" The following description of the restaurant is from the pen of
an English _habitue_ of the house:--
Pfordte's Restaurant, which dates back to the year 1828, was originally
one of the numerous Kellers or cellars which are situated in many of the
basements of the houses near the Alster and Bourse at Hamburg. Their
function is to provide luncheons, dinners, or suppers, and their chief
_specialites_ are oysters, lobsters, other shell-fish, game, and
truffles. They are much frequented by business men for luncheon, and by
playgoers for supper after the theatre.
Mr. Wilkins was the first proprietor, and in 1842 it was in the hands of
a company. In 1860 Pfordte, who had become director of this Keller,
aimed at higher things. Being a good organiser and administrator, he
eventually moved the Keller to the street that runs from the Alster Dam
to the Rathaus gardens, and there, at the corner of the gardens,
established a restaurant which is one of the best in the world.
Pfordte is a man of small stature but of most courteous and polished
manners, and is no exception to the general rule that small men have
usually great brains. His restaurant is _facile princeps_ of all the
houses of entertainment at Hamburg where riches abound, and where good
cheer is scientifically appreciated.
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