(Editor’s note: This post is regularly updated as we discover new Chinatowns and Asian food districts.)
In Peter O’Toole’s brilliant “My Favorite Year,” the main character tells the WASPy girl he’s in love with that “Jews know two things … suffering and where to find great Chinese food.”
As an ethnic Jew, I totally relate. My wife and co-CEO Cheryl and I automatically track down the best Asian restaurants in every city we visit. Which means we know which cities have the best ethnic restaurant districts.
We wondered if in this day and age of politically correct speech we can even use the term, but when we started Googling “Chinatowns,” we found out pretty quickly that’s exactly how they’re promoted in Antwerp, Den Haag and other cities across Europe.
That term is a bit dated, because with globalization, our cravings long ago went multinational Asian – Thai, Szechuan, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese … you name it. Happily, we can indulge them all in the cities near our Netherlands HQ.
Aachen
Aachen doesn’t have a formal Chinatown like Antwerp. But it does have what we call Sushi Straat … a stretch of Pontstrasse on the edge of the old city where there are multiple Asian restaurants, along with Turkish.
Our standby favorite is Oishii, a Thai and sushi restaurant at Pontstrasse 83. The pad thai is as good as at the Thai places we used to frequent in Chicago, and the whole menu is solid. Lunch usually runs us about 25 euros for three. Cheryl says they have the best pad thai she’s ever had.
Oishii also has beer, which most of the small Asian restaurants in the Netherlands don’t because of Dutch liquor license rules. Restaurant Hoi An, a Vietnamese place next door, also looks good, though we haven’t tried it. Yet.
We did eat recently at Kimchi Aachen, a small place at Pontdriesch 11A. We got the traditional bibimbop, which I thought was just okay and Cheryl rated as good. But here’s the thing: weirdly, we have the best Korean restaurant in the world – Lee’s – in our Kentucky hometown, which has a large Korean community. We’ve tried Korean restaurants from Chicago to Aachen and still never found its equal.
Pro Tip: This is Germany, and small restaurants such as Kimchi don’t take credit cards or chip cards. Bring lots of cash.
Even if you aren’t craving Asian food, Aachen is a standout small city, with lots of great restaurants and several cozy courtyard cafés surrounded by greenery.
Amsterdam
For years, we stumbled through Amsterdam’s Chinatown without realizing it was a Chinatown. Then for whatever reason, in August 2021, we decided to add it to our list and realized we’ve eaten here a bunch of times over the years without really knowing it. Duh.
If you’ve ever walked past the He Hau temple, you were in Amsterdam’s Chinatown.
There are so many Chinese/Asian restaurants, and that should be a tip-off too. That, and lots of tourists because this is Chinatown and the restaurants here are fairly reasonably priced.
Of the myriad Asian food districts in Europe, this is not the most memorable largely because it’s not very distinctive and it’s too close to Amsterdam Centraal and the Red Light District. Which means tourist hordes. Which means most expats avoid the area. The good news is, post-pandemic, the tourists are missing from Amsterdam’s normally choked streets and alleyways, replaced by locals and college students from Europe and the U.S.
And we also didn’t really get it on our first visit. Though it’s not a distinctive Chinatown like Antwerp, Amsterdam has beaucoup restaurants and oriental groceries sprinkled liberally around maybe a five-block area near Zeedijk Buddhist temple.
Back in 2021, we dropped into Chinese Restaurant Hoi Tin at Zeedijk 122 because they have a really big menu (like every Chinese restaurant) and good prices. And when we say they have whatever you want, they have whatever you want. Cold jellyfish, anybody? Steamed cattle organs? They have it all and it was packed with actual Chinese diners.
We were pleased with both the portion size and the quality. I got the spicy chicken with veggies. If I had an observation, though, this is not the authentic Chinese food for actual people from China; the dishes you can get at Antwerp’s hole-in-the-wall spots in their Chinatown. What we got was dumbed-down Chinese food for tourists and Dutch people. But it was still delicious and affordable.
A late lunch for three was 59.50 euros with beers.
In May 2022, we went back during a long weekend and of course every restaurant had lines out the doors. Welcome to Amsterdam. But we were able to – with a party of five – just stroll into Pad Thai World at Zeedijk 119 near Nieuwmarkt. Cheryl and I had two pad thais with two Singha beers, and it came to about 33 euros. Cheryl noted the generous portions and pretty authentic pad thai, though it’s not on the same level as Oishii in Aachen. Still, the food was darn tasty and it’s a fun hole-in-the-wall space with an open kitchen and good energy. Fast casual at its best and most efficient.
Amsterdam’s top-rated Chinese restaurant, FuLu Mandarijn, is also in Chinatown. But you can get really good Asian food any place in the city. And like Arnold, we’ll be back.
Antwerp
Antwerp has something a lot of other European cities don’t … an authentic, bustling Chinatown with both restaurants and Asian groceries on Van Wesenbekestraat right on the edge of the square by the famous zoo and the magnificient central train station. A district where you hear way more Mandarin and Cantonese than Dutch and the daily specials are written out in indecipherable Mandarin characters on store windows.
As you come out of Antwerp’s main train station, you can’t miss the ornate pagoda-style entrance to what is easily the best Chinatown restaurant and grocery district we’ve visited in Europe.
We’ve gone back to Antwerp regularly for Christmas Markets and to dine at Huis de Colvenier at Sint-Antoniusstraat 8, one of the grandest meals we’ve had in Europe. But it’s Chinatown that haunts me. We returned at Christmas 2019 and at New Year’s 2020, eating in Chinatown both times. Then again in August, 2021.
Fang’s and the China Star both have fabulous food and pages and pages of offerings ranging from a few euros for appetizers to 25 euros-plus for Beijing duck and other delicacies.
A huge lunch – at least eight dishes in toto including frog legs (7.50 euros) and quail (4.40) – for three with beer at Fang’s came to 60 euros! If you want atmosphere, go with China Star. If you want to eat where the local eats, Fang’s is very basic and only has a few tables. This is a place we keep going back to because it’s the real deal. Either way, these are not fancy places. It’s all about the food.
Writing this post, I went back to my original written-on-the-run notes where I had scribbled ecstatic entries such as “fried quail with pepper and salt!”; “smoked duck and ribs!”; “Go back to Lung Wah restaurant!” and “grocery after grocery with bags all in Mandarin!” So many exclamation marks, so little time.
Den Haag
Den Haag, or The Hague, has an extensive Chinatown we’ve only begun to explore. The truth is, our big find is outside the designated Chinatown boundaries in a commercial area just a few steps from the Binnenhof, the center of the Dutch government.
On the first night of a weekend stay, we chose Xi’an Delicious Food at Korte Poten 18 because the sign said “delicious” and, well, who doesn’t like delicious? Actually, we chose it because all the cafés along Long Poten Plein restaurant row were packed.
So we took a skip and walked a block to Xi’an and we were souper glad we did. That’s a bad pun, but this is a soup and noodles spot, with the best from this famous Chinese province with those life-size clay statues of soldiers from the Qin Dynasty.
There’s not much regal about this humble restaurant, but this is one of the better dining experiences we had in 2020 if for no other reason than the crew made us feel like celebs!
Cheryl had the dumplings with sour soup (8.99 euros), which was remarkable. I got the fried noodles with pork (11.99), which were a spicy treat in a country where meals are built around old cheese.
Sure, the food was great and affordable, but the fun bonus was watching the chef make the noodles.
You have to try this place! We’ve been twice because it really is that good.
That same weekend, we made it to the Chinatown area, which takes up six full blocks. We ate at random at Fat Kee, Gedempte Gracht 23, in the middle of Chinatown and it was fine and affordable.
Pro Tip: It was so affordable we didn’t meet the Fat Kee chip card transaction minimum of 30 euros, so be sure to take cash if you’re not a big eater.
When we went back in early 2024 with Dutch friends, they told us this is the best-known Chinese restaurant in Den Haag and we saw for ourselves that Fat Kee was packed out on a Saturday night.
That same night, we ate at Momiji Siushi, which was also packed out to the last seat. We were a party of seven – four adults and three kids and we sampled course after course for more than two hours. So, I feel like this was a scientific sampling. The verdict: Mixed. I had Sushi C with about 10 nigiri for 22 euros. It was fine … not the best I’d ever had, and not the worst. Cheryl was much more enthusiastic and the kids – Emma, Benjamin and Jasper – were in sushi heaven.
The menu is massive, with sushi, sashimi, udon, ramen and tons of bites and appetizers. Dinner for seven was about 300 euros, but that included multiple, multiple courses, kiddie fruit cocktails and adult cocktails, so very affordable.
Momiji Sushi also gets high marks for decor … lots of comfortable spaces and groovy lighting.
Pro tip: If you’re dining out in Den Haag on a weekend night, make reservations whenever possible.
Initially, we were least impressed with this Chinatown, but that’s because we’d didn’t visit with locals. We didn’t get how large it is until we went at night and followed all the red lanterns above the streets up and down the district, which is huge. Go!
Düsseldorf
If you’ve spent anytime reading Dispatches, you know we have a thing goin’ on with Düsseldorf. One of the reasons is the culinary scene. But until recently, we had no idea that Little Tokyo is world famous for its really big collection of Asian restaurants and at least two Japanese hotels – the Asahi and the Hotel Nikko.
From the official tourist website:
Düsseldorf is home to the largest Japanese community in Germany. Nearly 10,000 Japanese people live in the state capital and characterize the vibrant Little Tokyo. Anyone who longs for the dynamic nature of Asian cities will find it here. Nowhere else in Europe is Japanese life so concentrated in a neighbourhood.
We made it to Little Tokyo in early October 2020, just before most European Union countries including Germany started tightening their pandemic restrictions.
We were struck just how many choices there were … except, every place had lines waiting to get in because of the social-distancing rules in 2020.
We settled on Fuyu, a Taiwanese place at 46 Immermannstrasse on the east side of Little Tokyo, instead of the surrounding Japanese noodle shops just because the menu sounded a little bit different. Rotterdam also has a Takumi, but we’d been to the Rotterdam location, which is great. So we decided to experience something new and different.
The TripAdvisor reviews all mention how nice the staff is, and they really are.
I got the No. 2 Dan Dan noodle soup, with lots of shrimp and goodies. Very flavorful, but I like spicy and it was a bit bland. They could turn up the heat. Cheryl got the No. 11 Pekingsuppe, hot & sour with dumplings and it was fabulous … and what I should have gotten. Both were 10.80 and nothing on the menu was over 11 euros, so this is the place for cheapskates like us.
Fuyu makes the noodles fresh daily and you can tell. You can also tell all the ingredients are fresh and my shrimp were the way I like them … unpeeled and not over-cooked.
Because we’re in the middle of a pandemic, we ate at the handful of tables on the street, but the interior is very cool, though this place is tiny … and very cozy on a cool fall day in Germany.
Rotterdam
This is an example of a Chinatown that’s become more of a Caribbean Town as there are far more stores catering to this Dutch subculture. For the record, the Kingdom of the Netherlands (the official name) still has multiple overseas territories including Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire in the Caribbean, so the Caribbean food here is the real deal.
Rotterdam’s Chinatown is best known for one Japanese noodle joint – Takumi Rotterdam. This cozy, well-done restaurant at West-Kruiskade 9B is packed 24/7, or at least all the hours they’re open.
We’ve eaten there multiple times, and it’s a fun place with a history that’s literally written on the wall in a large graphic at the entrance and includes the backstory on the original restaurant in Düsseldorf.
The big ramen bowls run about 16 euros, but each is a hearty meal. I usually just get “the special,” which is cha sui special ramen with pork, cabbage and eggs. But they have a big menu and there are still lots of things to try.
There’s also Chinese and even a Texican restaurant on West-Kruiskade, with passable enchiladas and a hamburger my wife and co-CEO Cheryl rates as the best in the Netherlands. By the way, this is a halal restaurant, so there’s no pork in the hamburger and no beer in the ‘fridge. Well, except the bacon ON Cheryl’s cheeseburger. Hey, it’s the Netherlands.
In each of the cities on our list, there are dozens of great restaurants we haven’t tried, so this post will be updated.
We haven’t spent enough time in the Chinatowns and ethnic districts in Paris and Berlin, but they’re next on our list.
Co-CEO of Dispatches Europe. A former military reporter, I'm a serial expat who has lived in France, Turkey, Germany and the Netherlands.
