Best Burgers in Hamburg: The Namesake City

To find the best burgers in Hamburg, start in St. Pauli and the Sternschanze, the nightlife districts just west of the centre, then carry on to Ottensen and Altona. Eimsbüttel and the HafenCity add neighbourhood restaurants. Grilled patties and smash burgers dominate, and in this port city the fish roll is never far away.

Hamburg is the city in the hamburger’s name, although nobody can prove exactly how the name travelled. One theory points to the Rundstück warm, a hot bread roll filled with roast meat and gravy, sold in Hamburg by 1869 and said to have been eaten by emigrants bound for America. Another credits the Hamburg steak, minced beef served to passengers of the Hamburg America Line on the crossing to New York. Locals, meanwhile, still queue for the Fischbrötchen, a roll filled with herring or fried fish, at the harbour and at the Sunday-morning Fischmarkt in Altona.

Burgers in Hamburg: key facts

• Neighbourhoods to explore: St. Pauli, Sternschanze, Ottensen, Altona, Eimsbüttel and HafenCity.
• Origin story: the word hamburger refers to the city; the Rundstück warm and the Hamburg steak are the two leading theories, and historians still disagree.
• Local specialty: the Fischbrötchen, a fish roll sold along the harbour.
• Sunday morning: the Altona Fischmarkt, an open-air market on the Elbe.
• Getting around: the U-Bahn, S-Bahn and harbour ferries share HVV tickets.

Every guide we publish on Hamburg is dated and lists only venues, addresses, prices and ratings we could verify. To see how other cities compare, explore our burger restaurant guides worldwide.