"Hamburg Fine Dining Society" - no 4 - Schlachterbörse

Restaurant 4, 26/01-09, Schlachterboerse

3rd of October is "Tag der Deutschen Einheit", a day of celebration in Germany. This day commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990. I was in Hamburg last time this took place, so naturally I decided to check out the celebrations. In the Speicherstadt area a lot of tents had been put up, each tent having a theme from one of the 16 States of Germany. A lot of traditional German food and drinks was served everywhere. In between all the tents I spotted a small coffee booth and I decided to have myself a cup of this wonderful drink. By coincidence, the girl selling me the coffee had actually lived in Norway, so we started talking a bit. Kathy, that's her name, told me that she was working part time as a waitress in a restaurant called "Schlachterboerse". I hadn't heard about the restaurant at the time, and didn't know anything about it, but oh my would that be about to change!

Not long after this I had to go to North Africa for a month, for work, but when I came back I decided to check out Schlachterboerse. I had read briefly about it on their web site, but I didn't know exactly what to expect. But as soon as I entered the place I knew this would be something out of the ordinary! The place radiated a kind of warmth, like the feeling of coming home after a long time, and the staff and customers all looked like they were part of one big family. I was seated on a long table with a bunch of strangers I had never seen before. As soon as I placed the first piece of steak between my teeth I couldn't help but smiling, realizing I was eating one of the best steaks I'd ever tasted!


This was my first visit to Schlachterboerse, in early November. I have often thought about going back again, but haven't really had the opportunity. But about a week ago I was at my friend Meggan's birthday party, and I started talking with two other friends, Jorma (from Finland) and Pierre (from France), about good restaurants in Hamburg. Pierre looked at me and said "listen Tor, there are many good restaurants in Hamburg, but if you want a really extraordinary steak then nothing compares to Schlachterboerse"! My eyes widened, and I immediately told Pierre that I had actually been there, and that I loved the place! One thing led to another and me, Jorma and Pierre agreed to meet up Monday evening and go there again!

Schlachterboerse is an intimate restaurant, not very large at all. The restaurant has three stories. There is one room in the basement behind the counter, one room right by the entrance, and one room in the very back, a bit elevated from the rest of the restaurant. Not sure if that's actually a good description, but whatever. We were sitting in the main room.. so not the elevated area, and not the basement. The walls are decorated with all sort of stuff! Lots of pictures of famous people who have visited the restaurant, the Bee Gees for example. Behind the counter, close to the ceiling, two big bull horns are hanging on the wall. On one section of the wall they have put up a bunch of money bills from different parts of the world. In order to be on the safe side one should always call ahead and reserve a table before going to Schlachterboerse. I had done that of course, so when we entered the restaurant we already had a table waiting for us. We had a look through the menu and quickly decided on ordering the Chateaubriand medium/rare to share between all three of us. The waitress responded by saying "I knew it! It's the best!". We then got the waitress' recommendations for wine, a 2006 South African red wine, very fruity and not too strong. We also agreed to have some tartar for starter.

The waitress seemed to recognize Pierre, and when Pierre mentioned that he had been to the restaurant a while ago with his parents, the waitress asked Pierre to bring her greetings! She also recognized my face, but when I told her it was only my second time at the restaurant she refused to believe me and said she was sure she had seen me at least 10 times. Perhaps I have a "doppelganger" in Hamburg...


The Chateaubriand at Schlachterboerse is a story for itself! Truly special! You're not just getting a piece of steak on a plate like a usual restaurant, but the waitress brings the whole piece of meet over to your table and cuts it up for you right there and then! The Bearnaise sauce is probably the best Bearnaise I've ever tasted, and the side dishes of friend potatoes and spinnage stew supplements the steak brilliantly. The Chateaubriand is the center of attention though, because the quality of this meat is top notch! It's so tasty and juicy, and almost melts in your mouth! Perfection is a word that comes to mind! Jorma, Pierre and me were really enjoying the meal. I had to close my eyes a few times and just enjoy the moment. Jorma had not been to Schlachterboerse before, but he liked the place immediately, and said he would like to take his parents here one time if possible.

Afterwards, me and Jorma had a dessert consisting of red berries in rum sause with ice cream. Pierre decided to go for the chocolate fondue. A suitable finale!

All in all this was a memorable visit to Schlachterboerse, and we thoroughly enjoyed the evening! Pierre suggested we should do this again. Not necessarily at Schlachterboerse, but another fine restaurant. We're already talking about one particulate seafood restaurant we want to check out. But one thing is for sure, Schlachterboerse hasn't seen the last of me yet...

"Hamburg Fine Dining Society" - no 3 - Corco Vado

Restaurant 3, 15/01-09, Corco Vado

BACKGROUND: I was sitting around in my hotel room reading some tourist guides, mostly looking at the "dining out" sections, looking for interesting restaurants. Some of the restaurants in the tourist guide sounded pretty cool, like "Restaurant Raven", "Alster Pavilion" and "Corco Vado". However, I wasn't able to decide where I wanted to go so I threw away the tourist guides and went down-town to buy some football training wear. Afterwards I was getting hungry and I was a bit annoyed with myself that I hadn't noted down where some of those restaurants were located. I decided to walk in the direction of "Vapiano", a good Italian place I had been to before, and just keep my eye open for other potentially interesting places. And I was about halfway to "Vapiano" when I discovered a restaurant with a familiar sounding name, "Corco Vado"! I immediately remembered reading about the place in one of the tourist guides and decided to check it out!

FIRST IMPRESSION: I stepped inside the restaurant and was greeted by a bartender. He guided me to the coat stand where I put away my hat and coat. The restaurant was almost empty, only one other table was taken. So I was free to pick whatever table I wanted. In the middle of the restaurant there was a small area that was elevated a bit from the rest of the restaurant, so I took one of the tables there. I realized that the restaurant also had some closed-off rooms you could rent for private parties and such. I later also learned that the restaurant actually has a private two lane bowling alley you can rent! I didn't get to try that out though... I sat down at my table with my back against the wall so I had a perfect overview of the whole restaurant. I noticed a couple of Brazilian flags hanging from the ceiling. The menu also had some Brazilian sounding dishes, so the restaurant definitely had a Brazilian theme going. The sitting areas were devided into booths along the wall, just like an American style diner. A little detail was that each booth had a painted window above the table, so you almost got the feeling you were sitting by a window even though it was only a brick wall. All the chairs and couches were padded with a stunning, intricate flower pattern. The tables were solid wood, and were not decorated with a table cloth. I liked the style of the restaurant. It was quite simple, and not too fancy. 8/10

WAITING TIME: On my previous two restaurant review I have had no complaints about the waiting time, but this time I actually did. Well, it wasn't a bit deal really, I got my food and everything right on time, but after I had finished eating and the waitress had taken away my empty plate I had to wait 20 minutes for the check! Of course, I could probably have asked the bartender to get it for me, but I wanted to see how long it would take for the waitress to walk by me. I have to take away a few points here because of the long wait for the check, but I got the food and everything on time, so I can't give a too negative score. 6/10

STAFF: Staff was friendly, but nothing more. I have to admit that when I'm writing this review now it's been three days since I was at the restaurant. And honestly I can hardly remember the staff. So they didn't exactly leave a big impression on me. I noticed, however, that the waitress messed up the orders from some of the other customers. She forgot some of the stuff they ordered. But I got everything I ordered, so I won't complain. I'll just give 7/10 points for this one. Nothing special, but I don't have any major complaints either.

APPETIZER: I decided to go for the Chorizo appetizer which sounded good. It was two thick South American style sausages with mustard and a small salad on the side. The sausages were really tasty, and they had a lot of meat in them, so it was almost a bit too much as an appetizer. Especially if you, like me, have a big steak or something as the main course. But I was hungry, so I didn't mind having
a big heavy appetizer! 8/10

MAIN COURSE: I decided to try out the "Steak Rio de Janeiro" from the menu. When the waitress took my order I was unsure whether to go for "Steak Rio de Janeiro" and "Steak Cognac - Pepper Sause". So I asked for the waitress recommendation, and she said I should definitely try out "Steak Rio de Janeiro" if I hadn't tried it before. It was more unique than the other one. So I took her advice. The steak was served with home made potato wedges, a salad and a crisp breat on the side. In addition, the steak was served in a pepper sause with mussels in it which was something completely new to me!
I never thought of steak and mussels as a good combination, but it proved to work quite well actually! I was a little bit unlucky with the piece of meat I got, because on one side they hadn't cut away all the excess fat from it. So I had to cut it away myself. But other than that it was a lovely meal! Great potato wedges, crisp buttery bread, and with the excess fat out of the way, the steak was lovely.
8/10

TOTAL VERDICT: Cosco Vado was definitely a place worth checking out, and also a place I'd like to go back to. But probably not alone. I would like to go with a small group of people, and also try out that private bowling area they're supposed to have. The restaurant specializes in both "Fleisch" (meat) and "Fisch" (fish), so it's likely anyone will find something they like here! 7.5/10