Dong Fang Chao Shi (Go Asia)
📍 Address: Zeil 90, 60313 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Located along Zeil, Frankfurt’s vibrant shopping street, ‘Dong Fang Chao Shi (Go Asia)’ is an essential food lifeline for Japanese residents, Asian expatriates, and international students living in the city.
The spacious store, typical of a massive chain with branches across Germany, boasts an impressive network and procurement power, with ingredients from various Asian countries packed onto its shelves. Japanese customers will especially appreciate the extensive selection of Japanese seasonings, snacks, and dried noodles. With a variety comparable to supermarkets in Japan, it becomes a major savior when you suddenly miss the taste of home while living abroad.
While German supermarkets predominantly offer block meat, making ‘thinly sliced meat’ hard to find, here you can get thinly sliced pork, frozen shrimp, and gyoza wrappers for homemade dumplings—all strong allies for home cooking. As imported goods, prices may be higher compared to Japan, but the peace of mind knowing ‘you can definitely find it here’ is invaluable for long-term residents.
A crucial local shopping tip to remember is the ‘10% OFF Day’ held on the first Saturday of every month. On this day, many local residents visit to stock up on heavy, high-unit-price seasonings like rice and soy sauce, and long-lasting frozen foods. Since checkouts tend to get crowded on sale days, it’s recommended to visit early in the morning.
Local Resident’s Guide: Smart Home Cooking Hacks at Dong Fang Chao Shi
When living in Germany, mastering the use of Asian supermarkets significantly impacts the quality of your daily meals. Dong Fang Chao Shi offers not only Japanese ingredients but also a wide range of ethnic foods from neighboring countries, such as Korean gochujang and Shin Ramyun, authentic Thai curry pastes, and various spices, allowing you to infinitely expand your repertoire of Asian-inspired dishes.
Furthermore, don’t miss the fresh produce section. You’ll find Asian-specific vegetables like okra, napa cabbage, daikon radish, and bean sprouts, which are hard to come by in local German supermarkets (like REWE or ALDI). These support well-balanced home cooking. For rice, you can find varieties similar to Japanese rice (such as short-grain rice akin to Koshihikari) produced in Europe, making them indispensable for daily bento preparation and comforting Japanese meals.
The store is located in the basement of a department store, with excellent access from Konstablerwache station, where numerous S-Bahn and U-Bahn lines converge. This superb location, perfect for a casual stop on the way home from work or during weekend shopping, is another reason why it has been loved by Frankfurt locals for so long.
