Hi everyone,

I've just moved (for 6 months) to Stuttgart. A year or so ago I spent 6 months in Beijing and I live within walking distance of London's Chinatown. I know that very soon I'm going to miss decent Chinese food.

Are there any good restaurants/cafes in Stuttgart serving authentic Chinese food? Any region is OK. Any Cantonese style places with the meat hanging in the windows?

Failing that, any authentic (ish) Thai or Japanese restaurants? A good cripsy-pork-roast-duck-rice (shao rou ya fan), pad thai or pork ramen (with the rolled pork) would really hit the spot!

This is a good topic. I've been wondering this myself, so far I haven't found any. I'm Chinese but brought up in Sydney which has great Asian food overall. Currently living in London (though moving to stuttgart in August), where the food is not as good as Sydney but decent enough. However, the Chinese restaurants I've been to so far in Stuttgart have been mediocre at best. Even my boyfriend who is German agrees. The Chinese place around the corner from my boyfriend's place in Gablengberg is ok. I don't think you'll find any restaurants with the roast duck etc hanging in the window and I don't think there's a Chinatown in Stuttgart but there are many Chinese restaurants and a few Asian supermarkets.
I would love to hear other people recommendations as well, especially Thai and Vietnamese as I don't know how to cook it myself.
There is one place i would not recommend, we went there and spent 50 euro for two on a set dinner and it was too salty and just tasted weird. We both had stomach aches afterwards as well. I don't remember the name of the place, I will ask my boyfriend and post it later.

Alas, my favourite Chinese restaurant in Stuttgart closed down some years ago.

China Garden in Königstrasse 17 might be worth a try, though.

Thanks for the tip, Luvlein. Have you been to that place yourself?

jkodok, the chinatown in Sydney is great. There's nowhere to get decent bubble tea (珍珠奶茶) in London, and I therefore overdose on the stuff whenever I'm lucky enough to get the chance to visit a place that does.

London's chinatown is hit and miss, but I've been enough times to have improved my aim I'd love to see a decent Chinese chain take a risk and open up in London though, such as din tai feng.

I spent a year in Frankfurt back in 2002 and I failed to find any good Asian restaurants there. I resorted to cooking myself as best I could (there was a very good Asian supermarket near the station, right in the red light district) and bringing tupparware containers back from London's chinatown each time I went back home for the weekend. But my cooking's nothing special.

I'm hoping times have changed and Stuttgart has something, somewhere! I've heard some mandarin being spoken by people in the town centre, but they could well be visitors.

I've been there once. They claim to do the traditional and authentic thing, but I am not in a position to judge that. They have lots of photos of celebrity customers in the entrance area. I liked the food, but not as much as I used to in my favorite place.

Well, if they claim it then I guess I should fall for their marketing speak and see how it goes

Anyone want to accompany me? God, that sounds sad. I mean, err, umm, anyone into Chinese food and fancy talking and eating at the same time? That combo plus the chopsticks usually mean I make a mess, but hey. They usually have paper tablecloths anyway ...

There is an Asian supermarket somewhere - the Beta market or something like that.

Check this link out:
http://www.qype.com/place/18516-Beta-Supermarkt-Stuttgart

You can go there by U-Bahn. Went there once and while I am no expert on Asian food, I can say that it is huge and has a lot of stuff.

Thanks cherrymuffin. The word "huge" is selling it. Once I move out of hotels and get an apartment (with a kitchen!) I'll check it out.

There are smaller chinese shops in konigstrasse ( behind HM Men's shop near Subway ) and further up in MarienStrasse. There is a Japanese shop in List Strasse. Indian shop in upper MarienStrasse ( cross over the dual carriage way ) and keep-going to a Thai shop on the Silberburg strasse. You should be able to get the majority of ingrdients from these, although take a little walk..

The China Garden on Königstrasse is bland to say the least 5 out of 10. I do like the Dynasty Restaurant in Sindelfingen and there is also a decent one in Vaihingen but I can't remember the name right off hand sorry.

The one in Vaihingen is Bao Jang, there is another at the new shopping centre but food is not as good ( although big portions if that is your sort of thing ). Bao Jang is surprisingly ok!

Thanks for all the tips! I'll start exploring and report back.

This is a great subject, Adrianlondon!

Please report back, good or bad

I'm moving to Stuttgart later this year. would love to be able to find decent places for Chinese/Thai/Vietnamese food.

Everytime I've been to Thailand, it seems to be full of Germans. Hopefully, some of the Thai brides they bring back have settled here and are cooking in restaurants in Stuttgart ;)

Hi. I've been on a Chinese Restaurant quest since I got here. I just found MAI in Vaihingen Katzenbach str. 46 70563 Stuttgart-Vaihingen.

I was craving an Asian noodle salad one day and I remembered seeing this place. They had it and it's was delicious!! Vietnamese rice noodle salad. Usually they only make it after 5 p.m. It's called Bun Tait GA and is on the specialty Dishes list. It has rice noodles topped with sauteed seasoned chicken with roasted chopped peanuts on top. Underneath is a salad with lettuce, carrots, and bean sprouts (not many bean sprouts around that I have noticed). It is served with a dressing you ladel over it yourself. It's made of vinegar, sugar, and fish sauce. There was also lemon grass in it and a distinctive flavor that gave it that tiny bit of an exotic element I couldn't identity. And tons of it. They have Pho soup after 5. My husband said it was VERY good and he has been to Vietnam and has had tons of that soup. They also have Thai and Chinese menu items.

Where is that one that someone mentioned in Vaihingen? I ate at the one in the mall, yuck. There is also one that has a buffet for lunch in the very middle of that platz area, not impressed.

Great topic! I've just arrived in Stuttgart from Toronto (where the Chinese food is also very good like in London and Sydney). Any luck with any of the Chinese restaurants? Or the Chinese supermarket? We should all meet up and create a Chinese restaurant crew and try each one! That would be hilarious.

I haven't tried any yet as decent Chinese food tends to be better when there are a few of you all sharing dishes, and me on my own doesn't come even close to anyone's definition of "few" ;) I've not seen any cafe type places (which do the one-dish-meals) which are good for single diners.

And until I move out of this hotel into an apartment (due 1st June) I have no kitchen. Once I do move, I will be buying crispy pork and roast duck in bulk from London's chinatown and heating it up with boiled rice back here in Stuttgart ;)

If you're craving for Thai food then I would recommend you go to Mum Aroy on Böblinger Straße 46 (between Marienplatz and Schreiberstraße U-bahn stations).

They can make it as authentic as you want or have the food 'tailored' to European palates.

I'm not Thai but I lived in Bangkok for a year before I moved here in Stuttgart. Among all the Thai restos I've been so far, this is definitely the one that best satisfies my craving.

you've pursuaded me to try MumAroy now! I can't rate it on the authenticness but very good also is Lek's which is near Eberhardstrasse, behind ARLT computer shop

I am a regular visitor to the China-Imbiss-Panda in Neugereut:

http://www.suchen.de/ortskatalog/vc/fellba...3ec8cc8503.html

They do a mean (spicy) Thai curry there and it's dirt cheap too!

This question is easy to answer.

Having practically grown up in a Cantonese chinese restaurant and having tried several chinese restaurants in Stuttgart, there is only one restaurant that I have been to that comes anywhere near my authentic chinese food standards. This is Tao Tao, near Karstadt Stadtmitte, next to the jewellery store in Schulstrasse.

I have only ever ordered from the menu (haven't tried buffet or Korean steam boat / hot pot). There is a chef's suggestions section which is where most of the best choices are in my opinion. My favourite is the HK style grilled duck (very much like the BBQ roast duck that I'm used to!).

The restaurant usually also has a large proportion of diners who are mainland chinese. Reasonably priced.

Great tip BBC. Anyone know of a decent Thai or Chinese restaurant in Ludwigsburg?

This one is decent 5 star Asia

Thanks for the tip, BBC (and for the private message exchange). Turns out I actually know where that place is, but as I was on my own when I saw it last week and the entrance was just a staircase leading up into the unknown, I didn't venture.

They advertised a decent looking (Korean or Mongolian style) hotpot as well, and if the photo is real, then it seems as if they use decent ingredients. I really miss that! A new restaurant has just opened up in London which serves authentic hotpot (and I've had it - it is very good) but it's £20 a head. This place in central Stuttgart is cheaper. But it's definitely a meal for two or more.

This thread is getting more and more encouraging!

I think someone suggested to form a "Chinese food crew" to explore the unknow? certainly sounds great to me... I'm moving to the area later this year. will seek you guys out

Adrian, you brought crispy duck and roasted pork with you from London?

Yeah But that time, as I was in a hotel, I brought a portion with rice back. Next time, as I'll be in an apartment by then with a kitchen, I'll just bring a larger portion of the mixed roast meats and cook my own rice. Should last two or even three meals if I'm not too greedy.

ok - bit of an update, but this is for ingredients shopping rather than eating out ...

I went to Beta (比达) http://www.beta-stuttgart.de/. At first I thought it had closed down just moments before I arrived, until I realised it was on the first floor of multi-use building. I'm used to UK supermarkets which tend to shout their presence at you rather than sit quietly in office blocks. It's not huge, but it has everything I need and the prices were good. I would have bought more except I forgot which country I was in and tried to pay with a credit card. So I put some stuff back and emptied my wallet of cash ;)

I live nearish Feuersee S-Bahn station so explored that area. In a previous post I mentioned a chinese cafe I found while cycling around. Well, I now know where it is ;) It's just north of Feuersee SBahn. I'll give it another go and see if they can rustle up something more authentically chinese.

Just past that and on the right was a middle eastern shop which I thought quite exciting. I bought some dates, baclawa and (for Indian cooking) some curry powder and cumin pods. The prices were ok.

Then, walking back to my flat (now going south from the SBahn) I passed a Thai shop on Silbergstrasse. This is more of a lifestyle shop than a supermarket. And it's expensive. 1.78e for a tin of coconut milk that cost 89c in Beta. 6.60e for a packet of cardamon pods (I like these, as my Indian curries always taste boring until I add them. I'm not actually that good a cook!) which cost 2.20 in the middle eastern shop not far away. But at least it's there.

Then, right at the bottom of the road I noticed an Indian restaurant, called Delhi something. I'll give that a go. Then, to Marienplatz where there was another middle eastern supermarket. This had less "fancy" stuff than the smaller one near Feuersee but was bigger and probably cheaper.

All in all, I'm qutie impressed. My Taiwanese partner would moan about the lack of chocie in Beta, and my Dad, who's Arabic, would moan about the lack of choice in the middle eastern places but ... there's plenty of choice for me. What I find interesting is that in London one would need to travel around quite a bit (Soho for the Chinese stuff, Southall ideally for the Indian stuff, Tottenham/7 Sisters for the middle eastern stuff) whereas in Stuttgart it's easy to round everything up ;)

Hope this is all useful to someone!

One thing I've not noticed at all so far are any normal supermarkets near me. Or a butchers. I have more investigation to do ;) This is the good thing about working abroad for a few months; it's like being on an adventure and holiday the entire time (albeit with the middle of the day ruined by having to work, but you know what I mean.)

You don't often see a butchers shop over here, however the Markthalle offers fresh meat and they will cut it how you want them too. Big problem is it is very pricey but great for a special occasion meal.

I also checked out the Indian shop Jdee recommended, it had everything you could possibly want of an Indian shop. Rice in every size bag imaginable, Lots of spices, chapatis, gram flour and Pataks and other currry pastes. He also sells large boxes of PG tips!! Maharaja cash and curry It looks like a video shop from the outside, he carries lots of Bollywood titles too if anyone is interested.

Maybe it was mentioned but I like to go into these Thai/chinese markets. I know of three in Stuttgart. You can pick up large bags of huge shell-on shrimp (frozen) and squid for calamari, big and small. They have all the pastes and sauces for authentic stuff. I also like the instant soups they have, a whole wall of kick ass noodle soups from asia. Locations are as follows.

On Sophienstr. Across from the mcdonalds

In the Rathaus U-bahn station

And a shop called Bambus on Silberburg str. Next to the Allianz building

The shop in the U-bahn station has the lower prices...

hi Adrian,

Go to SuedMarkt on the BoblingerStrasse ( just walk down the hill to Marienplatz ) and there is decent butchers counter at the back + lots of other stuff. Another alternative is to go up to the Farmers market at Vogelsang, ( take the ubahn from the other end of SilberburgStrasse ). You'll find 3 butchers counters there, although can be a little over-priced and not always free range as you would hope. The Bauermarkt is one of my favourite places in Stuttgart, fantastic italian cafe, fish monger and bakers also. The markt hall in town is good also, again watch them on the prices..

few shops in stuttgart offers meat hanging infront of windows.

but you can make your own char siew, by buying the char siew marinate sauce from any Chinese asian stores in stadtmitte, schwabstrasse and vaihingen. most are near the sbahn exit/entrance.

for vaihingen it's beside schwaben galerie called PANDA.

marinate the meat overnight in the fridge and put it in the oven the next day until it is cooked...simply delicious!!

there are few "authentic" chinese restaurants in stuttgart, but there is one in schwaben galleire called Kings Palace which gives you pretty close to authentic Chinese dishes.

bon appetite!

Thanks for all these tips!

Back onto the subject of eating out ... does anyone fancy meeting up one evening for a Chinese next week or the week after?

I'm going to Tao Tao this Friday so maybe we could try the Kings Palace?

I also went to the Indian shop Jdee mentioned as it's walking distance from me. As you say Nicole, agreat selection. I bought lots of spices. For anyone still reading my waffle, I found the Indian stuff cheaper here than anywhere else I'd been (in Stuttgart), and the Chinese/Thai stuff more expensive, but not greatly so, than Beta.

I didn't buy the PG Tips as the local black tea is good enough for me. I did see HP sauce though, which I love in a cheese sandwich (gosh, I'll be buying "roast beef ready meal" in Lidl if I'm not careful ...), but I can live without this for the 6 months I'm here.

I cooked a great curry last night; I'm satisfied with all the stuff I can buy here. Just need to concentrate on the original thread subject, which is finding yummy Chinese food in restaurants. I'm off to Tao Tao tonight; I'll report back!

Went to Tao Tao. We ordered three dishes and chinese tea between three people and it came to just over 40 euros. This is similar in price to ordering in the UK (outside of central London or Manchester, where the Chinese population keeps the prices much lower).

The food was quite good. They may have toned it down a bit by default, but the ingredients were all there, so I'm sure if I told them I'm happy for it to be full of Sichian Pepper they'd oblige. The staff and chefs (that I could see) were Chinese, and the clientelle was very mixed. I'll definitely go back.

Yeah, I could do with a Chinese food fix. wednesday?
Tried Tao Tao too. Good. Feels authentic.
I was assailed with a niggling sense of guilt while eating though, that since I was in Germany I should be drinking from a stein and eating sausages .

That thought didn't cross my mind ;) If it helps balance any guilt, I did go to a German bar once in Beijing. I didn't buy any food but I did have a couple of wheat beers.

I had a message from someone who suggested Wednesday for Tao Tao. So, shock horror, you might have picked a good date, shockandhorror! I'll post back here a time once we sort it out. I'm going for 7:30pm.

We have a plan! Contrary to what I posted yesterday (life's too boring if everything goes to plan, right?) the details are as follows :

Meet this Thursday (12th), 7:30pm, outside Tao Tao. I'll be there from around 7:20. Just ask random loitering people if they're Adrian from London and you'll get me eventually.

OK but in case you don't like the idea of pestering people on the street and perhaps getting arrested by suspicious Germans and being brutally snogged by a drunken shoplifter while in the lockup...
(whew)
SMS me on 015203233080 and we can try to link up together.
How about conventional tactics like estimating how many people are coming, making reservations, that sort of thing? Too staid and bourgeois for the avant garde Toytown crowd?

Hard to estimate. It's me, you and j.cananda who is being joined by an unknown number of friends. I doubt we'd need to book, especially mid-week.

People don't tend to hang around outside restaurant entrances, so I should be easy to spot. I'll SMS you though, once I'm there. Interesting fantasy you have, by the way.

Good topic! As a decent Chinese Restaurant, this TaoTao may have some relationship with the "TaoTao" in canton which has a very good reputation.

Chinese food fix, I am in.

In Guangzhou? Twinned with Stuttgart? haha.

Come tomorrow! PM me if you need a mobile number to call/SMS otherwise I'll be waiting outside for about 10 minutes until 7:30. I'll have a black t-shirt with the chinese character 拆on the front.

Well, five of us went to Tao Tao (second time for me) on Thursday and had a good meal. We decided to try Indian for the next meal and Vietnamese (taking one of the recommendations above somewhere) the week after - I'll start a new thread.

I am chinese american from so cal so I am very picky about chinese food. Living in Stuttgart past year, I have tried about 10 chinese restaurants and keep going back to KINGs PALACE in the Schwabian Gallerie in Vaihingen. I was skeptical about expensive looking decor and "mall food" but this one is as close to authentic as you can get.
The portions are good and the DUCK dishes rule. Beef/CHicken brocolli dish is true chinese flavors. Their Pan fried noodle is good and their Thai curry dishes can put hair on your chest if you ask them for "true HOT" and not european "sharf". Soup Noodles bowls are good portions for the price. Not crazy about their sweet and sour anything. Their chicken dishes are good if you like tempura type batter. I like the fact that they have a real chinese person chef.
My hard core chinese in-laws came to visit and they approved of KINGS PALACE. Suprised the heck out of me!!!