Hamburg's eel soup is a sweet-and-sour Hanseatic broth, despite the name often historically a soup of dried fruit, vegetables, meat and bones, with eel as an optional traditional addition.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Aalsuppe's name confused for centuries; Hanseatic Plattdeutsch "aal" means "all" (Allesuppe, all-bits soup), not eel (Aal). The dish was a working-class Sunday soup of leftover bits with dried pears, apples, prunes, vegetables and pork bones, with eel added by harbour-side cooks who had river eels in season. The sweet-sour combination is the Hanseatic signature. Old Commercial Room and Fischereihafen Restaurant cook the canonical Hamburg versions; the optional eel addition is now standard in tourist-facing rooms.
Common allergens: Fish, Sulphites (in vinegar)
Tip from the editors. Taste before adjusting; the sweet-sour balance is the dish.
Old Commercial Room opposite the Michel in Hamburg has cooked Hanseatic harbour food since 1795 and is the city's canonical Labskaus address.
Order: The Original Hamburger Labskaus with fried egg, herring, beetroot and gherkin.
Tip: Open daily; lunch tables more available than dinner. Cash welcome but cards accepted.
Fischereihafen Restaurant on Grosse Elbstrasse in Hamburg-Altona has cooked classical Hanseatic seafood since 1981, with daily catch from the harbour below.
Order: The Hamburger Aalsuppe; the Pannfisch with mustard sauce.
Tip: Window-row tables face the Elbe; ask at booking. Open daily 11:30-22:00.
Deichgraf on the historic Deichstrasse in Hamburg cooks classical Hanseatic dishes on the city's oldest canal-side street, with a single beam.
Why locals love it: On the Deichstrasse canal-side row rebuilt after the 1842 fire, that most tourists walk past.
Tip: Window tables face the Nikolaifleet canal. Ask for the Labskaus with the original Rollmops topping.
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