Hamburg: Food & Shopping

Last week I went to Hamburg to do research for my final year project. As window shopping makes hungry, my sister took me to the libanese restaurant L'Orient for lunch. The three course meal tasted like heaven and looked so pretty that I couldn't resist taking photos of it! If you are ever in Hamburg, make sure you visit this restaurant to get a taste of delicious falafel, saffron rice, halloumi, sesame steak and rose water chocolate ice-cream.


L’Orient · Restaurant & Café
Osterstraße 146  20255 Hamburg
www.restaurant-lorient.de

On my search for creative visual merchandising I was a bit disappointed with the high-street. It was the first time for me in Zara Home and I quite liked the products offering. However, I wasn't sure about the lighting and cupboards at the back of the shop. What was really standing out to me on my trip wasn't the visual merchandising but the fact how popular real fur has become over the past years in Germany! Nearly everyone, no matter how old, was wearing real fur hooded jackets or bobble hats! Even the brand 'Hallhuber' sells real fur in-store for an affordable price...I can't really imagine seeing this on the English high-street if I'm honest.

If you are visiting Hamburg and you are looking for something different don't miss out on the 'Schanze' (Underground Station: Sternschanze). It's a trendy area with lots of nice bars, restaurants and cute little boutiques. There you can find unique homeware and clothing brands of which you might not have heard of before! My favourite piece was a burgundy-coloured suede bag (second photo) from the shop 'Fräulein Wunder'. It looks so pretty, but I'm afraid suede might get ruined too easily?

Soapi

Alle Jahre wieder Hamburg

Home, sweet home! Germany is just magical around christmas. Especially Hamburg's christmas markets and decorations are just breathtaking. Oh and of course I used the time in Hamburg and went to Monki and Weekday as well...but put all my strength together and didn't buy anything. Why? I'm flying to China very soon and hope to find some great stuff out there! Excitiiiiing times!

Home, sweet home! Ich bin so froh, dass ich nun endlich wieder in Deutschland bin. Die Weihnachtszeit ist einfach so wunderschön hier. In Hamburg musste ich natürlich auf den Weihnachtsmarkt sowie in den Monki und Weekday store. Da führte einfach kein Weg vorbei. Gekauft wurde trotzdem nichts, da ich sehr bald nach China fliege und hoffe dort ein paar tolle Teile zu finden.

Soapi

Hamburg Photo Diary

I'm back in Germany and visited my sister in Hamburg for a few days. Today we went to the 'Isemarkt' which is the longest open air market in Europe and is definitely worth a visit if you are looking for fresh food, exotic chutney and beautiful flowers. You can also get a little bag full of traditional german sweets for only 50 cent. If you do, get the 'waldmeister' (sweet woodruff) candy. It's addictive! At the end of the day we went to the japanese all-you-can-eat restaurant Jam Jam. I'm not a big fan of sushi but luckily they also served Dim Sum, Satay skewers etc.. The interesting bit about Jam Jam? Bubble Tea!!! Get a jasmine milk tea on ice with plum/lychee/mango bubbles (small chewy fruity balls) inside. Excitingly different!

top (Topshop), skirt (Vintage, Wild nottingham), belt (vintage, mum), shoes (Office shoes)

  

Hamburg. Highstreet picks.

Yesterday I had a browse through Hamburgs highstreet and I've to say that Weekday, Monki, H&M and Urban Outfitters are defintely my favourites shops in Germany. 

I guess you already know about my obsession to Monki, but H&M made me very happy as well. It is SO MUCH BETTER in Germany than in UK. Why? The stores are much bigger, the visual merchandise is just amazing and Hamburg got the H&M Trend range! The prices might be slightly higher than the usual H&M prices but these beautiful, trendy pieces are definitely worth it. 

Nude Weekday mesh top

I love how H&M brought together the pleat and floral trend without making this dress too girly. The shape and length makes it more ladylike and the floral print is very soft and reminds me of watercolour like. Sometimes I want to paint myself in watercolour.

Another thing I liked was this H&M jumper. It combines suede with a grey jersey material and makes a material-mix lover (just like me) very happy. The only question is if I can wash it?

H&M Trend.

 Also these H&M shoes made my heart beat faster as the combine everything I love: Chunky heels, the 60s and Miu Miu.

Of course I had to include Urban Outfitters in my shopping trip as well. I really like the Urban renewal collection (especially the silky Blue Rinse shirts) but the prices are shocking as I know I could get most of the stuff half price in Nottingham. Also I feel like much of the Vintage stuff doesn't stand out anymore. The only thing grabbing my attention was this cute jumper by Johann Earl (check his shop design, it's very inspirational). I had the idea of adding my own lace collar on old shirt already for months but seeing this jumper and the price of it I decided to finally do it!

Soapi

Shopping in Hamburg

1. Beautiful boots from Pieces (Vero Moda)
2. COS window display with a simple but beautiful paper christmas decoration
3. Stunning "Winterpark" display in the Alsterhaus. Makes me wanna go to NY

Soapi

Hamburg photo diary

Speicherstadt Kaffeerösterei

I'm not a big fan of coffee but with a bit of milk and sugar this one was actually really nice :)

Jim Block

Reminds me of a fancy subway

Bullerei- love the interior design

Eat cha cha (slowly). Enjoy your food and think positive.
Excellent thai food for a good price.

 Soapi