Berlin’s Almi Restaurant: A New Hotspot in a Historic Neighbourhood

A new restaurant, Almi, has opened in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, offering a modern European menu influenced by chef Almaz Iskakov’s extensive culinary training across Europe. The restaurant, located on a corner between Berlin-Mitte and Prenzlauer Berg, officially began service this month.

The opening of Almi adds to the increasing number of fashionable establishments in Prenzlauer Berg, a district that has undergone significant change since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Once a working-class neighborhood and a center for counterculture during the GDR era, Prenzlauer Berg has experienced rapid gentrification, attracting residents and businesses from across the German capital.

Almi occupies a ground-floor unit within an early 20th-century residential building. The interior design, a collaboration between Iskakov and his business partner Stepan Zvantsov and the Tbilisi and New York City-based architecture and design practice NWDS, aims to evoke the atmosphere of classic neighborhood restaurants. The design incorporates natural materials, a warm color palette, and a mix of furnishings intended to create an organically evolved space.

The restaurant features a custom-made pendant lamp designed by French artist Emmanuel Hugnot, reinterpreting mid-century ice-glass lamps using 3D printing technology, and a communal table created by local designer Felix Klein. Almi can seat 41 guests, with an additional 30 seats available on its terrace during the summer months.

Chef Iskakov’s culinary journey began in Kazan before continuing to the Ferrandi culinary school in Paris. He subsequently refined his skills in restaurants located in St. Petersburg, Paris, Lisbon, and Berlin, experiences that inform the diverse range of culinary influences present on Almi’s menu. The menu features both classic dishes and innovative creations incorporating flavors from across Europe, from the Algarve region of Portugal to the Ural Mountains of Russia.

NWDS’s design for Almi emphasizes preserving the “cosy, authentic spirit of East Berlin,” rather than adopting the city’s more contemporary aesthetic. The interior is characterized by tall guillotine windows that open directly onto the street, creating a welcoming and inviting atmosphere. Some original elements of the previous restaurant have been retained, including a wall fragment and older chairs.

Almi is currently open from Tuesday to Saturday, from 5:30 PM to 11:00 PM. Reservations are being accepted.