Eating fish in Hamburg: Between Schlager and plaice

Fish. As a Hanseatic citizen with a fishing license, I recommend him to you. It has to be on the table once a week, but not necessarily on your own. In my childhood, after shopping in the city center with my grandmother (as an Altona native, she said “we're going to the city,” by which she meant Hamburg, because Altona wasn't part of Hamburg until 1937), we used to go either to the Alsterhaus to eat queen pies, or to Daniel Wischer, where we had fish cakes or matjes or plaice. And barrel shower.

I found the seafood there rather boring, so I didn't continue this tradition in later years, but Tex Rubinowitz eats when he's in Hamburg, always at Wischer, thinks the place is great and keeps trying to persuade us to go there together.

To make a long story short: I passed it today, was hungry and was curious to see whether anything had changed there. It hasn't. But call me nostalgic – it warmed my heart. In the dignified ambience, I enjoyed solid northern German cuisine, which was served brusquely (two fish cakes, three lettuce leaves, mashed potatoes on a separate plate, you have to order mayonnaise separately: 90 cents).

During the meal, my eyes kept wandering over the photo gallery on the wall with historical advertising and pictures of celebrities who had stopped by Wischer before concerts or talk show appearances to get a foundation.

Craziness. ANDREA BERG! The dark queen of the breakup and cheating hit also made a guest appearance. I don't understand why she wasn't immediately involved in an advertising campaign for the traditional company. Down-to-earth and absolutely healthy, as she seems. I can easily imagine her photo plastered on a large poster. Maybe in fishing gear? With a handsome perch on your arm? Slogan, of course: “The poultry have a duty of confidentiality!” Logical.