Here in America, we have Chinese restaurants with what claims to be an approximation of Chinese cuisine. Ditto Mexican restaurants, French restaurants, and so on. They all have their weird interpretations which are alien to natives of the countries the restaurants supposedly ape.
Anyway, are there non fast-food examples of American restaurants in other countries? What kinds of weird interpretations do they have, if so?
Again, I don’t care about fast food.
[sub](Right, then. Deluge me with citations to McDonald’s and Burger King.)[/sub]
Had a friend that told me when he was in China in Guangzhou they went to some type of American 50s styled place and ordered what on the menu were called beef soft tacos. He said when they brought them out, they looked great, but when he bit into them the meat was seasoned with some type of ketchup/fish sauce mixture, what he thought was cheese was some shredded tofu or something, and what he expected to be sour cream turned out to be something like whipped cream.
There was (and may still be) a restaurant near Mainz, Germany, named “American Bar” (or something similar). On the menu they had what they thought were American dishes and it was a bit ridiculous. Among other things they had “Sloopy Joes” [sic] on the breakfast(!) menu and “Hawaiian Toast” which was just bread with pineapples on them.
In downtown Oslo, there’s a TGI Friday’s and Hard Rocks everywhere. I’ve also seen a lot of hamburger restaurants around wherever I go in Europe that aren’t necessarily fast food, but most of them aren’t great. There’s one in Trondheim that actually does a very good job, I think it had California in the name.
Ha. No. The bacon and cheese are fine, even if most American restaurants wouldn’t use that specific kind of cheese, but the egg is weird. I’ve also never heard the word ‘Goujons’ before in my life and the odds of their getting cajun right are pretty much nil. (Not that they should feel too bad about that last. The odds of a Montana restaurant getting cajun right are also pretty much nil, but some still try.)
Great examples from the rest of you as well. I should have known the Chinese would have some odd examples.
This is fascinating, seeing your own culture through the distorted lens of a foreigner trying to interpret it. Kind of how an FOB Chinese person must feel when they come across the typical American Chinese restaurant.
There are also plenty of Texan restaurants, American-style steakhouses, pancake places etc etc, at least in London. They have varying degrees of authenticity but the menus are fairly indistinguishable from equivalents in the US, in my limited experience.
This article on “London’s best American restaurants” is a few years old but will give you an idea.
I once saw a Tex-Mex place called in Paris called “Indiana.” Didn’t go in, though, so have no idea what the food is like. Still, seems like they could use a geography lesson.
There is a genre of restaurant in Australia called the “Texas steakhouse”, which I avoid because I’m not really into beef steaks. Here’s one not far from where I live. The Outback Steakhouse markets itself as a chain of Australian restaurants in the U.S., but in Australia I think it qualifies as a Texas steakhouse. (I’ve been to one Outback Steakhouse in Ohio, because my then teenage son liked that kind of thing, but never in Australia.)
As far as fast food goes, we have chains like KFC, McDonalds and Pizza Hut here. (Warning: the KFC Australia site includes a video with sound, so don’t open it at work.)
There used to be a place in Prague called “Buffalo Bill’s Steakhouse and Grill”. Probably the best burger in Prague at the time but in the US they would not be all that great.
Maybe it isn’t a New York thing, but down here (Memphis area) putting a fried egg on a burger is pretty common. I know at least two major chains have it on the menu as well (Red Robin and Steak and Shake). So, yeah, it isn’t that weird.
I know at least one Columbian restaurant in NY that serves a burger with a fried egg on it. I wouldn’t exactly call it a New York thing ( I don’t see it in diners) , but it might be a South American thing that’s fairly common in New York
I think I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: The Bird in Berlin serves the best burgers in existence anywhere in the world, ever. They also do steaks pretty well, I hear, haven’t had one yet. Don’t try talking to them in German, though!
