Dong Xuan Center: Asian market in Berlin

In 2005, Nguyen Van Hien founded a wholesale market on the former VEB Elektrokohle site in Lichtenberg, which today spans 165,000 square meters and houses over 400 businesses. The food department alone offers around 10,000 items. For exotic spices and ingredients, this means: fresh herbs, chilies, fish sauce, and Vietnamese coffee all in one place.

Dong Xuan Center in Lichtenberg: Little Hanoi on Herzbergstraße

The Dong Xuan Center is located at Herzbergstraße 128 to 139 on an industrial site where the Siemens brothers once produced and, during GDR times, VEB Elektrokohle Lichtenberg manufactured carbon brushes. Nguyen Van Hien, formerly a contract worker from Vietnam, founded a wholesale market here in 2005 after years of sourcing his goods from a market in Poland. Today, the complex covers 165,000 square meters with six sales halls, each 6,500 square meters, housing over 400 businesses. The tram stops directly in front of the main entrance; since early 2026, the stop has been named Herzbergstraße/Dong-Xuan.

The name comes from the Dong Xuan Market in Hanoi, founded in 1889, and means “Spring Meadow” in Vietnamese. The traders come from Vietnam, India, China, Turkey, and Pakistan, and their goods are distributed from here to Asian shops and restaurants across Europe.

Exotic Spices and Ingredients from Around 10,000 Items

For home cooking, the Dong Xuan Center is particularly interesting because of its food department, which includes around 10,000 items. Rice and noodles in all forms, from glass noodle bundles to rice paper rolls, stand alongside sauces and spices, Far Eastern vegetables, exotic fruits, fish, meat, and a large frozen food section. The pillars of Vietnamese cuisine are bundled in one place: fresh herbs in quantities unthinkable in a German supermarket, chilies, Nuoc Nam fish sauce, coconut, sugarcane, and coffee from the Buon Ma Thuot highland region.

If you want to cook a Pho, a Tom Kha from Thailand, an Indian curry, or Korean dishes with Gochugaru and Doenjang, you can get all the ingredients here in a single visit. Additionally, accessories like woks, rice bowls, and tea sets are available. An independent production facility in Hoppegarten also produces tofu and soybeans and pre-cooks ducks, which are then delivered across Europe. Prices are noticeably lower than in regular supermarkets, making the Dong Xuan Center attractive for larger purchases.