Hamburg: What to Actually Eat
One thing to get straight before anything else: currywurst is Berlin’s dish, dating to 1949, not Hamburg’s. If a menu leans on it as a local specialty, that’s a tourist-menu tell. Here’s what Hamburg actually eats.
Franzbrötchen
Hamburg’s real food icon is a caramelized cinnamon-sugar pastry, born out of the 1806-14 French occupation and still baked fresh every morning across the city. Bakeries sell it everywhere; there’s no single “best” spot, just a good one near wherever you’re staying. Eat it for breakfast, still warm if you can manage it.
Fischbrötchen
The harbor fish sandwich comes in a few standard versions, Bismarckhering (pickled herring), Matjes (young herring), or Backfisch (fried fish), and the right place to get one is a kiosk at the Fischmarkt or down at Landungsbrücken, eaten standing up looking at the water. It’s the closest thing Hamburg has to genuine street food.
Labskaus
The sailor’s dish: corned beef, potato, and beetroot mashed into a hash, topped with a fried egg, served with rollmops and gherkins on the side. The detail worth knowing is that Hamburg mixes the beetroot straight into the hash, turning the whole thing pink, where Bremen keeps it as a separate side. Order it here expecting the Hamburg version, and don’t be surprised if it looks different from a Labskaus you’ve had elsewhere in Germany.
Aalsuppe
Eel soup, despite the name, and the story goes that “Aalsuppe” actually comes from a dialect phrase meaning “all soup,” a catch-all using whatever was on hand, though the etymology isn’t fully settled. Either way it’s a genuine local dish worth trying at a traditional restaurant rather than a tourist-menu approximation.
Drinks: Astra, Holsten and Alsterwasser
Astra, brewed in the city and closely tied to St. Pauli, and Holsten are the two local beers worth ordering over an imported name. Alsterwasser is Hamburg’s own name for a shandy, beer cut with lemonade, a genuinely refreshing choice after a day of walking the harbor.
Where to actually go
Rather than chasing named restaurants, which change hands and menus fast, the reliable approach is area-based: the Fischmarkt and Landungsbrücken kiosks for Fischbrötchen, traditional Gaststätte-style restaurants in St. Georg or the old town for Labskaus and Aalsuppe, and any neighborhood bakery for Franzbrötchen. Prices are volatile enough that a specific number here would be out of date fast, check what’s posted before you order.
Read more: our Hamburg guide covers where these dishes fit into a day of sightseeing, and where to stay for which neighborhood puts you closest to the good kiosks.