Restaurants in Hamburg
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Le Canard Nouveau
Turkish-born chef Ali Güngörmüs has deservedly claimed a Michelin star for his intricate dishes, such as turbot with polenta soufflé, duck with apple-ginger purée, and chocolate cake with rhubarb jelly, marinated strawberries and honey-and-sour-cream ice cream. Definitely book ahead. Güngörmüs also runs regular cooking classes, which cost €200 for five hours, including meal and wines.
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Café Paris
Within a spectacularly tiled 1882 butchers’ hall and adjoining art-deco salon, this elegant yet relaxed brasserie serves classical French fare like croque-monsieur (toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich), croque-madame (the same, but with a fried egg) and steak tartare (minced meat, but pan-fried, not raw). Its breakfast for two is a splendid feast.
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Vienna
Hidden in a quiet residential street, with an overgrown garden screening its outdoor terrace, this German-Austrian restaurant is renowned Hamburg-wide for its authentic schnitzels, venison and fish. It doesn't take reservations; your best bet for getting a table is to turn up early, at 6.45pm, or late, at 9pm.
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Fischereihafen
Traditional and incredibly elegant, Fischereihafen serves some of Hamburg’s finest fish, including regional specialities, to a mature, well-heeled clientele. Its 1st-floor, subtly maritime-themed dining room overlooks the Elbe. Lobster here comes in many forms.
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Fleetschlösschen
One of the cutest cafes you ever saw, this former customs post overlooks a Speicherstadt canal and has a narrow steel spiral staircase to the toilets. There’s barely room for 20 inside, but its outdoor seating areas are brilliant in sunny weather. The owner’s collection of Kleinods (small treasures) includes centuries-old Dutch pottery unearthed during the construction of HafenCity.
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Die Bank
The banking industry no longer has the cachet it once did, but don't let that dissuade you from dining in this 1st-floor former bank. Flanked by magnificent marble columns and gleaming timber, and opening onto a large terrace, the finance theme continues in the outsize sepia-toned photos of piles of coins, and 'banker's platters' (prawns, crabs, more prawns and lobster), as well as rich dishes like truffle-infused veal, which you can check out on the computerised menu at street level.
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Golden Cut
Hamburg scenesters love this restaurant for three reasons. Firstly, the well-executed menu runs the gamut from carrot-coconut soup with baked black tiger prawns in tempura to French black pudding with truffles. Secondly, patrons can show off in the high-ceilinged room with its olive-green leather chairs and copper-plated leaf chandeliers. Thirdly, and most importantly, they can bypass the strict person on the door and walk straight into the exclusive adjoining club.
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Das Weisse Haus
A converted fisherman's cottage, the 'White House' is (unlike its US namesake) surprisingly cramped, given its status as a major culinary player. Diners book a month ahead to submit themselves to 'surprise' dinners (vegetarian and other dietary requirements can be accommodated to a limited degree). Lunch is a simpler, à la carte affair, but reservations are still advised. The best seats among the artfully low-key rooms are in the front winter garden.
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Ti Breizh
Once you get past the souvenir shop selling striped Breton sailors' tops, there's some cool, contemporary Breton artwork on the walls of this canalside restaurant. You can wash down galettes (savoury crêpes, made from buckwheat), such as a Brocéliande (Roquefort cheese and walnuts), and sweet crêpes, like Morgane (caramelised apples and chestnut cream), with Dan Armor Breton cider. Yec'hed mat (cheers) !
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Turnhalle St Georg
Intimate is not a word you could use for this converted gymnasium, inside an elegant 1882 redbrick building, serving modern international cuisine - but you still sometimes have trouble getting a seat. Exercise rings and ropes remain hanging from one of the thick white beams under the vaulted A-line roof, but designer lampshades and huge, potted trees have been added to the mix. Great cocktails, too.
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Sushi for Friends
Handy after an Alster cruise or some shopping around Jungfernstieg, this restaurant serves spicy-tuna-and-rocket rolls, mango chutney sushi and other innovative Japanese dishes. Stay downstairs, where it's all white leather banquettes and dark wood - although the colourful cushions strewn across the mezzanine area look enticing, it can get muggy up there, especially in summer.
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Panthera Rodizio
At the eastern end of one of Hamburg's liveliest and most multicultural eat streets, the best way to experience a feast at this high-tempo Brazilian restaurant is to order the Spezialität Rodizio buffet, whereby huge skewers of meat are brought around to your table and carved onto your plate. Vegetarian dishes are available too, but that would be missing the point.
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Die Herren Simpel
The sky-blue mural with huge white flowers behind the bar has become this cafe’s signature. Its tiny entrance opens to an unexpectedly spacious series of retro rooms, plus a winter garden niche and al fresco tables out back. There’s a fantastic range of breakfasts, plus sandwiches and warm snacks like Flammkuchen (Alsatian-style pizza).
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Fisch & So
Fresh fish is what this little cafe does best. Order off the board and wait at the clutch of blue-clothed tables to savour simple but delicious fish sandwiches, or perhaps Tintenfish (calamari) with Bratkartoffeln (sautéed potatoes). It's tucked away on the river side of the red-brick Fischmarkt Hamburg-Altona market hall.
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Café Mimosa
A welcome change from the greasy fast-food joints on the nearby Reeperbahn, this gem of a neighbourhood cafe serves delicious pastas, healthy salads, proper coffee and homemade cakes in a theatrical space. There’s a clutch of pavement tables, plus a long list of fresh juices.
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La Vela
Cruise and container ships glide by just outside the window of this buzzing, semiformal Italian restaurant. With such unusually close-up views, it keeps most other things simple: the redbrick interior is uncluttered and the menu is sparse, with about a dozen choices for mains. The only complicated thing is the enormous wine list.
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Mazza
This Syrian restaurant sticks to a simple formula when it comes to food, offering a choice of three-course lunch menus and five-course dinner menus made up of dishes like potatoes in lemon, olive oil and thyme, carrot in rose water, and lamb with mint yoghurt. The extensive wine list spans Lebanon to South Africa.
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Hadley's
It's hard to believe this warm, enveloping café was once an ER (emergency room). Through the door curtains, there's a subtle retro mix of olive-green, brown and sienna coloured fabric lampshades, but the most eye-catching feature is the sunken winter garden, where a buffet breakfast is laid out on Sundays.
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Oh, It’s Fresh
Part of a rapidly growing, health-food-oriented Hamburg minichain, this light-filled, airy space is decorated by red floral wallpaper and a series of world clocks. In addition to international breakfasts, it serves salads, bagels and baked treats, such as melt-in-your-mouth brownies, to eat in or take away.
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Cox
Behind its opaque glass doors, this upmarket bistro was part of the original vanguard of St Georg’s gentrification. Its frequently changing menu of dishes reflects the foods of the season and influences from across the continent.
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Literaturhaus Café
If you're strolling around the Outer Alster, be sure to stroll in here, where creaky parquet floors lead you to a beautiful baroque cafe, with marble columns, high moulded ceilings, huge chandeliers and leafy garden views. Bistro fare ranges from antipasto and risotto to tarts and salads.
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Café Koppel
Set back from busy Lange Reihe, with a garden in summer, this vegie cafe is a refined oasis, where you can hear the tinkling of spoons in coffee cups midmorning on the mezzanine floor. The menu could be an ad for the fertile fields of northern Germany as there are baked goods, salads, soups and much more made with fresh seasonal ingredients.
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La Sepia
The aroma of fresh fish wafting from this neighbourhood restaurant stops you in your tracks. Its enormous dining space is adorned with a hotchpotch of maritime relics, like old wooden boats suspended from the ceiling, while dishes incorporate Portuguese and Spanish influences.
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Filmhauskneipe
Within Altona's Zeisehallen (cultural centre), wrapped around an old ship-propeller factory, this chilled cafe-bar is a favourite hang-out of students from the centre's film school for its simple but wholesome food. In summer it spills onto a 100-seater terrace.
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Alt Hamburger Aalspeicher
Despite its tourist-friendly location, the knick-knack–filled dining room and warm service at this restaurant in a 400-year-old canalside building make you feel like you’re dining in your Oma’s (grandma’s) house. Smoked eel from its own smokehouse is a speciality.
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