Restaurants
Hæbel A journey into flora and fauna
Map
Opening Times
Tuesday to Saturday: 6:30pm - 10:00pm
Address
Haebel
Paul-Roosen-Straße 31
22767 Hamburg-St. Pauli
.How to get there
price level
A visit to Hæbel is like a culinary journey. So be sure to bring some time to fully immerse yourself in the trip. There are two menus to choose from. Flora or Fauna.
Flora is wholly vegetarian and uses fruit and vegetables, milk and eggs, wild herbs and mushrooms. Based on the vegetarian menu, Fauna also includes components from the waters and forests of the north. So which direction should it be? No matter which destination you choose, one thing is for sure, it will be a delicious outing.
There are two of us at Hæbel today, each booking a round trip of flora and fauna. The small restaurant in lively St. Pauli, designed in a charming yet stylish bistro atmosphere, is entirely full on this Thursday evening.
We take a seat in the dining room, which offers a view into the open kitchen. The staff look after us in a friendly manner. The music hums pleasantly and blends with the voices of those present. We sit back and let the aromas, sounds and a first glass of wine get us in the mood for the evening.
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The cooking at Hæbel is modern and focused on the essentials, but always bold with striking flavours. Based on the simplicity of Nordic cuisine and combined with the sophistication of French cooking techniques.
Another critical theme at Hæbel is the sustainability of the products and dishes on offer. Among other things, vegetables from the restaurant's own cultivation, game from sustainable hunting and line-caught fish are used. An environmentally conscious, natural and product-oriented philosophy is cultivated. This naturally includes the careful use of resources. The menu at Hæbel changes every seven to eight weeks.
Head chef Kevin Bürmann cooks highly creative menus off the beaten track. After working at Dieter Müller, Munich's Les Deux and Zurich's Mesa, Kevin Bürmann joined Restaurant Hæbel in March 2020 and has been head chef since the summer of 2021.
He has helped ensure that the restaurant has recently been listed with one star in the Guide Michelin. In the course of this award, Hæbel was also awarded the Guide Michelin's Green Star. This is awarded for particularly sustainable concepts and implementations.
To table. We start the way with a cracker with zucchini cream and strips. Crisp and fresh. The first course is prawns from Neue Meere in Lower Saxony. They were flamed with hot coals, so they taste slightly smoky. The seafood is butter-soft and melts in your mouth. They are served with a sweet and spicy malt vinaigrette.
In the next stage, we enjoy chicken liver and a mushroom cream wrapped in oxidised lettuce. Accompanied by a crispy piece of toasted bread made from sourdough. Simple, straight and delicious.
The third course pays homage to asparagus: chicken-asparagus dashi, served with raw, marinated asparagus and asparagus velouté with wild garlic oil. Asparagus can taste like this - with an Asian touch and without heavy sauces. Accompanied by a glass of modern elaborate wine from southern Burgundy. Chardonnay grapes that have matured in steel tanks. The result is a fresh, modern Chardonnay with the creamy, juicy notes of the grapes.
We continue to move from course to course, enjoying flavours, textures, smells and the sophistication with which the dishes are prepared. The wine accompaniment is charming, knowledgeable and on point.
Continuing our journey, we taste home-baked brioche and turbot fillet with a brioche-onion crust, pickled rhubarb and tarragon powder, among other things. Furthermore, a nutty-juicy risotto made from emmer, dressed with celeriac and topped with celeriac chips and some chives. Nutty meets bulbous and crunchy. Finally, the poussin stuffed with Frankfurt herbs and pointed morels leaves us blissfully happy.
At the end of this round trip, a dessert in a class of its own awaits us. A crustat of sorrel ice cream and caviar. Accompanied by yoghurt mousse with elderflower granite and malt beer syrup. The Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley combines the best of two dessert worlds, sweetness and acidity, in a skilful interplay.
Finally, we would like to mention something else: My companion's gluten intolerance was taken into account heartwarmingly, and a gluten-free alternative was always offered. We find this remarkable. Like our entire evening: the food, the wine accompaniment, the service, the atmosphere.
Our journey ends, and we are happy. In conversation with Kevin Bürmann, who serves us the food himself, it quickly becomes clear: the tour guides at Hæbel love their work and appreciate their customers.
