21 Best Restaurants in Germany

Chef Benjamin Kriegel earned a Michelin star for his innovative cooking, experimenting with unusual combinations of flavors and textures using mainly locally sourced ingredients. The five- or six-course menu of small plates changes with the seasons; recent highlights included marinated and smoked Bavarian char with borscht aspic, sour cream, and fermented white cabbage.

Chef Florian Stolte creates beautiful dishes using international ingredients with an Asian twist in this one-Michelin star restaurant in the Traube Tonbach hotel. You won’t often find creative options such as Faroe salmon with miso and myoga (Japanese ginger) and lobster with cauliflower and ponzu in these parts of Germany, all served up in an informal atmosphere and paired with inspired wines or non-alcoholic choices.

Thanks to the efforts of local activists, this century-old market hall was saved from becoming a chain supermarket and instead turned into a center for local food vendors, chefs, wine dealers, and brewers. From Monday to Saturday, a large and rotating variety of food and drink is on offer for lunch and all afternoon; Tuesday to Saturday finds the weekly market with tempting food products for sale, from fruits and vegetables to bread and fish (with an expanded market on Friday and Saturday); and the space also hosts a dazzling array of rotating events, so it's best to check what's on before heading there.

Still a shining star in the row of romantic restaurants that sit along Hamburg's riverfront, Au Quai, in keeping with its location, has a menu heavy on seafood. Raw oysters and sashimi share the menu with offerings of tuna and North Sea sole, and amongst the beef dishes there’s a Surf and Turf to keep lovers of both worlds happy.

While it still retains its Michelin star, this acclaimed restaurant recently adopted a more casual approach, offering a pared-down modern tasting menu as well as à la carte dishes with French, Mediterranean, and Asian influences. The harborfront setting remains spectacular.

A good spot, especially if you're visiting the neighboring Pinakothek museums, this convivial corner bar and café attracts an interesting mix of students, artists, businesspeople, and trendy types from breakfast until late into the night. The menu features salads, sandwiches, and small selection of pastas—solid, affordable fare that won't exactly wow you—but the restaurant's art deco touches, funky artwork, and buzzy vibe are thoroughly enjoyable.

In an impressive columned hall that once was the stables of the royal residence, this sprawling restaurant features three distinct indoor dining spaces—the main grill room with an open fire, a smaller area serving homemade pasta, and a casual bar with lounge-like vibe—plus a small seasonal terrace. An expansive breakfast menu includes a large selection of organic egg dishes and pancakes.

Hamburg’s highest restaurant and bar awaits you on the 23rd floor of the "Tanzende Türme” (Dancing Towers) skyscrapers, dazzling with floor-to-ceiling views over the city, excellent cocktails, and creative crossover cuisine. The culinary focus here is on a variety of different steaks and cuts of meat.

With its position right on the market place in the center of town, you'd be forgiven for suspecting the Alte Wache to be a tourist trap. However, you'd be mistaken, as good regional cuisine such as local trout (Forelle) with potato and apple salad as well as salads, sandwiches, and a very popular spaghetti bolognese are on the reasonably priced menu in this spacious, friendly, air-conditioned café.

One of the best dining choices in the region, Gutshaus Stolpe has held a Michelin star for more than twenty years. Located in an old manor house, the gourmet restaurant is open for dinner and offers a prix-fixe menu with international dishes. In summer, outdoor dining on the patio is a great way to relax. 

The slightly more casual offshoot of Michelin-starred restaurant ernst, this wine-focused eatery serves coffee, fresh-baked goods, and (yes) wine during the day and more elaborate market-driven prix fixe menus at dinner; dishes are heavy on the organic veggies, plus sustainable seafood and meats, and many have a Japanese slant, featuring accompaniments such as shiso flowers, miso, ponzu, or yuzu. An open kitchen encourages you to watch the chefs at work, while enormous pane windows let you keep an eye on the action on the lively Wedding streets outside.

This casual, colorful spot is tucked into a pleasant, tree-lined, cobblestone street just up the hill from Alexanderplatz. The lunch and dinner menus focus on globally influenced, innovative salads, soups, burgers, and sandwiches, with a few mains like steak frites and chicken tikka masala. On two Saturday nights each month, Muse hosts a local chef or a nomadic supper club; you can reserve a seat to these popular events online.

A long-time staple on "Vintner's Lane," this half-timber building houses a homey, rustic, wood-beamed dining room, and a sleek, airy dining area in the modern extension. As well as the Palatinate regional dishes, such as liver dumplings and Saumagen, you can opt for more internationally influenced dishes such as seared sea bream with sage gnocchi or Charolais steak with herb butter. Also a family-run wine estate, there is a standout wine list, featuring a range of local aromatic Muskateller wines.

Young professionals mix with students at this lively restaurant, a symphony in red and orange in an ode to the 1970s, whose 13 different breakfasts are a big draw: the Vorstadt Classic includes bacon and eggs, rolls, and several other kinds of bread, along with a plate of salami and homemade jam. Quick daily lunch specials are a good value, while the atmosphere at dinner is relaxed, complete with candlelight. There is another location in Altstadt at Maximilianstrasse 40 (089/2554–7010).

The quiet, walled, rose-filled wine garden at Koegler's is a wonderful spot to enjoy some of their excellent food, which includes German and Russian specialties as well as some very good options for kids. If you fall for their classic quality wines, you can purchase them at the neighboring Koegler Vinothek on your way home.