My partner had a conference in Hamburg in late October, and I tagged along. I mostly had lunches without her and dinners with her. Her work was at the Congress Centre north of the city centre, and she was put up in the posh Grand Elysée hotel nearby. We both had full transit passes (public transit seems excellent). Neither of us speak German beyond numbers and polite tourist phrases.
We arrived late at night; it was cold and raining. The hotel restaurants seemed overpriced and underwhelming, so we braved the weather to walk into nearby Grindel, where a Vietnamese place called Yumi was still open. This is just south of the university and mostly does lunch business and takeout; there are a few high counters with stools. There was a daily special that I could tell was duck in some sort of coconut milk sauce for 13€, so we each got that, plus an order of spring rolls to share.
This was our introduction to Hamburg portion sizes: half a roast duck, deboned and deep-fried. Even though we had spent the day in transit without eating much, we could easily have shared one of these. It was pretty tasty.
We had another expedient meal in the area later in the week, after a meeting of indeterminate duration from which my partner brought along a colleague. I thought a place called Quan 19 might serve us well, and it did.
They offer a number of Vietnamese “tapas”, and one can order platters for one or two. We were three, but they upsized (there was another, different plate besides this one, and some bowls with various dipping sauces). Pretty solid, reasonably priced, with a nice quiet atmosphere (tables fairly far apart, subdued lighting).
I got to stay in my partner’s room for only an extra 20€/night, but that didn’t include breakfast. I am picky about coffee and would have brought my own equipment, but the room had no kettle! One could be rented for 10€/day. I didn’t think that was legal in Europe. The hotel is in a quiet residential area of Rotherbaum, and there didn’t seem to be any good coffee in the area. But it was close to the Dammtor railway station, and one stop west on the S-Bahn brought me to Sternschanze, where there was much more choice, including the main location of Elbgold coffee roasters.
Excellent coffee, a good selection of quality pastries, and friendly service. Bonus points for the counterman who on a couple of my visits was wearing a hoodie with “Sankt Fucking Pauli” written on it in big letters. I have started ordering their Neunbar roast shipped to me in Lisbon; it is the closest thing I have found so far to what I would roast for myself (all my equipment was 110v and left behind in Canada).
The area around the hotel and congress centre is somewhat of a food desert, though a kilometre or so up Grindelallee there start to be reasonable options (though not when it is raining). Some of my partner’s colleagues took to having lunch in the small mall just beneath the train station, and I once brought her in a schwarma (I had registered so had an access pass).
She had a slightly longer lunch break one day and we walked around Sternschanze, grabbing some tacos from La Casita, housed in a tiny kiosk on the edge of a slightly upscale flea market. I doubt one can do better for Mexican food in Hamburg but it’s probably better to avoid it entirely. The Breton-themed P’Ti Breizh (the “P’” is because it’s a second location further out, where we thought we could do a walk-in for early dinner, as I can’t make reservations in German over the telephone and hate to ask people to speak other languages except in person where I can look suitably ashamed) did better, though not as good as its namesake in Paris. Only one cider, in the bottle, but it was good, and the galettes were respectable, perhaps a bit too crisp-shattery. I don’t think the chef was authentic though. No true Breton would wear that stereotypical red beret and striped shirt.
Our best meals were yet to come, but I’ll continue in the next post.
