Euro Diaries 2026 - Chronicle III (Hamburg-ers)

 

While I'd been to Amsterdam before (albeit briefly last year), Monday morning was the beginning of the trip wherein I was going to places and countries I'd not once ever been before, starting with Germany and its major northern city, Hamburg. To be honest, all I'd really known about Hamburg my entire life up to this point was that the Beatles played there a lot in their very early days (like, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe early). 

However, Hamburg is indeed a major city! The second largest in all of Germany (behind Berlin) with a population at around a million and a half... also making it the largest city I'd end up visiting this entire trip. Yet despite that, I never quite got "major city" vibes from Hamburg at all. I don't mean that as a slight whatsoever, rather that it lacked a certain intensity I find almost every big city (at least in North America) has in bucket loads throughout their downtowns. There's certainly a lot of bustling around the train station, sure... which also must be mentioned is definitely the sketchiest part of town I encountered. Germany has very, very relaxed liquor laws (you can drink certain beers at 16!) but around the train station there are signs painted on the sidewalk expressing that alcohol cannot be consumed within this zone. 

Naturally my hostel this time was about a block from said train station, which was incredibly handy for catching my next destination... not so great having to walk around there a lot at night. To be fair though, the "characters" as I'll call them, don't really bother you all that much. I just generally avoided eye contact (I'm a master at it, heh) and kept my hand on my phone in my pocket just in case. 

There's an area just south of the train station, Speicherstadt, that looked neat to me... so once I'd settled in at the hostel I took a stroll out towards these unfamiliar roads right as the sun was saying its goodbyes.

I later learned this was some kind of hands-on museum of chocolate and I rather regret not being aware of this sooner. Would've been a fun tour to take had there been an extra day... instead I only took this picture at the time in service of a Simpsons reference I never made (hey, I was in the land of chocolate...) 

The evening was coming on strong and I had my sights set on a particular burger spot not too far from the hostel. Obviously such a burger would require some local refreshment, no? I mean, we are talking about Germany here... this is a nation known to brew a brew or two. For whatever reason these two radlers (from a random convenience store) appealed to me most and neither were disappointments. The Gosser Radler in fact was absolutely stellar. Lemony smooth with just enough crackle of beer. If those ever came to Toronto I know what I'd be drinking after every ballgame...

My route searching for this burger place was far from optimal (side note: I like to use Google Maps as an actual reference map rather than rely exclusively upon the Directions feature when I'm out and about... when travelling alone the wrong twists and turns often lead you somewhere equally interesting). Nevertheless eventually I came across Europa Passage: a pretty large modern mall very close to the Jungfernstieg (auto-correct just loves these German names). 

I surmised that this burger spot, named Hob's Hut of Burger, was somewhere inside Europa Passage. Problem was... what had seemed on first glance like a modest sized promenade from the outside was in fact five floors high and stretched length-wise at least a few city blocks. Not to mention at this point I had about thirty minutes before Hob's closed for the night. Oh no! However will I search all over and fi---yeah I did make it with maybe ten minutes to spare. Naturally it was on the fifth of those five floors and at the very end of one side... though finding the right escalators to even get up there might've been the biggest challenge. 

First cheeseburger of the trip! Certainly not the last, lemme tell ya. 

I was rather spoiled last year during my first ever trip to Europe when it came to burgers: Dublin's mini-chain Bunsen was truly excellent and London's Bleecker may very well be the greatest burger I've ever had anywhere (it is also ranked #1 in the world so this is far from hyperbole). Even the random late night one I tried in Amsterdam (Food Brothers) was very tasty, if a few notches beneath those other two. So no pressure, Hob's. Considered among the best Hamburg hamburgers? Let's see what you've got...

So yeah... this was indeed pretty, pretty.... pretty damn good. I'd forgotten places in Europe can cook their hamburgers only to medium and thus you get a very tender, juicy, drippy, incredibly flavourful slab of beef in here. Tremendous! In fact, to elaborate on what made this such an enjoyable burger, let me check my written notes...

"Hobs! Real real good"

Um... yeah! You heard it here first, folks. Truly this is the in-depth level of analysis you all keep coming back for.

Honestly though it really is that sensationally cooked beef flavour that makes this so good, with those other elements playing their supporting parts to elevate the overall experience. There's even ketchup on this thing (bleh) and not even that can detract from the deliciousness of the burger (though that sweetness does disrupt my enjoyment of their burger sauce somewhat).

In fact, I think I left about a third of this for later and ate it cold in the hostel a few hours later... and it was still pretty darn tasty. Some of the soft juicy texture magic had faded of course, but the beefy char was very much still there.  

The fries were... okay. A very light crisp to them but very little else, you can hardly taste the potato or even the oil they were fried in. Hob's is definitely a spot you go for a burger and maybe consider some other side. 

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There were some botanical gardens northwest I wanted to check out the next day (as well as the infamous Reeperbahn) and while I could've rented a bike from the hostel... for some reason I didn't! Oh well. Get those steps in, Canada Man. 

If there's a European major city that isn't incredibly walkable, by which I mean you can walk in any direction from the city centre and within fifteen minutes you'll find something compelling enough to pull out that pocket camera... well on the off chance it actually exists I'll scratch that city off my list to visit.

Certainly a lovely park to wander through and not a whole lot of people either despite the very mild and pleasant afternoon. I'm positive the teens drinking bottles of rose wine just behind that gazebo agreed as well (three empty bottles among the three of them... and it was only three in the afternoon at this point). 

None of that grape water for me, though. This is Germany! Gotta go for the beers. Ratsherrn is a brewery I'm sure I'd seen when doing my (admittedly minimal) research about Hamburg, however it wasn't a place I'd made a point of visiting at all until by chance I happened to be walking by it, saw the sign, realized what it was... I mean when the universe suggests a minor detour...

It also needs to be mentioned that if you're in the right places... German beer in Germany is really damn cheap! Ratshernn here is essentially a craft brewery and while they had a few specialty brews that were considerably pricier...  the price for these three bottles totalled in at under five euros (I think it worked out to like 6.75 Canadian). Considering the prices I saw later on my trip (looking at you, Denmark)... this is absolutely crazy. And it was terrific beer! A crisp refreshing pilsner, a smooth lemon radler... and I haven't tried the Helles yet as I write this (gotta bring something back). 

Looking back and knowing this was a quality brewery... I wish I could've carried like a dozen of these bottles around to last me the rest of the trip! Keeping them cold would've been a challenge, what with hostels not providing ice or fridges or really anything remotely resembling a kitchen... but I would've found a way, damn it. 

 

Why somebody decided to paint "ZZ Top" on the side of an overpass in a non-central part of Hamburg? Your guess is as good as mine. 

Back to some food reviewin'! For whatever reason this place BUNS Street Food stood out to me as a place I might like to try in Hamburg... I think it was the Japanese Egg Bread look of their sandwiches? That's some good stuff. Anyhow, I got myself their fried chicken sandwich with fries and a truffle mayo dip (there really are a lot of truffle mayo dip options all over Europe and I highly approve of this fact). 

The fries have a lightly battered feel to them and I was instantly more pleased with these than what I'd gotten from Hob's (awesome burger aside). Plus this portion was massive! Just look at that top photo... this wasn't exactly a small sandwich either nor was I sitting on a child-sized bench. And that truffle mayo! Stellar. The perfect balance of rich, creamy, the viscosity just perfect for French fry dipping... I thought I could genuinely taste some of the mushroom in there. Probably the best sauce/dip of the entire trip. 

The sandwich, while very good... didn't quite blow me away like that truffle dip did. The bread was indeed very soft, lightly sweet and fresh... but there was also so much of it compared to the amount of fried chicken that the off-kilter ratio just lessened the amount I could enjoy it. 

There's also a lot going on inside of this thing: cheese, a mild sweet pepper-like mayo/sauce, lettuce and strangest of all... thinly sliced green apples! Wild. I'm not entirely sure if it worked with fried chicken or not... but all of these together made for a very odd eating experience. Certainly the quality was very high (those thinly sliced apples still had some crisp) but it was a lot of different varieties of subtly sweet up against a slab of fried chicken that was simply overmatched and undermanned to balance it all out. 

  

 

Euro Diaries 2026 - Chronicle II (Streets of Amsterdam)

 

I don't really plan on editing any of these entires, nor is there any kind of theme or narrative I'm aiming to explain. These are just tales, recollections of interesting moments or observations I'm encountering on this journey way off on the other side of the world. Besides, there are lots and lots of pretty pictures to accompany them too. 

It's difficult to overstate how objectively beautiful as a city Amsterdam is. The canals give it this irresistible romanticism, especially in a twilight sky like you see above, that combined with the typical old world charm of most major European cities... well it's probably the best place in the entire world to get lost in (that I've yet been to, at least). It's rather funny that the two things the city itself is probably best known for are far from its best qualities. 

The food scene is not really one of those things either but nevertheless! I did a little bit of research and found a few places that felt more authentically Dutch than about 98 percent of what the city appears to offer (more on that later). This here is Fabel Friet, a local mini-chain specializing in fries and... um... fries. You can guess what "friet" translates into English as. 

These here are their fries with the additions of shredded parmesan cheese and a hearty dollop of truffle mayo sauce... seeming to be both their most popular combination and the one I individually figured would be the best. Plus a beef croquette because screw health I'm on vacation damn it... plus I averaged like 15000 steps a day while in the Netherlands. 

Fabel Friet doesn't have inside seating (in fact none of the other locations I passed by seemed to either). Not a big deal when the nighttime weather is still mild and the scenery this appealing. 

These are fairly thick fries and very fresh tasting, just simple straight forward potato flavour. A touch of salt but very little. They're not particularly oily either, which is good when you consider the obscene amount of truffle sauce and parmesan on here. So very decadent.  

This beef croquette (which I'd completely forgotten I'd ordered until they gave it to me, damn jetlag) was most definitely an unusual surprise. As you can see, the texture of the beef is extremely soft and mushy, moreso like a meaty paste than anything. A bit of an odd salty, almost sour taste to it... not that I'm a conosssoiur of this particular item but I imagine a mince-meat pie is similar in flavour and texture. 

I wasn't in love with this one, although the crispy exterior of the croquette was absolutely delightful. Fabulous crunch all over, and the bites wherein the balance of beef paste and crunch was more even... quite tasty. The bizarre texture though was just a little too much for me. 

Seeing as I'd only previously spent about twenty hours total in Amsterdam and most of it in the more residential, south-east part of the city... I'd never realized until this second, more extended trip, how shamelessly touristy the core of the downtown is. Every major city is going to have your typical pandering for out-of-towners, like your souvenir shops, your tacky/gimmicky attractions, a McDonald's or three... but central Amsterdam goes full frontal on all of that and then some. On my second day I managed to slip out from that part of the city and experience some actual authentic culture (or at least drink some, heh)... but on this first night I simply didn't have the energy for that and kept my wanderings pretty close to my hostel. 

This meant passing by an endless string of Irish pubs, smash burger spots (seriously Amsterdam has like three zillion burger joints), cannabis paraphernalia (they outnumber the actual "Coffeeshops" like four to one), designer fashion stores, Italian eateries and, of course, McDonald's. However I think what was most confounding of all were the sheer amount of Argentine steakhouses consistently scattered throughout the downtown core... I swear I must've seen at least ten. Do The Netherlands and Argentina have some kind of historical connection I'm unaware of? Because if not then I'm at a complete loss in regards to how the heck to explain that. I can't even think of a single Argentinian steakhouse in all of Toronto, which is both considerably closer to Argentina than Amsterdam is and as a city about five times larger. Weird!

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On my second (and only full) day in Amsterdam, which was a Sunday, I had a ticket booked at the Heineken brewery/"Experience" which led me into the more southern part of central Amsterdam... thankfully a far less 'pandering to tourists' type of area. In fact there are a bunch of art galleries and museums very closeby... but beer first.

Actually no, first I had to navigate a way through this marathon that was happening this particular afternoon (I'd actually overheard a couple dudes in my hostel room who were in Amsterdam to run it). This was incredibly amusing as this exact same day was one of the biggest Toronto marathons as well... I guess mid-October is a good time to run obscenely long distances? Tip of the cap to anybody and all who can actually do this stuff... I ran 5km once earlier this spring and near the end of it I thought my legs were going to hold a referendum on separating from my body in protest.  

Heineken! I confess it isn't a beer I seek out all that often (although their zero percent beer was quite refreshing during my sober summer of 2025) but it's also a beer I've generally enjoyed anytime I've gotten my mitts on one. I'm also fairly confident, without looking anything up, that Heineken is indeed the most popular beer in the world. I've been to a dozen countries now in my life and it's the only beer I've seen in every single one. That's unsurprising in Europe and North America, sure, but I also saw Heineken a fair amount when I was in Thailand sixteen years ago too. My options for beer in Thailand were either Chang or Leo (both of which are unspeakably awful), Singha (which is okay-ish) or the premium shit... Heineken. That was indeed a very sober seven weeks in Southeast Asia, let me tell you. 

It's near impossible for any brewery tour to top what Guinness does (which legitimately felt like a trip to Willy Wonka's factory for suds fans) but Heineken nevertheless provides an insightful experience. There's your typical history of the company lesson (founded the same year as Canadaian Confederation!) and the explanation of the brewing process yadayadayada... but there's also some uniquely funky (and rather corny) parts of the tour as well. There's a bizarre room wherein everybody stands in groups of four as an immersive wall and ceiling of screens simulates the process of you being brewed and bottled as a Heineken beer (super weird), another where you can ride a branded bike behind a green screen showing the streets of Amsterdam, and of course lots of socc-I-mean football related posters and activities.

I paid a little extra for the rooftop experience (which gets you another drink as well) and I must say this would be a pretty sweet place to enjoy a pint on a breezy July evening, rather than a dreary damp day in mid-October. Thems the breaks I guess. 

What is cool up here, however, is that they call this their "Heineken Studio" which is essentially their umbrella name for these experimental brews you can only find in this one place! (I'm assuming). This beer above is their Heineken "Bold"... which I dunno kinda reminded me of a Belgian ale? Like Leffe but a bit smoother with less flavour? Not bad but I wouldn't be rushing out the door if it ever appeared in stores (pardon the rhyme)

Another innovation are these flavoured foams the bar could add to a typical pint of Heineken, the two options being a blood orange or an espresso thingy. I went for the espresso and lemme tell ya... this actually works. It gives the beer a type of rich bitterness that supercharges the flavour into a totally different stratosphere. Coffee-flavoured beers do exist, after all... it's just that typically they tend to be among darker brews like porters or stouts. The fact you get this type of taste in an otherwise standard lager is a bit bizarre at first (especially since it lacks the more full-bodied feel of those darker beers) but after the adjustment I found myself liking this a lot. 

A close friend of mine insisted I check out the Van Gogh Museum and if she's reading this I totally would've, honest... but they're closed on Sundays and that was really my only window to do it. Nevertheless, slightly buzzed and in the mood for some culture, I made my way from Heineken to the nearby Moco Museum... located in this neat part of town wherein you enter through that grand entranceway and there are like half a dozen art galleries or museums within a five minute stroll. Moco is one of the more unique ones, operating out of this elegant century-old townhouse you see above.  

I'm not going to bore you with any descriptions of the art I saw, as that would be both boring for me to write and I wouldn't really know what I'm talking about anyway. Instead, enjoy the pretty pictures! 

Art! 

I will say I'd definitely seen the diamond mirror room somewhere before, probably on some form of social media. As always, photos can only capture so much and this was but a tiny handful of what they have in there (I didn't even take any photos of the Banksy stuff for instance). I definitely recommend checking out this gallery if ever you get a chance. 

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Some final random bits before I finish this chapter. First of all, this flag which you see a fair bit all over Amsterdam:

At first I was a bit uneasy seeing it so much, what with far-right extremism making such an unpleasant resurgence throughout much of Europe at the moment. Red and black and "X's" hardly seem like an inviting or inclusive combination, right? 

Well actually, this is the official city flag of Amsterdam! The three "X's" are rather St. Andrew's Crosses and is really more like a coat of arms type of thing, while the black stripe might represent the Amstel river? I'm only going off of a Wikipedia glance here so maaaaaybe don't take what I'm saying at full value. Nevertheless! It becomes a much cooler, less intense flag once you realize it isn't representing some kind of nasty thing.  

So many canal boats! Considering most of the bridges over Amsterdam's canals aren't particularly high off the water, I'm certain a taller fella like me would have to duck a lot if I ever were to go for a little water cruise. 

I have little else to say beyond this beer is goddamn amazing and I definitely need to bring some back to Canada. 

I did walk a little bit through De Wallen (the infamous Red Light District, also not pictured above because it's illegal to take pictures there) and I didn't much care for the experience. Not because I'm a prude or anything (at least not a big prude) moreso that it's a pretty lively part of the city (especially on a weekend night) and being surrounded by dudes gawking at the windows definitely made me feel... I dunno, gross by association? 

Instead I checked out this cool experimental jazz band. Kind of like if Amnesiac-era Radiohead had only trumpet, drums and jangly guitar. 

Plus they had this beer on tap, which is also excellent. 

I was pretty hungry by the end of this night and needed a quick bite. These little pepperoni pizza bites were actually better than they look (lots of gooey cheese inside) but the experience is more notable for the dude behind the counter who served me: he noticed I was from Canada and asked me a bunch of questions about Toronto, like the weather, what neighbourhoods are cool... apparently Toronto was one of his top choices to move to but he settled on Amsterdam. Super nice guy and it was a neat little moment to reminisce about home to somebody who had never even been there.