Hamburg's working-class roast-beef sandwich is a round bread roll filled with thinly-sliced roast beef and gravy, served warm and dripping. The probable ancestor of the modern hamburger.

Rundstueck Warm originated in 19th-century Hamburg as a working-class harbour-worker lunch, slices of roast beef in a round bread roll (Rundstueck) with the cooking gravy poured over. The dish gives Hamburg its name-share with the modern hamburger; food historians trace the hamburger via German immigrants to New York and to Texas in the 1880s. The original Rundstueck Warm is now rare; the Old Commercial Room and a handful of traditional taverns still serve it.

2 editor picks for Rundstueck Warm in Hamburg, ranked by editorial score. All Hamburg signature dishes · Rundstueck Warm across every city.

Old Commercial Room ★ 4.4

€€GermanNeustadt

Old Commercial Room opposite the Michel in Hamburg has cooked Hanseatic harbour food since 1795 and is the city's canonical Labskaus address.

OrderThe Original Hamburger Labskaus with fried egg, herring, beetroot and gherkin.

TipOpen daily; lunch tables more available than dinner. Cash welcome but cards accepted.

DirectionsView

Deichgraf ★ 4.2

€€€GermanNeustadt

Deichgraf on the historic Deichstrasse in Hamburg's Neustadt cooks traditional Hanseatic dishes on the city's oldest canal-side street, rebuilt.

OrderThe Labskaus with Rollmops; the Aalsuppe with raisins.

TipAsk for a window table on the Nikolaifleet canal side. A single beam from the pre-fire building survives in the Fleetdiele dining room.

DirectionsView

Learn to cook it, or eat it with a guide

Rundstueck Warm makes more sense with someone from Hamburg explaining it. These are the classes and tours we have checked, with booking links.

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