Hamburg: Speicherstadt Food Tour, 7+ Tastings & Labskaus
Eat your way through Hamburg's historic Speicherstadt and old town, tasting Franzbrötchen, Fischbrötchen, Labskaus and a mystery Secret Dish with a local guide.
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.
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.
3 editor picks for Hamburger Aalsuppe in Hamburg, ranked by editorial score. All Hamburg signature dishes · Hamburger Aalsuppe across every city.
Old Commercial Room ★ 4.4
neustadt · Englische Planke 10, 20459 Hamburg
Old Commercial Room opposite the Michel in Hamburg has cooked Hanseatic harbour food since 1795 and is the city's canonical Labskaus address.
Fischereihafen Restaurant ★ 4.3
altona · Grosse Elbstrasse 143, 22767 Hamburg
Fischereihafen Restaurant on Grosse Elbstrasse in Hamburg-Altona has cooked classical Hanseatic seafood since 1981, with daily catch from the harbour below.
Deichgraf ★ 4.2
neustadt · Deichstrasse 23, 20459 Hamburg
Deichgraf on the historic Deichstrasse in Hamburg's Neustadt cooks traditional Hanseatic dishes on the city's oldest canal-side street, rebuilt.
Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide
Hamburger Aalsuppe makes more sense with someone from Hamburg explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.
Book food experiences in Hamburg
Elphi Plaza and HafenCity Culinary – The Food Tour
3-hour culinary city tour through the HafenCity, ending at the Störtebeker on the Elbphilharmonie Plaza. Five different specialties to taste.
Hamburg Traditional Food Tour: Full Meal and Drinks
Embark on a Hamburg Guided Food Tour and savor bretzel, labkaus, fish sandwich, pastry and currywurst, while discovering the city’s rich culinary traditions.