Food
Alte Schmiede Ottensen Sustainable high-end cuisine 2.0
Map
Opening Times
Tuesday to Saturday: noon - 6:00pm
Events and courses on offer and by arrangement
Address
Alte Schmiede Ottensen
Bahrenfelder Straße 205
Hinterhof
22765 Hamburg-Ottensen
.How to get there
The Alte Schmiede is located in a small backyard in Ottensen. Here Helge, Steffen and Elizabeth have created a place where they cook for and with their guests. A place for shared enjoyment, lively exchange and experimentation.
In the beautifully designed two-storey building, you can buy high-quality food, some of it from in-house production, take cooking classes, rent a room for dinner, taste wines, enjoy the products of the house over a good coffee or sit down at a long table with other culinary gold diggers for the Schmiededinner or the Nimm-5-Pop-Up. If the Nimm-5-Pop-Up at the Alte Schmiede is convincing, Helge and Jules Massey can also cook for you at other exciting locations. A few times a year, they offer their Nimm-5 menu in changing locations in Hamburg.
The maker's idea of the Alte Schmiede and the Schmiededinner is simple in the word's best sense: to get together for a meal to celebrate hospitality and culinary delights. The cooking takes place in the open kitchen. Watching is welcome. The food is eaten together. Everything that ends up on the plates at Alte Schmiede is seasonal, regional, organic and fairly traded.
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Moreover, it is prepared by two well-travelled and experienced chefs who live their profession with dedication. The cooking heart of Alte Schmiede is Helge Hagemann and Steffen Burkhardt. They are joined by Elizabeth Mack-Schoell, who accompanies the project in the background. The two chefs have been active in Hamburg's gastronomic scene for many years and far beyond in Helge's case.
Steffen, who learned to cook at Landhaus Scherrer, is one of the co-founders of Nil, which has been offering Hamburg's gourmet sophisticated cuisine made from seasonal and predominantly regional ingredients for many years. The passionate chef has been happy with his career choice for over 30 years. His philosophy: away from old conventions and towards innovative cuisine. The theme of sustainability has become a strong focus of his work and is expressed in the dishes' distinct regional and seasonal design.
Helge was trained at the Louis C. Jacob and travelled the world for many years to study the culinary characteristics of various countries. He stood at the cooker in Canada, Central America, Japan, Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and Australia to be inspired, learn new techniques and create exceptional dishes using only local ingredients. He has also travelled throughout Germany and abroad for the Goethe-Institut, acting as a cooking ambassador to give his guests an insight into German food culture.
We had the pleasure of experiencing an evening that was special in many ways at Alte Schmiede. Invitations were extended to Nimm Fünf. The idea behind the motto: the guests are only told in advance which ingredients will end up in the pot and pan and on the cooker that evening. What is cooked from them is a surprise. The concept works. All the courses are refined, delicious and surprising.
We enjoy sturgeon with its roe, some fresh wild garlic, radishes and fruity-spicy dashi. Then we are delighted by crunchy cooked celery with egg, fermented chopped black onion and sourdough bread. Finally, the fjord shrimp with fruity-caramel sauce, wafer-thin slices of kohlrabi, a sauce with the aroma of pickled currant wood and a spicy-mild miso makes us happy.
In between, a lettuce heart with a refreshing vinaigrette. Salmon trout with unagi, rhubarb and red kimchi, served with an iced ayran. Dessert brings us woodruff ice cream on toasted buckwheat granola flanked by refreshing whey clouds. Delicious!
As enriching as the menu is the encounter with our table mates. During the meal, stimulating conversations about what is on our plates and life in general. The menus of the Schmiededinner and Nimm Fünf consist exclusively of products from producers who have been carefully selected by the team of the Alte Schmiede.
For example, the Förde shrimp is bred in freshwater pools in the North Sea entirely without antibiotics. Its creamy consistency and taste are convincing all along the line. Steffen and Helge's fish comes from Frisch Gefischt, which is committed to conscious, seasonal and above all, fresh enjoyment. Grünkorb supplies the Schmiede with vegetables, fruit, herbs and salads of organic quality from their own nursery.
With creativity, experience and skill, Helge and Steffen produce delicious dishes from high-quality products. Incidentally, they are happy to do without meat. This brings us back to sustainability, which in this form and consistency simply tastes damn good to us and makes us want more.
