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Dining in Europe > Hamburg Hamburg, "the Gateway to the World" does indeed offer an enormous variety of international gastronomic specialities within its cuisine. They are available at almost any time of the day or night, at restaurants with or without views. Despite its open-mindedness, the city has always kept its very own, typically Hanseatic, dishes as well. The city has certainly not achieved worldwide culinary fame with what is known as traditional Hamburg cuisine. On the contrary - sceptics and newcomers are usually more alarmed than curious when they read about dishes called Birnen, Bohnen und Speck (pears, green beans and bacon), Aalsuppe (eel-soup) or Labskaus, the latter being a challenge for some merely due to its appearance. However, if you take a closer look at Hamburg´s culinary specialities, you will realise that there is nothing particularly exotic about them, but that they are based on traditional, good quality ingredients, which the surrounding area has provided over the centuries. The northern German `bon viveur´ - just like the English - is a purist, and the meals are created with seasonal ingredients. Danish neighbours have, however, influenced northern German cuisine with their sweet-tooth. The highlights of typical Hamburg and north German cuisine reveal the main culinary basics of the region. It goes without saying that one of them is fish, such as plaice. Late spring is the perfect time for Maischolle (may plaice). You can get it everywhere. Finkenwerder Ewerscholle (plaice from the Finkenwerder region) is a speciality here, which can be found in all the sophisticated fish restaurants, such as Fischereihafen Restaurant, Deichgraf, Alt Hamburger Aalspeicher, and Stock´s Fischrestaurant in Ellerbek. It is fried in bacon fat and served with boiled potatoes or potato salad. A salad made of lettuce with a dressing of sweet cream and lemon also comprises part of this meal. In the summer there is matje herring, served with green beans and bacon fat once again. A shrimp sandwich is a nice idea to satisfy a small appetite. The so-called Aalsuppe does not necessarily have eel in it, although its name might suggest this. The word aal is taken from the lower German local dialect, and means all / everything. The Aal-soup consists of all summer vegetables and herbs from the garden, a ham bone and, surprisingly, sweet prunes. Another late summer dish with fruit is Birnen, Bohnen und Speck. This particular kind of stew contains the little pears which ripen in August. The lovely fruit for these dishes, excellent cakes, and desserts like Rote Grütze (red fruit pudding) come from the Altes Land - Hamburg´s giant orchard in the south west of the city. You could say that Labskaus is a mixture of a fish and a meat dish. Just like Scottish Haggis it cannot really be called a feast for the eyes. The old proverb necessity is the mother of invention might apply if you tried to explain how this dish came into being. It used to be solely a seamen´s dish. In order to make the salt meat on board edible on long journeys, it was cooked in a broth, together with potatoes and onions. This sort of mash is served with a rollmop or a matje herring, beetroot, and a pickled cucumber. Some cooks use corned beef instead of the salt meat these days, but not at the Old Commercial Room, or at Zum alten Senator. As far as meat dishes are concerned, the juicy beef steaks should be mentioned - Hamburg receives lots of high quality meat from bulls which are fattened up in Schleswig-Holstein. You can get a very good large medium steak, tasty and without any frills at Zur Schlachterbörse, for example. Hamburg also has a choice of first class restaurants offering not just northern German cuisine, but also good plain cooking from all over the country. At Whitsun you should try asparagus with lean smoked bacon, while kale with smoked loin of pork, sausage and fried potatoes is one of the typical winter dishes. The menus at the Ahrberg or Markgraf offer far more than this, though. At the Franziskaner you will have reached Bavarian cuisine, and at the Stocker the chéf himself treats you to first class Austrian dishes. Restaurants like the modern Anna, the Allegria in Winterhude, and the Bit am Jungfernstieg relax the "traditional" meals and offer new German cooking in combination with light Mediterranean dishes. A number of top-chéfs and gourmet restaurants, decorated with
international prices for their sophisticated cuisine, have also settled
down in Hamburg. Some of them are located in exceptionally picturesque
areas, with a priceless view of the beautiful Elbe or Alster. They offer
exclusive European and international cooking, as well as an
appropriately stylish and up-market interior. One of these is Michael
Wollenberg at his villa situated on the outer Alster lake, or Michael
Weienbruch´s A table (with an emphasis on French cuisine). Among the
hotel´s restaurants Hans-Peter Engel of the Haerlin provides you with
delicacies in the Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten. The Hotel am Holstenwall and
the Prem can also be proud to have some excellent restaurants within
their walls. The range of international restaurants covers all continents and hardly misses out a single nation. It would take a whole book of its own to describe them all. You can even enjoy Egyptian dishes at the Medded, for example. Vegetarians should try Laska´s or the Tassajara in Eppendorf. A chain of restaurants called Mr Green also offers vegetarian food at reasonable prices. Another address in Altona is the Suryel. Hamburg has a large choice of restaurants offering late night
gastronomy for night-owls, as there are plenty of them on the prowl at
the weekend. The Arkadasch, for example, offers Turkish meals until 2pm,
the Bar Hamburg has fish and meat dishes, at the Bolero you can get
tacos and fajitas, or you can try the croques and other snacks at
Max&Consorten. You can have a good breakfast or spend a lazy afternoon with coffee and cake in one of Hamburg´s countless nice cafés. Every district has its own favourites, like the Witthüs Teestuben and the Strandcafé in Blankenese, the Schotthorst in Eimsbüttel, Café Lindtner in Eppendorf, Café Fees at Holstenwall, Café unter den Linden in the Schanzenviertel, the Destille in St.Georg, the September in St.Pauli, and so on, and so forth. The Grindelallee in the campus district is a little café-mile in itself, for example. If liquid food is what you are looking for, you might find it hard to decide where to go first, because Hamburg has a large variety of bars, cocktail-bars, pubs and wine cellars. The beer situation alone can be described as "very positive", when you consider that the city has several breweries and started brewing as early as in Medieval times. You can go on a guided tour through both the historic Bavaria-St. Pauli brewery and the Holsten brewery. A drink is included, of course. At the Brauhaus Johann Albrecht guests can pull their own pints of house-ales, and at the Brauhaus Hanseat Weibier is served, and you can have a real barbecue at your table. The variety of bars and pubs means there is something for everyone. Many popular in-places for the younger generation are to be found around the Reeperbahn in the red-light district. Among them are the Amphore above the Hafenstrae or the Blauer Peter IV, The Chinese-Mandarin-Lounge, Meanie Bar and Roschinsky´s. The Schanzenviertel also has countless original little pubs, the smallest of which is the Kurhaus, but Schilleroper, Saal II and bar rossi are also worth at least a quick visit to judge for yourself. A firm favourite in St.Georg´s multicultural neighbourhood is Max&Consorten, but the Gnosa is also very popular, especially among a mainly gay and lesbian crowd. Eimsbüttel has its R&B with an appropriate musical style and interior, as well as the Meisenfrei and the Maybach. If Hamburg has plenty of pubs, its also far from short of cocktail-bars, and where cocktails are mixed, there usually is a stylish or at least original ambience to be found. This is undoubtedly the case at places like Ciu´s, Bar Hamburg, Cairos and the Havanna. Wine lovers will find a remarkably sophisticated selection of the juice of the grape at Allegria. Schwender´s at Groneumarkt has more than twenty mainly German open wines, which you can enjoy outside in the summer. The vaulted wine-cellar at Cremon offers an exceptional ambience in the Old Town. The Weinlokal Schoppenhauer at Reimerstwiete is located just around the corner and offers meals and open wines which go together very well. Among its regulars are many businessmen. Another excellent selection of wines is available at Zur Traube in Ottensen. This establishment is located in a building which has been put under a preservation order. It has already been in the business for 80 years. At the Lemitz Weinstuben in Eimsbüttel, guests are allowed to help harvest the grapes in autumn. They can watch how the fruit is pressed and then taste the sweet juice themselves. Entertainment in HamburgTheatre, Opera, Musicals, Literature With a modern and unassuming exterior, the interior of Hamburgs Staatsoper is one of the nicest in Germany. Even the opera and ballet performances staged here contain a number of international artists. Likewise, the best place for Classical music in Hamburg is the Musikhalle. Hamburg is known as a main musical city in Germany. Cats has been
running for thirteen years in the Operettenhaus on the Reeperbahn.
Phantom in the Neuen Flora enjoys more popularity, and the musical Buddy
has also been running for a number of years. Live Music This Hanseatic city also has a couple of great venues for open air concerts in the summer. There is the refurbished Volksparkstadion, and bands such as Oasis and R.E.M have stepped foot on the stage of the Trabrennbahn Bahrenfeld. The best known venue for open air concerts is however the Stadtpark, where great concerts regularly take place. If all this is not enough for you, then you should go to Scheeel near Hamburg , where the big Hurricane Festival takes place - every year top acts from the music scene perform here. Art and Museums Cinema Nightlife Sport Dining in Europe > Hamburg
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