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.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
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 to 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 from the pre-1842 building surviving in the Fleetdiele dining room.
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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