25/08/2026
Düsseldorf – Little Tokyo 🇯🇵
We came looking for a little piece of Japan.
The day turned out quite differently than we expected — and our best tea experience came right at the very end. 🍵
Little Tokyo had been on our list for a while.
We came excited for Japanese shops, food and, of course, tea.
So, how was it?
Surprisingly… a little disappointing.
If you're looking for a real Japanese tea house, you may struggle to find one.
We were especially curious about but despite the listed opening hours, it was closed.
One of the owners was there, but couldn't tell us when they would be open.
We also visited a beautiful tea and teaware shop
japan.and.i where I genuinely wanted to buy something for our own tea house, but the experience felt so unwelcoming that we left.
At some point we found ourselves wondering:
What happened to Japanese hospitality – omotenashi?
Thankfully, there were exceptions.
Soba-An was wonderful. Probably the place where we felt closest to being back in Japan. Great food, and watching the soba noodles being made by hand right in front of us was something special.
Wakaba also delivered a genuinely good matcha. 🍵
And then came the best part of the day.
A Chinese tea house. 🇨🇳🍵
SùGuǒ. .de
A beautiful space, a wonderful owner and a completely different feeling from the moment we walked in.
We sat down, enjoyed good tea and finally slowed down.
Wholeheartedly recommended. ❤️
So, was Little Tokyo worth visiting?
Yes, for the experience.
Would we go again?
Probably not.
Sometimes you find exactly what you were looking for. And sometimes something completely different turns out to be the best part of the day. 🍵