Karls Cafe & Weine - Hamburg

The menu is very small with only one starter, one main course and two desserts possible. But the whole experience is so worth it. The owner and the waitress are extremely friendly and warm with the customers : They wash your hands according to the...Ethiopian tradition, show you how to eat with your hands and even feed you and they will refill the plate as much as you want, although one plate is more than enough. They roast the coffee on the floor between the tables and come to the table to make you smell the roasted coffee before you eat. (Ethiopian tradition The food is very tasty, a bit spicy (but nothing you can't handle) and the whole experience makes you feel like you're in another country.

Karls is a charming smallish place which brings an autentic ethiopian breeze to Hamburt/Ottensen. The menu is very manageable, but what you're given tastes very nice. Our starter was a well done german/ethiopian fusion. Very yummy lentils. They'll come around with warm water since clean...hands are needed to eat the typical flat cake and all little goodies on top of it. To round things up we had coffee, which was tasty too. Overall we had a very good time at Karls!

If you are not timid with your taste buds then this is place is great. It’s not often that one gets to try Ethiopian food and this place has a cosy and easy vibe with some great options.

Ethiopian/Eritrean cuisine isn't the most common type of food you can get in this part of Hamburg. Luckily there are restaurants like Karls around which make for a very nice change. Granted, it might take some convincing to get your less adventurous friends to join...but they'll hardly be disappointed. The restaurants is quite small with only around four or five tables. This makes for a very intimate setting and the staff (especially the chef) take a lot of time to explain the dishes. The place is decorated with a lot of love and the dishes are prepared the same way. Since most people are likely not very familiar with the dishes, the menu makes choosing easy with basically just a vegetarian and non-vegetarian option. Including starters, drinks and dessert, we paid around per person and had a great evening! Highly recommended.

I visited Karl's Cafe Weine during a recent Hamburg stay and I must say that seldom have I been so impressed with exceptional service, even kindness, from the host Karl. The cafe is well located, a short and interesting walk from Bahnhof Altona through...the quirky suburb of Ottensen. Tt offers fine cakes and great healthy breads. Also, I love my coffee extra hot and Karl was happy to oblige. I understand the cafe has expanded into ethiopean food and I can't wait for my next stay in Hamburg soon to sample the dishes.