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.

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Strips & Stories | Art & culture, Shopping | Book € 20.00
Seilerstraße 40 | Sankt Pauli | +494038074009
Tue – Fri 12:00 – 20:00, Sat 13:00 – 19:00

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..

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Café Johanna | Coffee & tea, Relaxing, Snacks | Coffee € 3.00
Venusberg 26 | Harbour | +4915787925891
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 18:00, Sat 10:00 – 18:00

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.

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Jellyfish | Restaurants (Seafood) | Main dish € 15.00
Weidenallee 12 | Schanze | +49404105414
Tue – Fri 12:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 22:00, Sat – Mon 18:00 – 22:00

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.

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Hadley’s | Bars, Coffee & tea, Music, Snacks, Restaurants (Mixed) | Breakfast from € 10.00
Beim Schlump 84a | Grindelviertel | +49404505075
Mon – Sat from 10:00 – open end, Sun from 11:00 – open end

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. 

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KRUG Weinstubezi | Restaurants (German) | Main dish € 14.00
Paul-Roosen-Straße 35 | Sankt Pauli | +4915114075934
Mon – Sat from 18:00

As I LOVE everything about cooking, food and eating (I read cookbooks like other people read novels) this place is one of my favorite spots.

The Kochkontor is a mixture of bookstore and restaurant. They sell cookbooks of all shades, from different countries, about different topics – everything your culinary heart could wish for.

Included in this shop is a big open-space kitchen and a few tables. Every day they select one of their incredible plenty of books and cook one or two dishes for lunch. You should go there early as there are only a few tables for many potential guests. If you liked your dish you may just buy the appropriate book or any other book that caught your eye.

If you have the possibility and you speak German you can also participate in one of their cooking classes. I haven’t done this yet, but it’s definitely on my agenda. I would probably choose „Classique – French cuisine”. Have a look at the dates on their homepage. Many classes are booked out long before.

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Kochkontor | Coffee & tea, Shopping, Snacks, Restaurants | Lunch dish € 8.00
Karolinenstraße 27 | Karoviertel | +494043216036
Mon – Fri 10:00 – 19:00, Sat 10:00 – 17:00

I associate very special or at least just beautiful-days-without-a-special-cause with the Atlantik Fisch. Atlantik Fisch is a shop with diner located in the Große Elbstraße directly at the harbor. And guess what you get there: everything the ocean has to give. From oysters, gambas, crabs to diverse shells and fishes – you will find everything.

I always go there on Christmas eve about noon to buy Irish oysters for my family and me and then I get a glass of white wine or champagne and have some oysters already for lunch. The interior is very simple and pragmatic, you sit on wooden benches between this great selection of sea-fruits and look at the flurry of activity.

We go there as well in summer times to have oysters, white wine and baguette, sitting in the sun and enjoying our lifes. Sad to say, that’s not our everyday program, it’s rather reserved for some special days.

Go there if you like high quality seafood or need something really special, you will find it here. Or just enjoy the harbor atmosphere and have a salmon sandwich – as you like.

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Atlantik Fisch | Bars, Shopping, Snacks | Seafood dish € 6.00
Große Elbstraße 139 | Harbour | +4940391123
09:00 – 18:00 daily

Mooi means beautiful in Dutch and that is a perfect description for this restaurant. Mooi is a very charming small place in a backyard in the Karolinenstraße / Karoviertel. They offer very good food, high quality and kind of extravagant. It’s not cheap, especially in the evening, but it is worth its prices.

Don’t worry, it is not that kind of snobby or affected place. The atmosphere is very warm, cosy and down-to-earth, the interior is simple but elegant. That’s what I like so much, to have really upper-class food in a pleasant atmosphere with nice guests and a lovely service.

Mooi offers seasonal ingredients now in winter for example winterly salads with hazelnut and avocado, roast goose with walnut-cream and marzipan-quark-dumplings. Furthermore they provide really creative and fine aperitives such as cremont with ginger.

During the week they are only open for lunch, on Friday and Saturday you can have dinner there. You should book a table when you go there in the evening.

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Mooi | Restaurants (Intern.) | Main dish € 18.00
Karolinenstraße 7, Backyard | Karoviertel | +494043190066
Mon 12:00 – 15:00, Tue – Fri 12:00 – 15:00 & 18:00 – 23:00
Sat 18:00 – 23:00, Sun 11:00 – 16:00

Erika’s Eck is a place for taxi drivers and all kinds of stranded people to have a coffee and a lusty snack at night. It is a very colorful mix of party people and people who finished their shift. The food is the best antidote for an upcoming hangover.

It’s good and simple German food. They sell sandwiches with roast pork, tartar or salmon. If this is not enough you can order a “Wiener Schnitzel”. Drink your last beer and enjoy this original atmosphere. Don’t go there before midnight, because that’s when they start selling their sandwiches.

If we are too tired to stay there we take our sandwiches to go and eat them at home. Believe me, you’ll feel better the next morning.

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Erikas Eck | Bars, Coffee & tea, Snacks | Sandwich € 0.90
Sternstraße 89 | Schanze | +4940433545
From 17:00 daily

I think black delight is on a mission. They want to make you addicted to coffee. Thus the coffee they offer is a true delicacy. Besides their coffee specialties they offer some delicious snacks like small salads, tartes, sandwiches and some sweets. For me, the greatest thing of all is a small cake called „death by chocolate”. This needs no further description, just go there and try it.

Apart from all this I really like their interior design, outdoors as well as indoors. It is simple, elegant and warm. Back in the time when I worked for my last agency I often spent really inspiring and relaxing lunch times there with my favorite colleague. After an hour talk, two coffee and a „Death by chocolate” for two we always felt strong enough for the second half of the day.

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Black delight | Coffee & tea, Snacks | Latte Macchiato € 2.50
Eppendorfer Weg 67 | Schanze | +494064880078
Mon – Fri 08:00 – 19:00, Sat 10:00 – 17:00