Turnhalle St Georg, Hamburg

...me any clues that the Turnhalle had been a gym or sports hall - I had 'turn' and 'turm' muddled ant thought it meant a tower-hall or something like that. However the logo of a gymnast in a pike positing on a set of rings tipped me off very quickly. It's an imposing building that looks - once you've seen the connection - like the old sports hall that it is. It's housed in a late 19th Century red-brick building with giant floor to ceiling arched windows ...
...on a Monday but the Turnhalle was not only open but also heaving with people. Always a good sign but I hate to think how busy it might be on weekends. I have read a review on a German review site that said the service can be horribly slow at weekends but we didn't experience any problems.

The Turnhalle is laid out as one really big room - imagine your old school gym, remove all the crash-mats and wall-bars and convert it into an open-plan ... more

Another trip to Hamburg and another invitation for dinner and this time I knew it would be a good restaurant because my French friend Ludovic had chosen it. It's a cliché but generally true that you can trust a Frenchman or an Italian to always find a good restaurant. The table was booked for 6 people - me, two French, an Algerian, a Turk and a South African - and we arrived about 7.45pm on a Monday evening.

First impressions from the street outside were intriguing. My limited German (I'm fluent in food and drink - not so good at anything more practical) didn't give me any clues that the Turnhalle had been a gym or sports hall - I had 'turn' and 'turm' muddled ant thought it meant a tower-hall or something like that. However the logo of a gymnast in a pike positing on a set of rings tipped me off very quickly. It's an imposing building that looks - once you've seen the connection - like the old sports hall that it is. It's housed in a late 19th Century red-brick building with giant floor to ceiling arched windows that are architecturally striking and must give lots of light during the daytime.

Heading in we passed through a small lobby and into the restaurant where two long coat rails were waiting for trusting folks to leave their outerwear before reaching the greeter's desk. Initially we were shown to a table in the middle of the room until we pointed out that we were six and the table was set for just five and we were swiftly taken to one around the edge. Our table had upholstered bench seating down three sides and chairs on the fourth - we could have probably sat about 14 people without squashing up.

In many places it can be hard to find a restaurant open on a Monday but the Turnhalle was not only open but also heaving with people. Always a good sign but I hate to think how busy it might be on weekends. I have read a review on a German review site that said the service can be horribly slow at weekends but we didn't experience any problems.

The Turnhalle is laid out as one really big room - imagine your old school gym, remove all the crash-mats and wall-bars and convert it into an open-plan restaurant and bar. Behind the coat cupboards on either side there's a lounge area with lots of big sofas - I'm guessing that this is a place to just have drinks or to drink whilst you wait for your table. In the central part of the room is a really long raised table where people sit on high stools - I guess you just get mixed in with whoever turns up, a bit like a school cafeteria. This would be fine for a snack or quick lunch but not so comfortable for a proper meal. The rest of the room is laid out with lower tables arranged to seat groups of different sizes and there's a really large cocktail bar down one side.

The décor is mixed. Harking back to its origins there are knotted climbing ropes and gymnasium rings hanging from one of the wooden beams across the ceiling. The lampshades are enormous - perhaps 6 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. There's no sense having a spectacular high ceiling if you aren't going to use it. The floors are wooden and the wooden tables are laid out without cloths.

Within just a minute or two of arriving, the waiter had showed up with food menus, a thick drink and cocktails menu and the wine list. Recognising that we weren't locals, he happily supplied us with English menus and asked if we'd like to order drinks. As I'd been left for 45 minutes in another Hamburg restaurant (not one I've reviewed) before even being asked for a drinks order, I was impressed at his promptness although we'd had far too little time to attempt to assimilate a giant drinks menu and, rather disappointingly for him, we just ordered some bottled water.

We were left to mull over the menus - and it did take quite some time because there was so much choice. The food could best be described as 'international' or perhaps 'multinational'. Now I know that sounds vague but there were Vietnamese soups, Italian gnocchi, curry sauces on some dishes, mango purees and plenty of pizzas. If you like a particular cuisine, you could probably find an example somewhere on the menu.

The menu had a wide choice of starters including a range of soups, some salads, pasta dishes and some more 'formal' starters. For strict vegetarians the choice was a bit limited and a bit cheese-led but that's pretty much to be expected in Germany. The main courses included very reasonably priced pizzas at around Euro12 as well as meat and fish dishes that were more expensive by around 50%. There was a small selection of desserts but I didn't pay any attention to those.

We passed the wine list to one of the French who - bizarrely - chose a German white wine. I think it was a Trocken and against all my prejudices about German wine, it was actually really nice.

The waiter was a darling and despite looking about 15 years old, coped admirably with the most disorganised batch of food ordering I've ever witnessed. For starters four of our group went for three of the different soups (one with guinea-fowl - cue complicated attempts to describe a guinea-fowl to someone who's never seen one - one with carrot and tomato and the final one was Vietnamese soup with a chicken skewer). One of the party chose 'gratinated goat cheese' which seemed like a bit of an odd concept - it's cheese for goodness sake, how gratinated could it be? I ordered tuna tartar. For main courses two of us ordered salmon, two had tilapia and the others had pizzas. The waiter disappeared with the order and came back with two bread baskets and lots of green olives.

The olives were excellent but exceptionally difficult to spear with a toothpick and the bread was merely OK. However, each time we finished the bread, the waiter happily brought more. It was served with a small dish of garlic-mayonnaise which my South African colleague took a shine to and we pretty much had to fight him for it.

When the starters arrived the soup bowls were enormous. I had a taste of the Vietnamese soup and it was delicious but quite honestly I'd have said it was Thai rather than Vietnamese and tasted a lot like a Thai red-curry sauce. My tuna tartar was beautifully presented with a small patch of salad, a pile of finely chopped tomato, another of finely chopped extra strong raw onion and the teensiest little bowl of caviar. The coarsely minced tuna had been piled into a column and seared on the top and bottom. It was delicious but I have to say I don't expect a tartar to be anything other than 100% raw and I would have preferred it without the searing.

When the starters were finished and taken away I don't recall how long it took before the next course arrived - but the fact I can't remember suggests it was neither too rushed, nor too slow. I didn't see either of the pizzas too well but the people either side of me had the salmon which looked delicious and more interesting than my tilapia fillets. The tilapia was a firm white fish which had been lightly fried and placed on a base of some kind of fruit preparation a bit like runny chutney. I really struggled to identify the fruit which might have been mango or could have been something like apricot or peach. Whatever it was, I felt it rather overpowered the fish. Around the fish and the fruit was a thin beige sauce which I also couldn't identify because there was so little of it and finally there was a neat little mound of plain white rice. Looking at the dish it was, with the exception of the fruit, very beige. Yes, I should have paid more attention to the menu but I don't normally need to - normally you can tell what you've ordered when it arrives without needing to check the menu. There was nothing actually wrong with the food - indeed the fish was very good, the sauce was pleasant but the mountain of mango chutney or whatever it was, was just too sweet and overwhelming.

After our main courses nobody had space for puddings or coffee so we paid up and left. I can't tell you what the total bill was as Ludo was paying but I recall that my starter at Euro12.90 was one of the most expensive and my main course was around Euro18 so my two dishes together were around £23-24 which seemed a fair price for the quality and quantity. The ambiance had been nice, there was plenty of space and the new smoke-free regulations in Hamburg ensured we didn't come away smelling like ashtrays. Would I go again? Yes, I think I probably would - but maybe next time I'll try a pizza.

I didn't check out the toilets so apologies for that omission. However, I'd say that due to the one-level layout and the wide spacing of the tables, this should be a restaurant that would be suitable for wheelchair users or those with restricted mobility.

When I told colleagues the day after where we had eaten a couple raised their eyebrows at the location and said that St Georg has traditionally been a pretty dodgy area - lots of drugs and crime said one - but it's now a bit more up and coming. We certainly didn't notice anything to worry about but we did get a taxi pretty much to the door.

Opening hours at Turnhalle are from 9.30 in the morning through to midnight. Breakfast is served from 9.30 to noon, lunch from noon to 3 in the afternoon, cakes and snacks from 3 pm to 6 pm and then the evening menu kicks in at 6 pm and runs until 11 pm. Pizzas are available from noon to midnight. In short, you can get something to eat throughout the day. On Sundays a brunch is served from 11am to 2 pm. In the absence of any information on the website to suggest otherwise, I suspect it's open 7 days per week.

You can apparently book the entire restaurant for a large event - such as a conference or a wedding - but need to give at least 6 weeks notice. Bearing this in mind, I guess that it won't always be open to the public so do check before you set off. There's some on-street parking in the street outside but nothing specifically for the restaurant. Even on a Monday night there was no space so I'm glad we took taxis but would suggest that unless you know where you are going and where you can safely leave your car, it's probably better to use a taxi or public transport.

The telephone number for bookings and enquiries is +49 40 28 00 84 80 and booking is strongly recommended. The website - which is entirely in German - is www.turnhalle.com so if you fancy a visit and want to check out the menu (with your dictionary at the ready) you can download the entire menu on line. I went back for another look and discovered that my odd chutney was mango-curry chutney and the beige sauce was coconut. I would never have guessed that.

And a final comment - since 1st January Hamburg restaurants and bars are now non-smoking. They haven't gone quite as far as the UK but it's made an enormous difference to the experience of eating out in a city where fellow diners used to be happy to blow their smoke all over your food. 

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