It didn’t appear to be the right address. After all, the four-story building hardly fit the bill as a venue for a “gala dinner/dance,” particularly where Bastian Fassin and Tobias Bachmüller, co-managing directors of Katjes GmbH, would receive the European Candy Kettle Club’s 2016 award.

A welcoming committee of two beautiful young ladies quickly displaced that notion as they checked the who’s who guest list. The climb up the flight of stairs, which was peppered with graffiti on the walls and landings, including some iconic Katjes’ cats, reminded one more of the West Side of Chicago than Berlin.