This north German autumn classic combines green beans, pears and smoked bacon in one pot, the sweet-savoury-smoky balance the signature of Hanseatic seasonal cooking.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Birnen Bohnen und Speck dates to 17th-century North German farm cooking, when the late-summer green-bean and pear harvests overlapped. Hamburg adopted the dish from the Schleswig-Holstein hinterland through the 19th century. The recipe is fixed: green beans, small whole hard pears (Kochbirnen), thick-sliced smoked bacon, savory (Bohnenkraut), and salted potatoes alongside. Old Commercial Room and Fischereihafen Restaurant cook the seasonal version through August and September.
Common allergens: Pork
Tip from the editors. Use hard cooking pears (Kochbirnen) only; eating pears collapse into the broth.
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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