‘Little Japan’ in Paris

In some ways, Paris has a lot of Japanese elements in the city itself. The days with flocks of Japanese tourist are long gone now but still some niche Japanese elements remain.

Toraya (とらや)

Toraya (とらや) at 10 rue st Florentin, adjacent to Rue Royale is one of the famous Japanese traditional tea houses that set its footprint in Paris. It is a wagashi store to Japanese but a Salon de Thé for the Parisians.

Wagashi displays

I love the various wagashi of the season and I almost thought I am in Japan by looking at the pretty Japanese window display of Toraya (well, not until I saw the French wordings )

Before the big pour of rain, we finally arrived Galleries Lafayette Gourmet to check out some of the special delights...

Aoki's creation

Sadaharu Aoki has a stall here and the display of his patisseries are real delights, he makes Parisian patisserie with Japanese twists, look at the tartlets, very Parisian yet very zen..hmmm

After sometimes at Opéra area, when the rain stopped and the sky clear up, we walked along rue st Anne, there are countless of Japanese small eateries and grocery stores along with some specialized Japanese stationary shops and even hair salon.


Little Japanese at Rue St Anne


Here is another rather famous noodle shop - Sapporo

Rue St Anne - very Japanese isn't it?

Japanese shops are at all four corners...

We stopped by HIGUMA famous for its ramen and we both ordered ramen set lunch.

Higuma - store front, interior and our empty bowls...

Japanese Gyoza

Johannes' Shoyu ramen


My Miso Ramen, it doesn't look appetizing but it is yummy, yummy

After a long walk towards river Seine and the boat ride, we walked back to rue st Anne again at past 10:30pm and managed to be the last customers for Nirawa-ya. Nirawa-ya is even more authentic than Higuma as they even serve the japanese tea and water free, plus all the staffs, including chefs and the owner speak Japanese.

Our don bowls, Johannes had the one with beef & egg (tanin-don) and my tempura don (top right)