Place with a View: Cafe Inge, Schloss Steglitz

When I created the “Place with a View” category, I wanted to show you exactly that: a place with a unique atmosphere, a bold and sustainable concept based on a deep respect for people and the world we live in. Not to mention the delicious dishes and cakes prepared with dedication and passion for good food.

A reader of my blog told me about Café Inge in the Steglitz Public Library some time ago. “You have to go there and write about it! It’s really special!”

I have to say, that reader was right. The location itself holds a certain charm. High up on the third floor of the ‘Schloss’, a multipurpose complex with stores, doctors’ offices, bureaus, a public library, and a radio station, visitors will find it situated on the site of the former Steglitz Rathaus.

Since the café is part of the Ingeborg Drewitz Library’s reading area, you can sip tea and read an amazing variety of the latest magazines and newspapers. That’s also very neat. Then there’s the beautiful view of an old Berlin mansion below, which offers concerts, exhibitions, and civic activities. All of this is situated in a lovely spot with old trees and a garden. Incidentally, it’s also the ‘big sister’ of Café Inge, but I’ll get back to that later.

The Café Inge consists of two parts—or three, actually. One is the classic, cozy little café in the left-hand corner right after you enter the library. There is also an outdoor seating area near the other side of the entrance where you can work, enjoy a slice of cake, and sip a latte. You can order at the counter and take your order, or it will be brought to you if it needs to be freshly prepared.

Holger, who is mainly responsible for the cafe, will take your order. He makes every guest feel welcome the moment they enter the café. Ever ready for a little chat, Holger knows a lot about the café because it was his ideas that helped give it its distinct shape and character.

You can especially see this in the atrium, the third part of Cafe Inge. Imagine a combination of a city street café, a typical independent Berlin food spot, and a hidden Mediterranean tapas bar. It’s a light-filled space with about five or six inviting seating areas, plus two very comfy, covered wicker beach chairs.

Mixed in between are lush arrangements of plants in a wide variety of vessels of many shapes. Everything is lovingly decorated, and two hand-painted signposts (so cute!) will direct you to all the library’s attractions. You can watch the library’s daily life unfold around you while enjoying a delicious cake with a variety of hot and cold beverages, a satisfying bowl of soup, or perhaps the hearty Swiss cheesecake.

The cakes are delivered fresh every day from the Café Schwartzsche Villa on the other side of the street. As previously mentioned, it is the ‘big sister’ of Cafe Inge. All the other dishes, which are custom-made in a professional restaurant kitchen, come from the same source as the dishes on the menu of the large cultural café with a hedge view of the ‘Schloss’ that gave Schlossstraße (Castle Avenue) its name. This ‘Wrangelschlösschen,’ which hosts the ‘Schlosstheater’ these days, also definitely counts as a local cultural highlight.

Café Inge—named after the famous German writer and human rights activist Ingeborg Drewitz, just like the library—is run by a charity whose name reflects its core values: Mosaik. At Mosaik, people with special abilities and different needs work together. In a cooperative organizational concept that respects diversity and the human right to be in control of one’s own life. This philosophy of education, work, and life ensures that people are not excluded from society or from everyday activities and achievements.

You can see and feel that in the amazing things they create. They produce food, as well as a wide range of projects and services, including assembly, bookbinding, cafés and restaurants, canteens, carpentry, catering, digital archiving, flooring, fulfillment, gardening, landscaping, laundry, painting, tailoring, varnishing, wallpapering, and more. And no one there is being ‘handicapped’ in their tasks. Rather, they are being enabled and empowered. All work together toward their shared goal and vision: “Everyone is part of the whole.” This vision is also the heart and soul of Cafe Inge.

So, for this café and all the people who make it happen, I should actually rename the category “Place with Amazing Outlooks and Vision.”

Go and enjoy the view(s)!

Side Notes:

• And yes, just like the food, all the decorations and plant arrangements in the atrium of the Cafe Inge were build by people working at one of the companies of the Mosaik organization. Which also runs the cultural cafe ‘Schwartzsche Villa’, of course.
• If you want to more more, you will find links to the Cafe Inge and Mosaik on the [InfoByteSized] page.