CLOSED: Leaf

Leaf is one of the best vegan Restaurants I've ever been. Every single dinner I had here was really extraordinary.

Leaf offers excellent vegan food that unfortunately I couldn't afford to go to very often. But if I lived in Hamburg this would be my venue of choice for all birthday and "released from prison' type celebrations! The menu is only in German - fair enough it is Hamburg! - but the friendly staff wrote out the main dishes on a napkin in english! the deserts may only be limited to a choice of three but they are exquisite.
Try this place even if only once you're worth it.


Added June 2016
We called in late in the evening in search of dessert and were not disappointed. We chose to sit outside it being a pleasant evening but too cold for the locals to choose to do so! A good large earl grey tea and a fancy coffee accompanied an excellent chocolate fruit crumble cake that had perfect crunchy light crumble on top, a soft doughy base and a tasty fruit filling in between. If it had been sugar free I,d have ordered another two but it was more than my "on holiday" sugar allowance would allow. My erstwhile foodie partner had an interesting sweet that came on a slate and seemed to be a rice pudding like substance, topped with nectarine slices with pistachio ice cream on the side. A delicious combination. This place ain't cheap but if you like fancy food it's well worth it.
Service was lovely too!

Die Menükarte wechselt etwa jedes Quartal, sodass ich mich deswegen jederzeit mit Freude auf neue Köstlichkeiten freuen kann. Die Küche ist hervorragend.
Die Preise entsprechen zwar denen von höherklassigen gewöhnlichen Restaurants, dafür bietet es für Veganer Die Adresse schlechthin für ein höherklassiges Pendant.

Leider wurden wir hier total enttäuscht. Jeder Zentimeter wurde mit Tischen zugestellt. Unser Tisch stand in der Nähe der Garderobe zu den Toiletten. Ich selber guckte links und geradeaus gegen Wände. Rechts mit etwas Abstand auch. unmöglich. Essen war unter aller Kanone. Eine kalte Rotkohksuppe (war leider nicht als kalt deklariert in der Karte), dazu (unpassend und eklig) Senf-Eis!...
Ein Mal und nie wieder!

Just perfect!! I'm a frequent costumer and they surprise me, with their often changing menus, every time anew.

No doubt, the Leaf is one of the best vegan/vegetarian restaurants in Hamburg. It's not a restaurant where you can eat until one is full. It's creative cooking to some extent. The menu is small, but changing regularly.

It's small, and I like the interior. I've been there two times, and the real problem is the service: It takes much too long till the meals are served. And that's why I throw it from my list.
Updated from previous review on Sunday April 12, 2015

This is a great place to have an exquisite dinner. We did. I can`t remember the name of the dish I had but it was so delicious. I could not even tell what I was eating, there was something similar to calamares in it, but I trust that it was all vegan! The decoration and the atmosphere are great, too.

Try the root beet soup! I love it!
They offer good wines and nice food. Price is ok. Cheesecake Berliner was la little too sour.

if u want a slightly classy vegan place u really want to c this one

I've been here several times and I simply love it. The menue changes every two or three month and offers just a few options of verry delicious and creative food.
You have to reserve a table, otherwise you won't get a seat. I've been there with friends, family, and business partners, with vegs, vegans and omnivores - everyone loved the food. It's allways hard to choose the meal, because everything sounds so good.
The stuff is friendly and the vintage tables and seats let you feal like home. :)

Before I say anything else, I'd like to say that I am pleased and appreciative that there is actually a vegan restaurant in Hamburg! I read the reviews online, and came here quite excited to maybe finally experience some amazing vegan food in Germany, as so far I haven't experienced anything worth repeating.
I am also someone who spends quite a bit of time on the west coast of the United States, where one can be spoiled with so much choices and abundance of healthy, organic, vibrant vegan food. So I do have quite a high standard I suppose.....

That said, I do feel compelled to say, that our dinner at Leaf was hugely disappointing. Huge plates with small portions and a high price. Lots of dishes relying on seitan, tofu, and flour, which I find all quite unhealthy. No fresh greens or raw salads of any kind. Strange food combining, with melon in some savory dishes, which nutritionally, to me spells bad digestion.
Our salad was nothing more than a tiny pile of shaved cucumbers with some nori in a sauce and a little chunk of grilled watermelon...so little food and not very satisfying. We had a creamy green bean soup that said it had smoked tofu, which was more like those little soy protein crumbles. OK flavour for a soup but very very little served in the biggest bowl I've ever seen.
The main dish was the worst. There were four choices- 2 with seitan, one with polenta, and I forget the last. I normally don't go for seitan but we thought we'd give it a try without so many options. It was just a big pile of seitan with a port-wine sauce and some kind of floury white gratin. It was seriously like bland cafeteria food. Sad.
After all this, I wasn't brave enough nor wanted to spend another 10 Euro on dessert.
Just not very tasty flavorful food...some creative ideas and unusual combinations but it didn't all meld into a sensational delicious experience for my palate.

I feel a bit bad to say it, with so many glowing reviews, and I can say the place is cute and cozy, and our server was friendly (for German eating-out standards....)
But honestly the food, in my opinion, was terrible for the price.

Updated from previous review on Thursday September 19, 2013

We had dinner at Leaf restaurant for our anniversary. Such a cosy, well decorated place with friendly staff. We had 3 course meal, which was very well presented, delicious and tasteful. Very nice and different soft drinks also a menu in English which was a bonus. We were very pleased with everything . If we visit Hamburg again, we will eat in this place again for sure.
Updated from previous review on Monday July 08, 2013

they have good and even better days. Food is always good but sometimes it is really a revolution of tastes. Their "egg nogg" dessert is of such kind... great cakes as well.

I can sincerely say that Leaf has provided me with the best meals I ever ate in Hamburg. In many ways Leaf even surpasses Terre à Terre in Brighton, England - which many regard as Europe's best veggie restaurant. Leaf is 100% vegan, so the food is even healthier, and the warm atmosphere just adds to the great experience.
Also very nice drinks and a menu in English.
If you're in Northern Germany then I can thoroughly recommend making a detour to visit this gem of a restaurant.

The menu at the 'Leaf' is changeing every five weeks and I experienced all menus in the last year.
I can say that the food is excellent, different and with a lot of love! Every menu is surprising me again and again. The higher price is justified because of the high quality, difficulty level and the brilliant tast.
There are always options without soy, gluten or raw. They really do everything by themself so it's always possible to change something.

Furthermore, they offer a wide range of different excellent wines, spirits, selfmade lemonade and other drinks.

The 'Leaf' is one of my favourite restaurants! You should not miss that when you are in Hamburg
Updated from previous review on Friday April 05, 2013

Lovely place with a lovely atmosphere, great food and generous portions too, with really friendly service. Can't say enough good things about it, will definitely go back if I'm ever in Hamburg again.

I went there on a Sunday night after spotting the place on HC. I showed up at 10pm and although they were running out of food, I was eventually offered a meal consisting of pastas & gulash with seitan. I was even alarmed by the team that my meal may not suit my alcool-free lifestyle as the gulash was cooked with wine. I had a delicious panna cotta for desert. Moreover on this rainy evening, I was happy to find a cosy location with nice music in the background and a helpful team.
Maybe the only neutral feedback would be Id rather have had wholewheat pastas instead of white, but this is only a detail.

Although I thought the main courses were a bit expensive (around €15-€16) I was happy with the appetizers at between €4 and €6 and found the portion sizes to be really generous.

I had a large appetizer salad for €8 and there was plenty to eat and my fried had the coconut soup for €4 and it was also huge for the price. Also the freshly squeezed juice was only €2 which was a bargain.

The staff didn't seems at all troubled that we were only eating starters and they were very nice.

More raw food would of course be welcome but it was a nice upmarket place to eat and chill out.

Recommended.