Lucky Friends — Restaurant in Hamburg

I had a terrible experience going for the 35€ dinner buffet on a slow weekday.

All the food had been sitting out for a long time. There was skin forming on the sauces. The ice cream had freezer burn from being thawed and re-frozen so often. The dim sum were clearly just bought frozen, really supermarket grade quality stuff.

Half the buffet was closed off, and the remaining half was never refilled and only lukewarm.

One time, a fresh batch of Lion's Head meatballs was brought out which was actually fresh and very good - but cooled down immediately and were untouched for the rest of the evening.

Maybe things would look better on a busy weekend, but for me personally, this was a real let down and a complete rip off.

The only saving grace was that the dishes were actually not bog standard Chinese Buffet fare, but actually...

I would encourage everyone to try order a là carte and ask for personal recommendations.

Mine would be simply very first dish on the menu, Braised Pork Belly on Tea-brined Vegetables: 7 slices of heaven!! Soft, smooth, juicy, umami-rich, perfect balance of salt and sugar, slow cooked so the fat is perfectly rendered and gently coats your mouth; to cut through it a bed of top quality salted vegetables, infused with a deep intense aroma of black tea. It was mindblowing. You can taste that they put in the effort, that it is not fast-food.

You don't get this...

We visited Lucky Friends on a Saturday in January with a group of men prior to a party later that night. We must say, the host was the friendliest person we have met during our stay in Hamburg. Such a joy for receiving his guests and making their stay a great one. The Buffet had a great selection of all kinds of dishes with all kinds of meat, fish and vegetarian options. And that for such an affordable price. As we said, we will be back next year in January and loved the Bamboo shot we got from the host. Bis nächstes Mal! The...