Labskaus - traditional German sailor's dish (Hamburg)

🇩🇪Hamburg, Germany

The Labskaus Pilgrimage

A vivid pink mash of corned beef, beetroot and potato, crowned with a fried egg and a rollmop. Sailors' food that looks alarming and tastes like the sea.

Photo: Cooking the World

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Why this dish?

Labskaus is old North Sea sailor food: salted/corned beef and potato mashed together with beetroot (which turns it a startling magenta), bound with onion and stock, then served with a fried egg, gherkins and a rolled pickled herring (Rollmops) on top. It was invented to use shelf-stable rations on long voyages, and Hamburg has kept it as a point of pride.

It is, frankly, a dish you have to see to believe - and then a dish you can't stop eating. The contrast of the rich, salty hash, the runny yolk, the sharp pickle and the cold herring is genuinely brilliant. This is the definition of a pilgrimage food: regional, a little weird, and far better in a Hamburg harbour tavern than anywhere you could make it.

Our Picks

Old Commercial Room

Address: Englische Planke 10, Hamburg
What to order: Labskaus 'mit allem' - with everything (egg, herring, gherkin, beetroot).
Book ahead: Worth booking at weekends.
Pro tip: Mix the runny egg through the whole plate before the first bite - that's how locals eat it.

Oberhafenkantine

Stockmeyerstraße 39, Hamburg

A tiny, characterful, slightly listing old canteen by the water - the unvarnished harbour version of Hamburg eating.

What to order: Labskaus, or fresh Fischbrötchen (fish rolls) if you want the harbour-snack version of Hamburg.

Good to know

Yes, it's bright pink, and yes, the herring goes on top - both are correct. If raw-ish pickled herring isn't for you, ask for Labskaus without the Rollmops. Pair it with a cold local Pils. Hamburg's harbour, the Speicherstadt warehouse district and the Elbphilharmonie are all walkable from the centre.

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