27 Best Restaurants in Hamburg, Germany

A proud owner of a Michelin star since it opened its doors in 1978, Landhaus Scherrer continues to be one of the city's best-known and most celebrated restaurants. The focus is on the use of organic, sustainable ingredients to produce classic and modern German cuisine with international touches, and unsurprisingly, the accompanying wine list is exceptional.

The Alt Hamburger Aalspeicher specializes in fish, including Hamburg's famous Aalsuppe (a clear broth with a variety of vegetables, seafood, and meat—basically everything that is leftover). Over time the Low German word for everything (all) became mistaken for the word for eel (Aal), so some restaurants make eel the focus, while others stick with creating their own versions of the soup.

All over Germany, no beer brand has become so closely associated with Hamburg (and especially St. Pauli) than Astra. In addition to its main industrial brewery, the brand recently opened a new microbrewery and restaurant directly on the Reeperbahn. Here, they offer IPAs and other specialty beers that can only be enjoyed there as it is produced in much smaller batches. A full menu featuring everything from finger food to lobster make this a great starting point to a legendary evening on the Kiez.

A stalwart of Hamburg's gay and lesbian neighborhood, this local favorite is probably best known for its friendly service and outrageously good cakes—spiced apple; rhubarb; and Black Forest gâteau among them—that are baked on-site in the café's own Konditorei. Beyond its sweet treats, the café whips up solid German breakfasts of bread rolls with smoked salmon and herring or cold cuts and cheeses and has a dependable if somewhat unexciting lunch and dinner menu.

A slice of Paris in the heart of Hamburg, this turn-of-the-19th-century café's unfailing popularity derives from its superb traditional French fare, which naturally includes steak frites and beef tartare, served by crisply polite staff beneath a tiled Art Nouveau ceiling. The café's bar is an ideal spot to take in the atmosphere and sample something off the superb wine list until a table becomes free.

This extension of the Louis C. Jacob Hotel consists of a relaxed Bistro, a wine bar, and a more formal Brasserie that boasts a large bay window with excellent views of ships gliding up the Elbe. But it's the brasserie that stands out, offering a unique take on French dishes with seasonal northern German ingredients as well as local fish delicacies.

Hamburg’s highest restaurant and bar awaits you on the 23rd floor of the "Tanzende Türme” (Dancing Towers) skyscrapers, dazzling with floor-to-ceiling views over the city, excellent cocktails, and creative crossover cuisine. The culinary focus here is on a variety of different steaks and cuts of meat.

Cox has delighted guests with its nouvelle German cuisine for years, and with a cool, dark interior and red-leather banquettes reminiscent of a French brasserie, it remains one of the hippest places around. Friday and Saturday night sees its two large rooms swell with diners, and consequently service can slow a little. However, dishes such as steamed catfish fillet with mussel tartare served in fennel stock, and a friendly, knowledgeable staff, easily compensate.

This bright-red lightship served in the English Channel before it retired to the city harbor in 1989 and became a landmark restaurant, guesthouse, and pub. Local favorites such as Hamburger Pannfisch (panfried fish with mustard sauce) and Labskaus (a mixture of corned beef, potato, onion, beet, and gherkins) are on the ship's extensive menu, along with Argentine steaks and rack of lamb.

Located in an old merchant house decorated with oil paintings featuring 19th-century sailing ships, this small and elegant seafood restaurant is a Hamburg classic. It's one of the best places to get traditional dishes such as Hamburger pannfisch (fried catch of the day in a wine-and-mustard sauce) at a very reasonable price.

For some of the best fish in Hamburg, book a table at this splendid portside restaurant, which looks plain from the outside, but feels like a dining room aboard a luxury liner inside. The menu changes daily according to what's available in the fish market that morning; the elegant oyster bar here is a favorite with the city's beau monde.

Located where St. Pauli meets Schanze, Hatari offers traditional southwestern German food in the far north. Sit at one of the long, rustic wooden tables and enjoy a plate of Käsespätzle or delicacies from the Rhineland at affordable prices. The folksy decoration gives the impression of a modest eatery frozen in time, but the clientele here is mostly made up of hip Schanze locals who flock to this restaurant for its unique vibe.

This restaurant embodies the idea of “think global, act local” and brings the world to your table through its menu, which is inspired by cuisines from all over the world. From time to time, the menu will focus on a particular region: Istria, Scandinavia, South Tyrol. Kitchens's concept is rooted in travel experiences and culinary adaptation in an elegant environment. Open for lunch and dinner or enjoy cocktails on its rooftop bar overlooking the HafenCity.

This restaurant on Lange Reihe is famed not only for its regional specialties but also for its extensive wine list. Ask the knowledgeable staff which Flammkuchen goes best with your choice of wine. Also open for lunch everyday, Neumann's is a neighborhood favorite. Swing by on a Sunday to enjoy the best Schnitzel in Hamburg taking in St. Georg's atmosphere like a local.

Snugly sited beneath vaulted ceilings in the cellar of the city's town hall, this elegant old pub turned restaurant and cocktail bar serves no-nonsense meat and seafood meals, including shrimp fresh from the North Sea, with a light touch of German nouvelle cuisine. Popular with local businesspeople during and after work, it's also a nice spot for a frothy beer and some Flammkuchen, Alsace's take on pizza, between traipsing around the nearby sights.

A long-time neighborhood favorite, Eisenstein sits inside a handsome 19th-century industrial complex turned art center and serves fantastic Italian and Mediterranean cuisine at affordable prices. Sharing space with a movie theater, the restaurant is popular with pre- and postmovie crowds and probably best known for its gourmet wood-fired pizzas like the Pizza Helsinki (salmon, crème fraîche, and onions) and the Blöde Ziege (Stupid Goat) with rosemary-tomato sauce, crispy bacon, and goat cheese.

It would be difficult to find a better spot in town than this handsome seafood restaurant to watch big boats cruise by while satisfying your appetite for fresh lobster, sashimi, bouillabaisse, Scottish salmon, Dover sole, and oysters. Its ample sun terrace sits just above the Elbe, while the large open-plan dining room has ceiling-high windows facing downstream toward the city and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall.

While it may not conform to everyone’s definition of a “beach”—in this case a long stretch of trucked-in sand on the north bank of the Elbe, directly across from the giant cranes and container terminals of the city’s port—there’s little doubting the popularity of the Elbstrand (Elbe beach) among locals. Whenever the sun’s out, you’ll find them out here in force, walking dogs and sipping beers and white-wine spritzers from a couple of little beach bars. Strandperle also does a decent chili con carne as well as curry sausages and fish rolls to keep hunger pangs at bay.

Tucked away close to a lively square full of bars with a more local vibe not far from the Reeperbahn, The Bird is a New York-style restaurant serving some of the best and most creative hamburgers and steaks in town and a great selection of domestic and international beers.

A great choice on a sunny afternoon, ÜberQuell houses both a pizzeria and a microbrewery in a landmarked historic building right by the Elbe River. Enjoy a lager, an IPA, or one of their many seasonal beers on the always lively terrace and a pizza fresh out of the brick oven.

Ski lifts are a rare sight in Hamburg and North Germany, which is known for its flat landscape, but they are part of the decoration of this bistro serving Alpine delicacies. The menu includes an excellent selection of cheese and German favorites such as Käsespätzle (egg noodles) but this restaurant is best known as a great place to have a proper breakfast.

Hamburg may not have many good Japanese restaurants, but this modern bistro-style restaurant has developed a loyal clientele of locals and Japanese expats through its warm service and modern interpretation of Japanese haute cuisine. As well as the typical offerings of sushi and tempura udon, the menu here features such treats as wagyu beef with dipping sauces and duck and eggplant in red miso sauce.