Hobenköök Restaurant & Markthalle — Restaurant in Hamburg

We came here with a larger group early in the evening for the celebration of two birthdays. I had visited thrice before and always liked the food, although there had been some bumps on the road with these visits. The last visit was two years ago. I didn’t bother to read the reviews since I liked the food then - I should have and would have been warned by the high amount of one star reviews in the last year alone.

Ordering was quite easy. We each picked our meals and then the waiting began.

Bread and butter was good.

The starters were tiny. TINY. I was not the only one taken aback by the small quantity of the food. Taking the price into consideration there are much better options available all over town.

Around that time the place began to fill up with people. This resulted in a much diminished sense of service - suddenly every member of staff had their hands full.

The main dishes took a lot of time to arrive. They were okay, but for the price I found the quality lacking. I also would have wished for more creativity. The food was filling, but it did not make me happy.

The vegetarian main with wood smoke was partially inedible - they took it off the check when we told them.

After the mains, we had to strain to be able to order dessert. In hindsight, I would have just skipped it. The desserts took a full 40 minutes to arrive. By the time they arrived we were out of patience and no longer enjoying the experience.

The panna cotta was basic. It actually made me angry for the lack of creativity and taste. For the price I would have expected much better. This was a heap of pre-prepared panna cotta that was spruced up with a bit of streusel and a few slices of kaki. I have had much better even in cafeterias. The vegan cheesecake was alright.

The restaurant was fully packed and the service was so much under pressure that we were often unable to get attention. There was no offer to refill our water, for instance, which led us to believe that there was simply no capacity to take care of that many people. This led to part of our party sitting at the table thirsty - this factors massively into the two stars for service.

The (overextracted) espresso some of us had was comped as a reaction to the delay in getting the food. However, at this point our evening was not to be saved by this gesture.

We did not feel that this was an experience that we would like to repeat. Sadly, this will be the last time I have eaten here. For the price/quality/service ratio this is simply not fitting. It used to be a place that offered quality for the price. These days, there’s more of an „Emperors new clothes“ vibe from our point of view.

The staff was completely overwhelmed by the amount of people they had to take care of. There was no feeling of a presence of the hosts.

I honestly completely regret recommending this venue to my family and tainting what should have been a special event.

If you want to spend this much money on a meal I would strongly recommend...

Hobenköök is located in an extremely quiet part of the city, very industrial.

Entering Hobenköök you will enter firstly a small supermarket with only German crafted food and drinks. For me personally a bit too deluxe, as you can go to the fish market for example and buy the same German things for a way cheaper price.

But still, the setting of Hobenköök is very raw and comfortable, being located in one of the old Hamburg railway stations.

We reserved a table for the evening for dinner. (Be cautious that if you want to reserve you need to reserve for minimum 6 people)

If less people, you need to wait in a waiting line which is located in the middle in the restaurant. In my opinion this should be separated as you feel the existence of the people waiting for a table while watching you eat.

Though, the dishes were unbelievably original and so rich of taste.

We took a vegan and a vegetarian plate, one with risotto and one with kohlrabi. I ate so much new ingredients and the composition of them all together were fitting perfectly.

Would definitely go back here, seeing the quality...

Very close to my office and hence now a lunch spot we hit about once a week. I never use the supermarket but it really is quite the nice selection and were I to live in the area, I would definitely use it. The fact that there is parking out front is a huge bonus. The restaurant is great but I prefer it for breakfast. They have lunch specials but we usually try to come before noon so we can order from the breakfast menu. It is also price-wise a far better deal. I like the vibe of this place but it is very much in line with anything hipster you'd find in Berlin, NY or SF. Service is always polite and fairly fast and most importantly, the food is good. I also like that at lunch they use what they have available in the supermarket so you know it's going to be fresh. If you can reach this place easily, I'd highly recommend checking it out. I wouldn't make a pilgrimage here to try it but if you do, you won't regret it. Plus, it's also a part of town you'd otherwise never venture to so maybe check it out to just get a taste of a part of Hamburg off the...