Hamburg · Where to eat

Creative French
The first-floor dining room of the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten on the Neuer Jungfernstieg, overlooking the Binnenalster. Tuesday to Saturday 18.30-23.00, with the last booking taken at 19.30.
Order: A six-course tasting menu; Christoph Rüffer's cooking, in place since 2002; a grand hotel cellar behind it
Why go: Three stars on the Alster, held by the same chef for more than twenty years without a change of direction.
Locals order: The last reservation is 19.30 - arrive at nine and there is no table, whatever the closing time says.
book online or by phone; last booking 19.30

Creative tasting
Shanghaiallee 15 in HafenCity, a single sinuous counter rather than a room of separate tables.
Order: One long curved table facing the open kitchen; a tasting menu with no a la carte; the cooks plating directly in front of you
Why go: Germany's only three-star restaurant with no tables at all - everybody sits at the same one.
Locals order: Book months out. One table, one sitting, and the whole restaurant is that table.
book months ahead; one seating at the counter

Modern tasting
On the upper floor of The Fontenay at Fontenay 10, with the lake filling the windows on three sides.
Order: Tasting menus only; a top-floor room above the Außenalster; two Michelin stars held inside a hotel
Why go: The best view of the Außenalster in the city, with two stars attached to it.
Locals order: Go while it is still light; the room is sold on the water, and after dark the water disappears.
book through the hotel

Creative nose-to-tail
Brandshofer Deich 68, an industrial block east of HafenCity, run by Sophie Lehmann and Thomas Imbusch. Thursday to Monday from 18.30, with lunch from noon on Saturday and Sunday.
Order: A single menu built around a Molteni stove in an open kitchen; whole-animal and whole-vegetable cooking; GLORIE, the a la carte sister, in the same building
Why go: Two stars in a warehouse on a canal, with the stove rather than the view placed at the centre of the room.
Locals order: If the tasting menu is more commitment than you want, GLORIE in the same building serves a la carte.
book by email; closed Tuesday and Wednesday

Seafood tasting
Stefan Fäth's room on Weidenallee in the Schanze, with a separate bistro operation running alongside the fine-dining menu.
Order: Irish oyster served as clam chowder; Elbe pike-perch Hamburger Allerlei with peas, asparagus and Büsum crab; Breton langoustine with strawberry and verbena
Why go: A starred seafood kitchen in the Schanze rather than down by the water, which is where you would think to look.
Locals order: The bistro is a separate booking and a separate price; ask for it if the tasting menu is more than you want.
book through Zenchef

French North African
Lehmweg 29 in Hoheluft, small and family-run. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday to Saturday 18.30-23.00; closed Wednesday and Sunday.
Order: French technique carrying North African spicing; allspice taken as the house signature; a family-run kitchen under Wahabi Nouri
Why go: The only starred kitchen in Hamburg where the spice rack does the work that butter usually does.
Locals order: It shuts on Wednesday as well as Sunday, which is unusual here and trips people up mid-week.
book by phone or online

Regional tasting
Marcel Görke's small Eimsbüttel room on Stellinger Weg, four cooks in the kitchen and two on the floor. Tuesday to Saturday 18.00-23.00.
Order: Four courses Tuesday to Thursday at 87 euros; five at weekends for 99, or six to seven at 125 to 134; vegetables set at the centre of the plate rather than beside it
Why go: A star and a place in Michelin's sustainability programme, for under 90 euros on a weeknight.
Locals order: Come Tuesday to Thursday: four courses at 87 euros against 99 and upwards at the weekend, from the same kitchen.
book online or by phone; very small room

Modern northern German
Maurizio Oster's room on Sierichstraße in Winterhude. Tuesday to Saturday 18.30-22.00.
Order: Two tasting menus, one vegetarian and one with fish and meat; produce from small farms around Hamburg; a deliberately pared-back style
Why go: A starred kitchen where the vegetarian menu is the equal option rather than the fallback.
Locals order: The office answers the phone 11.00-16.00 on weekdays; that is the window for changing a booking.
book online or by phone; closed Sunday and Monday

French
Eleven tables on Spritzenplatz in Ottensen. Thursday to Monday 18.45-23.00; closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
Order: Six courses at 159 euros, five at 139 or four at 119; lobster with sweetbreads and artichoke on the summer carte; pairings from 89 alcohol-free to 169
Why go: Eleven tables and a French menu that has not drifted into Nordic minimalism to keep up.
Locals order: Cancel more than 24 hours ahead or pay 139 euros a head; the policy is written down and enforced.
book online for up to five; phone or email for six or more

Northern German
Seven tables and eighteen seats in a historic house on Deichstraße near the Rathaus. Monday to Friday 18.30-22.30; closed at weekends.
Order: A tasting menu drawn from northern German cooking; fish, smoke and coastal produce; technique without the folklore
Why go: Northern German cooking taken seriously without a single nostalgic prop in the room.
Locals order: It closes at weekends, which almost no other starred Hamburg kitchen does; this is a weeknight booking.
book online or by phone; free cancellation up to 48 hours

Classic French
Inside the Hotel Atlantic on An der Alster, cream leather and long windows over the Außenalster. Tuesday to Saturday 18.30-23.00, last kitchen orders 21.30.
Order: A set menu under Fokke Mick; classical French with international turns; a wine list built for a grand hotel
Why go: A first star for the dining room of the hotel Hamburg has been looking at from the Alster path for a century.
Locals order: Last orders are 21.30 even though the room runs to eleven; after that you are only drinking.
book by phone, email or OpenTable

Hand-pulled noodles
A small counter operation on Eppendorfer Weg in Eimsbüttel, holding a Bib Gourmand at the single-euro price band.
Order: Noodles pulled to order; a short Chinese menu rather than a long one; the cheapest Michelin price band in the city
Why go: The only Hamburg entry where the guide's own price bracket drops to a single symbol.
Locals order: Order the hand-pulled noodles and little else; that is what the kitchen is set up to do.
walk in; very small room

Modern international
Neuer Pferdemarkt 5 in St. Pauli, running since the early 1990s. Open daily from 17.00 except Tuesday; kitchen closes 21.30 on weekdays and 22.00 at weekends.
Order: A five-course menu at 65 euros, or 55 Sunday to Thursday; starters 4.50 to 22.50 and mains 27.50 to 39 a la carte; goat's cheese from Hof Bachenbruch
Why go: Thirty years of the same idea on a St. Pauli corner, and the menu still turns over every month.
Locals order: Sunday to Thursday the five-course menu is 55 euros instead of 65 - the same meal on a quieter night.
reservations essential, particularly for eight or more

Austrian
Kastanienallee 32 on St. Pauli, a short walk from the Reeperbahn, open daily from 17.00.
Order: Wiener Schnitzel cut from veal loin at 32 euros; other schnitzel from 24; a three-course menu at 54.50
Why go: Vienna's national dish done properly, a hundred metres from the Reeperbahn.
Locals order: Phone between nine and five for a table; outside those hours nobody picks up and the online form is the only route in.
book online or by phone 09.00-17.00; email for eight or more

Regional brasserie
Baron-Voght-Straße 179 in Flottbek, attached to the Landhaus Flottbek hotel. Kitchen daily 16.00-22.00, bar 15.00-23.30.
Order: A seasonal menu that can be ordered family-style for the table; produce from the restaurant's own farm; a bar programme Falstaff has given awards to
Why go: A country hotel brasserie that runs its own farm, twenty minutes out from the centre.
Locals order: Order family-style rather than a plate each; the menu is written for sharing and the kitchen sends it that way.
book via Zenchef or phone during office hours

Portuguese
Baron-Voght-Straße 79 in Othmarschen, an old smithy given over to Portuguese cooking.
Order: Portuguese cooking rather than north German; a Bib Gourmand held on the food rather than the setting; a converted forge to eat it in
Why go: A Portuguese kitchen inside a Hamburg smithy, which is not a combination on offer anywhere else in the city.
Locals order: This is a residential stretch of Othmarschen with no passing trade; book before you make the trip out.
book ahead

Country cooking
Poppenbütteler Chaussee 3 in Duvenstedt, at the far northern edge of Hamburg.
Order: Country cooking rather than city fine dining; a wine list larger than the room implies; a Bib Gourmand held for years running
Why go: Worth the run north, which is the only way anybody arrives at it.
Locals order: There is no U-Bahn out here - it is a car or a long bus ride, so settle the return before you order the wine.
book ahead; well outside the centre

Classic seafood
Große Elbstraße 143 in Altona, with terrace tables facing the Elbe and the container traffic going past.
Order: A Matjes menu that opens on 17 June each year; tuna steak and eel fillet from the carte; an oyster bar with champagne alongside
Why go: The Hamburg fish restaurant politicians and shipowners have used for decades, with the working river outside the window.
Locals order: The Matjes menu starts on 17 June; that is the week the regulars come back.
book online or by phone

Hanseatic classics
Englische Planke 10, beside the Michel, with the kitchen open daily 12.00-23.00.
Order: Labskaus, the sailors' dish of corned beef, beetroot and potato; north German classics around it; a dining room trading since 1795
Why go: Founded by an English shipowner in 1795, and still the address Hamburg gives you when you ask about Labskaus.
Locals order: Take the Labskaus with the fried egg and the rollmops on top; without them it is only half the dish.
book by phone or email

French brasserie
Rathausstraße 4, a former butchers' hall behind the Rathaus. Monday to Saturday 09.00 to midnight, Sunday 09.30-23.00.
Order: Tartare and bouillabaisse from the brasserie carte; breakfast served from nine; a room under painted tiles and Jugendstil ceilings
Why go: The most beautiful dining room in central Hamburg is a converted meat hall, and it serves breakfast.
Locals order: Come at nine for breakfast rather than for dinner; the ceiling is the reason to be there and daylight is when you can see it.
book online; the main hall seats up to 200

Grill and deli
Lagerstraße 34b in the Schanze, a former cattle hall opposite Sternschanze station, run by Tim Mälzer. Deli 12.00-21.30 daily; restaurant from 17.00.
Order: A grill-led restaurant menu that changes regularly; a deli serving all day with no bookings; schnitzel Monday in the deli from 17.00
Why go: Germany's most televised chef runs a cattle hall, and the cheaper half of it takes walk-ins.
Locals order: Use the deli rather than the restaurant if you have not booked - same building, no reservation, and Mondays are schnitzel.
the restaurant needs booking; the deli does not

Hamburg home cooking
Stockmeyerstraße 39 in the Oberhafen, a small brick building that visibly leans. Tuesday to Saturday until 21.30, Tuesday from 17.00, Sunday 12.00-17.30.
Order: Labskaus; Rundstück warm, a roll with roast pork and gravy that Hamburg claims as the hamburger's ancestor; the Abendbrot platter
Why go: A dock canteen from 1925 that subsided into a permanent lean and simply carried on serving.
Locals order: Ask for the Rundstück warm rather than the Labskaus if you have had Labskaus before; it is the rarer of the two.
book by email or phone; Monday by arrangement

Brewery gastropub
Lagerstraße 28b in the Schanzenhöfe courtyard, attached to the Ratsherrn brewery. Monday to Thursday 12.00-16.00 and 17.00-22.00, longer at weekends.
Order: Thirty beers on draught and more than fifty in bottle; regional and modern north German dishes; a bakery in the same courtyard
Why go: Thirty taps in a brewery courtyard, with a bakery attached to soak them up.
Locals order: There is a weekday break between lunch and dinner - 16.00 to 17.00 the kitchen stops, though the bar does not.
book online; the courtyard takes walk-ins

Late-night schnitzel
Sternstraße 98 in the Schanzenviertel, running for over forty years and open close to round the clock: from Friday morning it does not shut until Saturday morning, and it works through Saturday and Sunday nights as well.
Order: Schnitzel in portions sized for market porters; steak with fried onions; Cordon Bleu
Why go: The one Hamburg dining room where the night shift and the day shift overlap at the same tables.
Locals order: Between midnight and seven at the weekend it is the only proper kitchen still open; that is the shift the place was built for.
no booking needed; phone for a table

Fischbrötchen stand
On the Landungsbrücken pontoon at St. Pauli, white benches set along the water. April to October Monday to Saturday 10.00-22.00 and Sunday from 09.00; shorter hours in winter.
Order: More than ten fish rolls including Brathering, smoked mackerel, North Sea shrimp and herb matjes; Bismarck herring and rollmops; fried fish
Why go: The fish roll stand every Hamburger names first, and it is actually on the water rather than behind a road.
Locals order: The upper deck opens from Easter to mid-October in decent weather; that is the part you want.
no bookings; order at the counter

Fried fish counter
Trading since 1924. The Rathaus branch on Große Johannisstraße opens Monday to Saturday 11.30-21.00; the Fleetschlösschen at Brooktorkai opens daily 11.30-21.00.
Order: Fried fish plates; fish patties; fish rolls topped with smoked salmon or shrimp
Why go: A hundred years of fried fish at a price that has never pretended to be a restaurant.
Locals order: The Fleetschlösschen branch on Brooktorkai sits on the water and opens on Sundays; the other two do not.
no bookings; counter or table service

Market hall
Stockmeyerstraße 43 in the Oberhafen. Self-checkout shopping Tuesday to Saturday 09.00-23.00, with the bar running in the evenings.
Order: Around 3,000 regional products from up to 250 producers; a Saturday farmers' market 10.00-16.00; a natural wine and seafood bar in the same hall
Why go: A market hall that stocks the region and nothing else, with a wine bar sitting inside it.
Locals order: Come on a Saturday for the market rather than a weekday; the producers are there in person.
no bookings for the market; the restaurant takes them

Delicatessen and cafe
Three Hamburg branches: the 1,000 square metre Stammhaus by the Hauptbahnhof, Eppendorf with a year-round terrace, and the City shop at Streit's Hof near Gänsemarkt.
Order: Franzbrötchen, Hamburg's own cinnamon pastry; a bakery and chocolaterie in house; around 5,000 products from more than 200 regional makers
Why go: The Franzbrötchen is Hamburg's one indigenous pastry, and this is where the city sends visitors for it.
Locals order: The Stammhaus by the station now runs a full cafe, bar and restaurant; the other two are shops with tables.
no bookings; cafe and counter

Coffee roastery
Roasting since 2004. The Schanze cafe at Lagerstraße 34c opens Monday to Friday from 07.30 and weekends from 09.00.
Order: Coffee roasted in house from direct-trade beans; pastries made on site; five Hamburg cafes
Why go: Hamburg's coffee trade goes back to the warehouses; this is the modern end of it, taken seriously.
Locals order: The Schanze branch shares a courtyard with Bullerei and Altes Mädchen - one address, three very different bills.
no bookings; counter service

Coffee and breakfast
The original sits on the historic Deichstraße at number 9 in the old town, open daily 09.00-17.00.
Order: Freshly roasted coffee from their own drum; an all-day breakfast menu; three Hamburg sites
Why go: One of the few good breakfast rooms on Deichstraße, a street otherwise given over to tourist restaurants.
Locals order: It shuts at five, so this is a morning address, and weekends are the only time they take bookings.
table reservations at weekends and on holidays