10 Best Food spots in Hamburg

Hamburg, Germany’s second biggest city, has some great restaurants, cafes and lunchrooms. Below I’ve listed my top 10 best food spots in Hamburg. They’re my personal favorites. All places have good vegetarian options and some have great vegan food. Make your next trip to Hamburg a culinary one and try to visit all ten of these best food spots in Hamburg!
Scroll down to read my top 10 best food spots in Hamburg or click here to watch the video of my food guide to Hamburg.

1 Breakfast at Hotel Tortue

I can’t think of a better start of the day in Hamburg than with a breakfast at Hotel Tortue. I have to admit that it isn’t low-budget. But for the 29euros that you pay you can really stuff yourself. They have a buffet with a variety of bread rolls and croissants, everything to make the perfect granola bowl, many varieties of fresh fruit and a big pile of macarons. And besides that you’ll get a big menu from which you can choose whatever (and how many) you want. Avocado toast, Skyr with granola, Eggs Benedict, French Toast, Chia pudding… you name it! Coffee and tea is also included, as is the fabulous feeling you’ll get from having breakfast there!
Click here to read more about Hotel Tortue Hamburg.

2 Das Standard

Standard might be the only classy place in an otherwise touristic and a bit tacky neighborhood. It’s located in the Red Light District of Hamburg, so expect a few tourists on your walk from the Reeperbahn subway station to Standard. Don’t be scared though, it’s really worth discovering Standard. It’s a very small restaurant that consists of two rooms, a small kitchen and an even smaller bar. How they manage to make all the cocktails and special drinks there is a mystery to me. At Standard they don’t have a menu because they only work with seasonal food that is available that day. With your drinks you’ll get free ‘aperitives’, small bite-size plates. Don’t tell anyone, because they don’t want to be known for it, but all the food is vegan!

3 Bidges & Sons

Speaking of unexpected vegan food. Bidges & Sons (also located near the Reeperbahn subway station) is a clothing shop selling slightly rebellious clothes that often refers to the St Pauli neighborhood but it also has ‘Fried Club’, a café in the back that serves really, really good fries. They have 6 different kind of loaded fries and they’re all vegan! My favorite was the Flying Dutchman (maybe because of the name, who knows); it was sweet potato fries with peanut sauce and aioli. The Mad Mexican is also delicious with Mexican chili with ‘beef’, beans, corn and guacamole. And the Delphi Dynamite has Greek style ‘chicken’ of which you would swear that it’s real and it goes great with the vegan tzatziki. Even though they’re also a clothing shop, they’re open ‘till late so you can also go there for dinner or late night snack.

4 picnic

Restaurant picnic is officially called ‘picnic by Bianc’, because it’s owned by the chef of Bianc Matteo Ferrantino. He was born in Italy and lived in Portugal for 8 years, it’s no wonder that the menu of picnic is Mediterranean inspired. Where Bianc is an up-class restaurant, picnic is very accessible. Restaurant Bianc is open for dinner and picnic is open for lunch. On the menu you’ll find tapas, oven dishes, salad bowls and panini’s. I went for the vegetarian panini with Scamorza cheese (similar to Mozzarella) with eggplant (aubergine), tomatoes, basil and olives. picnic is located in HafenCity, close to the Elbphilharmonie.

5 Rindermarkthalle

The Rindermarkthalle St. Pauli is a big indoor food market. It’s named after the original reason the market hall was build: the beef market. Luckily there’s no meat traded there since 1971. Instead there are about 30 nice shops and food stands and the biggest EDEKA supermarket of Hamburg in this 200.000 m2 indoor food market . My favorite food spots in the Rindermarkthalle are whole-wheat bakery Effenberger, organic supermarket Bio Company, package free shop Stückgut, sweets and chocolate shop Paulsen and bakery and sandwich shop Brot und Stulle that sells the a Hamburg version of the croissant.
The Rindermarkthalle is located in hip St Pauli neighborhood so it’s a great starting point before exploring that area.

6 Salon Wechsel Dich

There are many nice places for coffee and cake in the St Pauli neighborhood in Hamburg, Salon Wechsel Dich is one of my favorites. The interior is as sweet as their cakes and the service very friendly. On the menu you’ll find all kinds of waffles, from savory waffles with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes to sweet waffles with Nutella and banana. They also have a variety of cakes at the counter that changes daily. I had this lovely blueberry pie with a big cup of tea. You can only pay cash at Salon Wechsel Dich.

7 Überquell

Überquell is a brewery that also houses a restaurant. On the menu you’ll find a variety of pizza’s, making Überquell the perfect stop for an evening of comfort food and alcohol on a Friday evening. They have long community tables in the middle of the restaurant where you can just take place and meet other guests. They have several pizza’s on the menu with also a vegan one! I went for this vegan pizza with pesto, eggplant, paprika, olives, zucchini and artichoke hearts.

8 Local Markets

There are several local markets in Hamburg that are happening weekly or occasionally. It’s worth checking out a local Twitter account or Facebook page like Geheimtipp Hamburg to see what’s happening when you’re in Hamburg. When I was there we found an ‘Ahoimarkt’, that took place at Oberhafen (in Hafencity). On these kind of markets you’ll find a variety of indie brands that sell their design, clothes, food or jewelry. It’s a great place to stroll around and a perfect activity to do when it rains in Hamburg. I had a delicious cupcake from Cherrylicious at the Ahoimarkt.

9 Isemarkt

Every Tuesday and Friday you can visit the Isemarkt. This market is 1km long and is located underneath the railroad tracks. Even though that might sound like a dodgy spot, you’re actually walking in a beautiful Art Nouveau neighborhood. There are 200 stalls offering fruit, vegetables and other local products. Here you know that you get your groceries straight from the farmer and that they’ll get a good prize for it.

10 Café Rouge

Need a lunch break on your shopping spree? Café Rouge is located in the Hanseviertel shopping center, close to all the big shops like the Zalando Outlet store. The Hanseviertel shopping center is also great to visit on a cold or rainy day in Hamburg as it’s completely covered. On the menu you’ll find all kinds of dishes, but they’re mostly known for their flammküchen and toasted bagels. I went for the later and had a vegetarian bagel with sheep cheese, red pesto, black olives and rocket.