Louise Kunth (1982)

Strips & Stories is still St Pauli’s first Bookshop, opened up two years ago in the Seilerstraße. They are basically focused on Comics and Graphic Novels and they offer a very specific range of books, novels, magazines and comics. Furthermore there is some space for current political, cultural or urban topics. I love this really tiny store, and I like that they offer such a small and clear selection with very inspiring titles.

Beyond this they regularly host events in their store such as readings, small exhibitions or concerts. Sometimes they do this in cooperation with the gallery Chéz Linda (who moved from Hein-Hoyer-Straße to the Seilerstraße). You can check their website for current dates.

Café Johanna is located at Venus Berg, which – to my mind – is a very special street. It’s near the harbour, near the portugiesen-viertel and the michel, but at the same time it is very calm because it is a little bit off the touristic trouble. There is a pleasant neighbourhood with lots of design and architecture studios.

The interior is kind of Scandinavian-style, everything is very simple and clear. They offer some snacks, very good cakes and fantastic coffee. Last time I had a Swedish cocoa-cake which was really awesome. Prices are not that cheap but everything is organically grown (which seems to be standard in hamburg’s café meanwhile – I remember I wrote this sentence before…). I think it’s the perfect stop after a walk ’round the harbour or the Portugiesen-Viertel and a very good alternative to all this crowded Portuguese cafés in the Ditmar-Koel-Straße (which are nice as well, no question).

By the way: none of the founders of Café Johanna is called Johanna. I never asked how they came up with their name..

The Jellyfish is a restaurant which is specialised in seafood. They have few, daily fresh created dishes focused on seafood but there is at least one vegetarian dish and one meat dish as well. The service is really nice and willing to give you plenty of information about the ingredients and their supplier.

I like their interior-atmosphere a lot. It is kind of a rustic-mediterranean style: they use white and light-blue colours and their tables are created of driftwood, which gives the room a warm look. And there is this tiny and lacy jellyfish which appears here and there.

We spent a nice evening there together with two friends. And we were all delighted by our choice. I had a seafood-soup and afterwards angler-fish with pea-puree. Really good, as you can see on this picture.

Between Schanze and Grindel you’ll find a very beautiful old building that once was a hospital. Nowadays, there is a very beautiful café, the Hadley’s, located in the former emergency room area. Don’t worry, there is nothing left, that might remind you of a hospital. During the daytime the Hadley’s is a café with a fantastic breakfast and delicious cake.

In the evening it turns into a bar. They offer a great selection of wines. On every first Monday in a month you can go to “Monday meets Jazz”, a live Jazz night. You can check their homepage for their current program.

Another really nice offer is their “Abendbrot”. You can have the typical German supper with bread, cheese etc. together with some friends. We spent a beautiful birthday-party there, with many friends on a long table, covered with dozens of good things.

In summer you can enjoy the great outdoor seats in the garden. You’re sitting in the backyard, very green and calm. Just beautiful.

The Krug is located in St Pauli, Paul-Roosen-Straße. You’ll get some really good south German food there, reaching from simple things like German “Abendbrot” or sausage salad to simple but good pasta to pig-ling with pumpkin-potatoe-puree for example. And they have a great selection of wine. Last time we went there with friends and tried several bottles of red wine which were all amazing. The service was really good, she could tell us a lot about the wine. 

I like the simple interior with lots of wood and the bar with its open kitchen behind. Every time we went there, there was one cook, who was doing his job there all alone (which could be the reason for waiting for the food a little while). Before you go there you should definitely make a reservation as it is always very crowded.