The overwhelming majority of purported Japanese restaurants outside Japan serve fake Japanese food. I have experienced that sad reality way too often. Moreover, fake Japanese restaurants come in all price ranges, from Michelin star levels to corner joint ones. Here are some telltale signs so that one can carefully and consistently avoid them: 1) Large designer oval plates with artsy sauce paintings on them; 2) Waiters or chefs dressed like in an EMO version of Star Trek; 3) Names like Fujiyama, Musashi o Kabuki; 4) Spicy sauce on the tables; 5) Not a single Japanese person in the kitchen or anywhere in sight, for that matter. While I don’t claim to be a gourmet of any kind, I spent over two years in Japan eating almost everything in the menus of the many restaurants I went to, and I can certainly tell when something does not taste Japanese at all.
So, today I want to write about two places belonging to that rare category of joints serving REAL Japanese food outside Japan. These restaurants do not need any more customers; they are usually packed. Plates are simple and earthy, the staff and most customers are Japanese (a good sign, believe me), the ambiance is right, and the food is what you would find around the central station of any provincial town in Japan – that is, pretty good.
This is barely surprising, for Dusseldorf is home to many Japanese. Several large Japanese multinationals set up shop there decades ago (in hindsight, a smart move, seeing the anti-EU nonsense going on in the UK) and along came a large and vibrant community from the empire of the rising sun. Many settled there permanently, and of course they missed several things about their homeland, including the food. And wherever there´s demand, there´s supply. The supply in Dusseldorf concentrates in and around Immermannstraße, a large boulevard that starts in the central train station (Hauptbahnhof – see the google map below).
There are many interesting Japanese shops in this street (I will write about them in a different post). I particularly relish the ramen shop Takumi and the uber-Japanese café Relax, both in front of the Hotel Nikko, for reference. Takumi is a real ramen shop (for more on Ramen, please read my previous post). They serve the usual selection of broths: soy, salt, pork and miso; plus the usual garnishes: spicy ground meat, bok choi and onsen eggs. Dried nori and chilli sesame oil complete this awesomely simple equation. Kodawari (seconds of noodles) available upon request. In addition, ramen shop classics: gyoza, chicken karaage, rice and very little more. Kirin or Altes beer (we are in Dusseldorf, after all). Always packed, and rightly so.
About the ramen itself, the broth could pack a bit more substance, the noodles are okay but not outstanding and the eggs are a bit overcooked for my taste. However, overall Takumi’s is one of the few ramen bowls outside Japan that left me roughly satisfied.
Since Takumi serves no dessert or coffee, the natural next stop after your ramen is next door’s Café Relax, which is a prime example of what a random coffee shop looks like in Japan. Spotlessly clean, smallish, painted in bright colors and with a weird “western” name. They also serve the usual selection of any random Japanese café worth its salt: KIND of Italian pasta dishes; Japanese curry with rice; KIND of Italian style coffee along with insanely sweet matcha lattes; French-style small cakes perfectly presented; and those weird combinations of sweet beans, mochi, matcha jelly or ice cream, French toast and roasted cassava sprinkled with chocolate syrup. Boozewise, there is Japanese beer, Suntory whiskeys and a variety of Shochus. But if you ask me, the reason to go to Café Relax is their keki seto (“cake set”) comprising perfectly presented confectionery and your choice of stimulant drink.
Surprisingly, last time we were there, the cake refrigerator was not there, and we were told that they were not offering them anymore. We hope they reconsider, but the place is still perfect for an after-ramen espresso or matcha latte.
In short: if you feel like real Japanese food and you are in Düsseldorf for business or pleasure, drop by Immermannstraße and enjoy yourself. I am not embarrassed to admit that this, along with the fact that my closest national consulate is there, is the only reason why we go to Düsseldorf – and we go there quite often!