53 Best Restaurants in Schleswig-Holstein and the Baltic Coast, Germany

This restaurant embodies the idea of “think global, act local” and brings American food to your table through its menu, which is inspired by Creole and Cajun cuisines in Louisiana. Kitchens's concept is rooted in travel experiences and culinary adaptation in an elegant environment. The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner, and anyone can also enjoy cocktails on its rooftop bar Moon 46 overlooking the HafenCity.

Run by five well-known, award-winning Hamburg restaurateurs, this culinary hotspot lies in the heart of the Hanseviertel quarter. The blend of individual food kiosks and food market not only offers food and drink from all over the world but also a bar area and a stage where music, comedy, and other events take place. 

This local favorite has the distinction of serving authentic Mexican food in the heart of St. Pauli and does not take reservations. Complete with Spanish-speaking staff and an atmosphere that asks nothing from street eateries in Mexico, this restaurant is so popular that the good mood of staff and diners alike spills onto the streets. It is hugely popular with both locals and expats.

This restaurant on Lange Reihe is famed not only for its regional specialties but also for its extensive wine list. Ask the knowledgeable staff which Flammkuchen goes best with your choice of wine. Also open for lunch everyday, Neumann's is a neighborhood favorite. Swing by on a Sunday to enjoy the best Schnitzel in Hamburg taking in St. Georg's atmosphere like a local.

Merging an à la carte restaurant with an elegant cocktail bar, Otto's has been shaking up Rostock's dining scene since 2017. Located right on the waterfront inside a pontoon boat, this restaurant also wows with scenic views that stretch from the city harbor to the Old Town.

While enjoying fresh fish from local waters, prepared with a light Italian touch, you can watch the sunset over the cliffs of Kap Arkona at this restaurant dubbed \"Rügen's balcony.\" Make a reservation, and insist on a table in the Fontane-Veranda (in winter) or the Arkonablick-Terrasse (in summer).

Snugly sited beneath vaulted ceilings in the cellar of the city's town hall, this elegant old pub turned restaurant and cocktail bar serves no-nonsense meat and seafood meals, including shrimp fresh from the North Sea, with a light touch of German nouvelle cuisine. Popular with local businesspeople during and after work, it's also a nice spot for a frothy beer and some Flammkuchen, Alsace's take on pizza, between traipsing around the nearby sights.

Once you've crossed the threshold of the Petrikeller, you'll find yourself in the medieval world of Hanseatic merchants, seamen, and wild pirates such as Klaus Störtebeker. The largely meat-centric menu reflects the cuisine of the Middle Ages, when meat and roots were the common daily ration.

A long-time neighborhood favorite, Eisenstein sits inside a handsome 19th-century industrial complex turned art center and serves fantastic Italian and Mediterranean cuisine at affordable prices. Sharing space with a movie theater, the restaurant is popular with pre- and postmovie crowds and probably best known for its gourmet wood-fired pizzas like the Pizza Helsinki (salmon, crème fraîche, and onions) and the Blöde Ziege (Stupid Goat) with rosemary-tomato sauce, crispy bacon, and goat cheese.

The simple but cool style, excellent service, and high-quality food (seasonal variations using local produce) at this busy bistro keep the locals coming back. Inventive four-course menus merge typical German cuisine with international flavors.

It would be difficult to find a better spot in town than this handsome seafood restaurant to watch big boats cruise by while satisfying your appetite for fresh lobster, sashimi, bouillabaisse, Scottish salmon, Dover sole, and oysters. Its ample sun terrace sits just above the Elbe, while the large open-plan dining room has ceiling-high windows facing downstream toward the city and the Elbe Philharmonic Hall.

On the edge of a canal and beneath the arches of the elegant Alster arcade, this popular Syrian meze restaurant enjoys superb views of Hamburg’s town hall. While it specializes in lamb, including homemade lamb sausages, Saliba’s menu also caters to vegetarian and vegan diners with offerings of falafel and eggplant dishes.

Sansibar is the island's most popular restaurant where a diverse clientele—basically everyone ever on Sylt—often make it a rambunctious night out by imbibing drinks with no regard for the morning after under the bar's maverick logo of crossed pirates' sabers. To get a table for dinner in the high season, you must reserve at least six weeks in advance. No lunch reservations are taken.

It's worth the trip here just to see the rustic interior and copper brewing equipment. Since the restaurant is owned by the Störtebecker Brewery, all Stralsunder and several Störtebecker beers are on tap, including the rare Störtebecker Roggen-Weizen, a wheat beer made with rye, and Germany's first India Pale Ale.

While wandering among the medieval and modern jetties and quays of the port, you might feel the need for a snack. This seamen's haven, decorated with sharks' teeth, stuffed seagulls, and maritime gear, is a good pit stop along the harbor.

A great choice on a sunny afternoon, this restaurant serves both great pizza and a microbrews in a landmarked historic building right by the Elbe River. Enjoy a lager, an IPA, or one of their many seasonal beers on the always lively terrace and a pizza fresh out of the brick oven.

Ski lifts are a rare sight in Hamburg and North Germany, which is known for its flat landscape, but they are part of the decoration of this bistro serving Alpine delicacies. The menu includes an excellent selection of cheese and German favorites such as Käsespätzle (egg noodles) but this restaurant is best known as a great place to have a proper breakfast.

This restaurant is on the ground floor of the Wulflamhaus, a 14th-century gabled house on the old market square. In late spring or early summer, get the light and tasty Ostseescholle (grilled plaice), fresh from the Baltic Sea, while in winter the hearty Zanderfilet mit Sanddornsauce (pikeperch filet with sea buckthorn sauce) is a must.

Committed to the city's maritime heritage, Wullenwever serves fish such as bass, halibut, plaice, pike, and trout, which is fried or sautéed according to local country cooking. It's certainly one of the most attractive establishments in town, with dark furniture, chandeliers, and oil paintings on pale pastel walls.

Hamburg may not have many good Japanese restaurants, but this modern bistro-style restaurant has developed a loyal clientele of locals and Japanese expats through its warm service and modern interpretation of Japanese haute cuisine. As well as the typical offerings of sushi and tempura udon, the menu here features such treats as wagyu beef with dipping sauces and duck and eggplant in red miso sauce.

While it may not conform to everyone’s definition of a “beach”—in this case a long stretch of trucked-in sand on the north bank of the Elbe, directly across from the giant cranes and container terminals of the city’s port—there’s little doubting the popularity of the Elbstrand (Elbe beach) among locals. Whenever the sun’s out, you’ll find them out here in force, walking dogs and sipping beers and white-wine spritzers from a couple of little beach bars. Strandperle also does a decent chili con carne as well as curry sausages and fish rolls to keep hunger pangs at bay.