27. September 2023

Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier creates new dining destination directly on the banks of river Elbe // Leasing continues to progress and includes several market entries in Germany – including Pesca – Theatre of Fish

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW) Germany is establishing an exceptional food & beverage hotspot in Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier. The concept mix will enrich the offer in Hamburg and provide the local community and all visitors to the quarter with a rich and differentiated selection of dining flavours. Exciting partners have been brought on board, especially for the upscale dining on the waterfront with its direct view of the river Elbe. With Pesca – Theatre of Fish, an impressive fish and seafood experience restaurant is celebrating its market entry in Germany. Also joining the waterfront are the British café EL&N, known as the “most instagrammable cafe in the world,” and Lolas, a bistro and wine bar concept by local hero Axel Strehlitz and Denis Iosif. In addition, Galactic and New York Bagel Bar, also with operators from the Hanseatic city, enrich the mix of concepts. URW is thus positioning Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier even more strongly with a view to the social trend area of experience-oriented, differentiated and high-quality dining.

Food & beverage mix in the quarter
Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier will feature more than 40 gastronomy concepts that will form a diverse, individual mix of various culinary flavours. Thus, international and local restaurants, bars, cafés, bakeries as well as other gastronomic highlights are planned, distributed across three central clusters. There will be a lively urban neighborhood cluster with national and international concepts throughout the day. This cluster is now fully leased. In addition, a cluster for authentic local street food, including the latest food & beverage trends, will be assembled in an exclusively arranged “food hall”. In addition, the spectacular waterfront offers exquisite à la carte restaurants, including a sky restaurant with 360° views over HafenCity, the city and the river Elbe. The clusters are complemented by smaller deli or take-away outlets and coffee shops.

The exceptional f&b mix, and in particular the dining area, forms – alongside the Breuninger Department Store, the fashion cluster around one of the largest Zara flagship stores, and the comprehensive leisure and entertainment offerings around Port des Lumières, LEGO® Discovery Centre and Kinopolis – a further focal point and differentiating accent within the overall diversity of offerings in the quarter.

Pesca – Theatre of Fish is so far only present in the Netherlands, in Amsterdam and Rotterdam and has now chosen Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier for its expansion and first international location. The trend-setter restaurant, which is committed to exceeding the expectations of its visitors, stands for top-quality fish and seafood, unique locations and a sustainable approach that aims to deal responsibly with marine animals as food. For example, Pesca has a dynamic pricing policy that continuously lowers prices throughout the day to sell all available fish and avoid food waste.
Guests at Pesca not only choose their own fish and seafood, they can also watch it being prepared and have sommeliers recommend suitable wines while they do so. In Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, Pesca – Theatre of Fish will move into an approximately 420-square-meter area on the ground floor of the “Luv” office building, in the immediate vicinity of the Pullman Hotel and the cruise terminal, and with a terrace facing the Elbe.

With EL&N, the “most instagrammable cafe in the world”, according to its own slogan, is coming to Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier. The café, which in addition to several branches in Great Britain can already be found in Paris, Milan and Dubai, announces its first branch in northern Germany for Hamburg. EL&N is one of the leading Instagram café and lifestyle brands. EL&N’s cafés feature an exceptional combination of delicious, healthy food and drinks, as well as spectacular design with floral walls, pink interiors and elaborate accessory installations. EL&N will move to the ground floor of the building “Luv” on about 200 square meters.

Axel Strehlitz is a true local hero who already runs several restaurants in Hamburg. Together with his friend Denis Iosif, he is opening Lolas, which, like Pesca and EL&N, will become part of the waterfront cluster of Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier. Lolas has two special features: In the morning and at lunchtime, the focus is still entirely on preparing omelets. In addition to classic variations, there will also be Spanish, Mexican, Scandinavian, Italian and oriental omelets. In the evenings, Lolas will become a hip wine bar. With exquisite wine specialties from Germany, France, Italy and Spain, the bistro will become a sought-after destination for the HafenCity community for after-work events and as a meeting place for a sundowner. But that’s not all: the real highlight of this location will be Lola, the friendly service robot that autonomously drives through the bistro, bringing food and drinks to guests and entertaining families with children in particular. In Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, Lolas will be located on the ground floor of the “Lee” office building.

Galactic, the latest idea of local hero Hai Ngoc Bui, who already manages several restaurants in Hamburg, is known for his creative cuisine, and originally comes from Michelin-starred restaurants, and his partner Jan Scheu, also presents itself as a f&b destination with a multi-faceted concept. During the day, Galactic is a fine-dining bistro where everything revolves around traditional baking and sandwiches, complemented by delicacies. From the afternoon on, Galactic transforms into a cozy bar with an after-work lounge character, and in addition to the bistro dishes, the bar menu then moves to the forefront with selected wines, individual beer varieties and cocktails. Galactic will move into The Yard building complex, which houses office space, the LEGO® Discovery Centre and the Sports Club gym, among other things.

Directly at the entrance to the cluster with soul and street food in the heart of the quarter, the New York Bagel Bar will welcome visitors in the future. In addition to bagels in typical New York style, which can also be put together individually, there will also be typical American temptations from brownies to banana bread and many coffee specialties.

Andrea Eggers, Portfolio Leasing Manager at URW and responsible for the Food & Beverage Leasing at Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, says: “Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier will become a new vibrant part of the urban scene in Hamburg. We are creating a pulsating place for the local community and at the same time for all guests from far and near who want to experience the atmosphere in the quarter. Dining, and the experiences and emotions associated with it, are a fundamental part of this. For the social trend topic dining, we consistently rely on a differentiated concept mix at Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier, in which the focus is primarily on experience-oriented offerings combined with a high quality of stay. This is why many of our partners in the various gastronomy clusters are distinguished by their innovative approaches and ideas.
This is once again underlined by the new partners.”

Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier: urban regeneration
At Westfield Hamburg-Überseequartier in Hamburg’s HafenCity, an ensemble of a total of 14 buildings is being created that will form a new vibrant place in Hamburg with outstanding architecture and a unique mix of uses. Retail, gastronomy as well as entertainment and culture will be finely balanced with 579 apartments, offices for 4,000 workplaces, three hotels with 819 rooms and a cruise terminal. The quarter is optimally integrated into the local infrastructure with its own metro station, bus lines and various mobility services. The mixed-use project consists of a total area of 419,000 square meters and will be realized by Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield by spring 2024.