Four times finest fish Our favourite fish restaurants in the port city

We start at Kayiô in Hamburg's city centre. If you are looking for delicate sushi, you will more than find it here. The restaurant, which opened in 2023, is located on premises steeped in tradition. For many years, these were home to Germany's oldest oyster bar. The restaurant's separees, wooden panels and hand-painted tiles are listed accordingly and tell a piece of Hamburg's history.

Now the building houses a fish restaurant where you can enjoy maritime cuisine at the highest level. The basic idea of the makers of Kayiô is quickly outlined: To work with the best products and ingredients to offer guests authentic Japanese dishes.

In the Kaiyô, high-quality fish is processed into sushi and sashimi. In addition, there are Japanese starters such as Horenso Goma Ae, Karaage or Gyozas. Different types of fish are used. Among others, noble bluefin tuna, which comes from sustainable breeding in Spain and is processed into bluefin toro. The high quality of the products used is complemented by the perfect preparation: the fish is cut in such a refined way that it melts in your mouth.

And the interior also skilfully combines Hamburg's history with Japanese style and chic simplicity, revealing similarities between Japanese and Hanseatic chic. And if you want to learn something simultaneously, you'll find it in the menus wrapped in patterned Japanese paper and hand-designed by the staff. On page one, for example, there is a glossary to help us understand some of the terms used in Japanese cuisine. So you can not only eat well here but also broaden your horizons, which is an all-around successful experience for us.

Kaiyô | 
Brodschrangen 1-5 | 20457 Hamburg-Hafencity

From the old town, the route continues directly to the waterfront, where Tobias Strauch has been running his restaurant Strauchs Falco in the Elbarkaden in Hamburg's Hafencity since 2014.

Those who like their food more colourful, experimental and excitingly combined will find what they are looking for here. According to Strauch, what makes a good restaurant is the right triad of food, service and ambience.

When you visit Strauch's Falco, you can see the successful triad described above. When it comes to ambience, he places a lot of emphasis on design and music. The menu includes delicacies such as classic ceviche with cod, coriander, red onion, confit cherry tomato and sweet crisps or turbot fillet with vanilla, tomato, mango, young spinach and yuzu beurre blanc.

The unusual menu, which combines flavours from all over the world, knows how to inspire. And those who like to take a stroll after dinner benefit from the restaurant's location, where you can indulge in the unique flair of the Hafencity during a walk along the Elbe.

Strauchs Falco  | 
Koreastraße 2 | 20457 Hamburg-Hafencity

The best of both worlds can be found at Blue Mare. If you are looking for first-class fish dishes with the influences of many countries and also creative sushi, you will discover a rich fund in the restaurant located in the middle of a former factory site in Langenhorn. A little off the beaten track, but well worth the trip!

Even a glance at the extensive Blue Mare menu will delight lovers of fish and seafood. The food there is not only a visual highlight: the different consistencies and subtle flavours are perfectly coordinated. For example, turbot with porcini mushrooms, mashed potatoes and white wine velouté. Pure soul food.

And the sushi: Beet Salmon Nigiri with salmon, beetroot, physalis and chimichurri? Or would you prefer avocado nigiri with ceviche onions and coriander? The agony of choice. By the way, Blue Mare attaches great importance to sustainability and only uses MSC-certified fish. Just one of many reasons to visit the Blue Mare.

Blue Mare | 
Tarpen 40 | 22419 Hamburg

The XO Seafood Bar is modern and creative. Anyone expecting the classic pan-fried fish will be disappointed. Instead, the subtly pastel and straightforwardly decorated restaurant is fond of using fermentation to create alternative acids.

This means shrubs, vinegars and pickles. This not only creates new tastes but also fits in with the sustainable concept of the XO Seafood Bar. All dishes are vegan as soon as you leave out the fish. The XO Seafood Bar sources fish as regionally and sustainably as possible. The emphasis is not on the label but on the working methods of the producers and fishermen themselves.

The concept proves to be unusual but also quite delicious. For example, in the form of fresh sea snails. After you've had the chance to try them, you join in the praises of chef Jannik Libuda. Sustainability is a central theme at the XO Seafood Bar.

The cooking here is as purist and natural as possible. So the fish is always delivered to the kitchen of the XO Seafood Bar as a whole, to really use everything from the fish.

Chef Jannik Libuda has had a varied gastronomic career. He learned and worked at Restaurant Nil, in the kitchens of Nobelhart & Schmutzig and Lode & Stijn. Consequently, you can expect particularly exciting culinary experiences here.

XO Seafoodbar | 
Paul-Roosen-Straße 22 | 22767 Hamburg