish tapas restaurant. He'll talk you through what you might fancy, and make classic cocktails or something bespoke for you, serving up well-executed cocktails up using a bevy of bitters and tinctures, using gold equipment and presenting drinks in frozen glassware.

His home, just south of the city centre in an area not otherwise noted for its cocktail bars (get a cab), is a beautiful, candlelit space with warm woods, an open fire, a grand piano and trompe oeil windows that create the illusion that you are not actually in a basement. Around you are contemporary oil paintings and antique cocktail paraphernalia, including a birdcage-style Martini bar with the most delicate of cocktail glasses.

Marcus might no longer be ensconced in a hotel but the service is five-star impeccable, and finding a uniformed bartender in such a small venue in such an area makes it feel like a real find. He'll also get the chef to put together a delicious smorgasbord of Spanish snacks from the otherwise overwhelmingly large tapas menu.