Hobenköök Food Hall and Restaurant in the HafenCity

Hamburg’s Oberhafenquartier on the edge of the HafenCity hasn’t exactly been known as the place to have an amazing culinary evening. In a former logistics hall at the old rail freight station, Hobenköök has now settled in: a restaurant with a food hall and catering service.

The centrepiece and soul of the hall is the open kitchen. The daily specials are written on a big board, with dishes changing every evening to complement the fixed menu. As soon as we’ve put in our order, top chef Thomas Sampl comes over to invite us on a tour of Hobenköök.

Baked goods, fish, raw milk cheese, fruit and vegetables: Thomas knows every single producer by name. Here you can buy fresh products as you can at a weekly market, but also spreads by small manufacturers, craft beer, pasta and olive oil.

We especially like that the chefs at Hobenköök are also serving us throughout the food hall, and often only decide on the dinner menu that very day. Our rainbow trout is beautifully tender, the fennel is crunchy with a nice grilled flavour. But the fjord shrimps, cooked with young garlic, coriander and salad, also blow us away.

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Even our high expectations for the main are entirely met. The beef brisket is crispy on the outside and extremely tender inside, so that it falls apart with a poke of the fork. The North Sea cod made with lemon thyme-butter is a force to be reckoned with.

To finish, we enjoy an espresso from the Elbgold roastery. The plan is that the roasteries change monthly – a really charming idea. We can’t wait. And we predict big hotspot potential for the Oberhafenquartier and of course, for Hobenköök, too!

Astrid Schweneke

Author Hamburg