Badehaus Balkan | Swing and Pálinka

The only clues pointing to this building’s former purpose are the tiny windows that lie almost directly underneath the ceiling. Panorama windows just don’t fit into a traditional bathing house. “It wasn’t a luxury facility,” says the owner Atilla Kiss. “Factory workers came here to wash off the coal dust from their bodies.” The building is part of the industrial compound on Revaler Straße where numerous clubs have settled over the past year.

For a while now, the water has stopped bubbling at the Badehaus – instead, Hungarian wines and self-imported Pálinka, a Hungarian fruit spirit, are poured from the bar at this offshoot of the Szimpla Kaffeehaus Budapest a couple of streets down. “I know many great musicians and wanted to host more concerts, but the coffee house wasn’t really the best place for that” explains Kiss. At Badehaus, live bands play jazz, folk, swing and Balkan music and the audiences vary depending on who’s on that night. “If there’s a well-known Hungarian band playing, then lots of Hungarians living in Berlin will be there. Other than that, it’s mostly folks from the Kiez, but they’re not quite as young as the people that go to the surrounding clubs.” The Badehaus recently got a sun deck that runs around the house, so come summertime, early bird concert-goers will be able to relax with coffee in the sun.

(lmb)