# American restaurants in foreign countries other than fast food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 24, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417 "2013-07-24T21:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/21 "2013-07-24T22:59:51Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > A gem: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. Why is the egg weird? That’s pretty common in the US ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/22 "2013-07-24T23:01:22Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > [The Bird](http://www.thebirdinberlin.com/) > [@](#): > > A constant flow of > working AC electricity > throughout premises. > Just one of the modern > conveniences installed > for your comfort and > enjoyment. Actually in America our building codes frown on electricity flowing throughout the premises, we usually try to keep it contained in the wires. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![d1a1s1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@d1a1s1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d1a1s1)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/23 "2013-07-24T23:03:31Z")
In Japan, American style hamburgers and steak houses are hugely popular. Their hamburgers are on par but in a lot of cases their steak houses are far better than ours. It doesn’t help that they get Kobe beef and we don’t. I’ve also seen a few Tex-mex places in the Philippines. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/24 "2013-07-24T23:06:16Z")
In Japan there are Denny’s and Cocos…but there’s also Johnnie’s which I believe is a homegrown version of an “american style” restaurant. It definitely gets the design and atmosphere right… but the food (this goes for the Dennys and Cocos as well) it’s like a game of telephone. Ex. A hamburger dinner- dinner roll for bun, hamburger patty more of a mound than a patty and maybe 4 or 5 french fries. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/25 "2013-07-24T23:18:13Z")
What are you counting as American food? Pizza is fairly popular in Japan, and some of the toppings they use seemed pretty weird to me (I don’t mean seafood either, but stuff like slices of hard-boiled egg), but of course Americans didn’t _invent_ pizza. I think the Japanese did get it from us and not directly from the Italians, though. As for American chain restaurants that aren’t fast food, they do have Denny’s in Japan. I only saw one in Tokyo though, I’m not sure how widespread they are. IIRC the menu was quite different from that of an American Denny’s but to the best of my recollection it was mostly Western-style breakfast foods. I had the French toast. I was very surprised to discover that [Cafe du Monde](http://www.cafedumonde.com/), the New Orleans cafe famous for its chicory coffee and beignets, is a nation-wide chain in Japan. But again, is that _American_ food or French food? There’s a Japanese dish called omurice (“omelet rice”) that I would often see on the menu in Western style casual restaurants. It always made me wonder “Is this what they think we eat?” The [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omurice) has photos of some fairly classy looking versions of this dish, but if you search “omurice” on Google Images then that’s more what I remember seeing – an omelet with fried rice inside or underneath and ketchup poured all over it. So not gross or anything but it seemed like the sort of thing an American would only make if they had nothing but eggs, ketchup, and leftover fried rice in the fridge. It was my impression that the Japanese didn’t exactly consider this American food, though. Omurice is definitely Western-influenced and not a traditional Japanese dish, but it didn’t seem to be considered really “foreign” either. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/26 "2013-07-24T23:22:40Z")
My only experience abroad is Egypt, and we actively avoided any restaurants that seemed too American while there (though our traveling companions eagerly sought out the Cinnabon for their final breakfast in Cairo), but one thing I did find amusing was that no matter where you ate, the menus almost uniformly touted “American-style drip coffee,” and if you ordered it, you got a French press brought to your table. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/27 "2013-07-24T23:23:20Z")
I’ll never forget the time I ordered a “steak sandwich” in a beach bar in Akumal, Mexico\*, and got a very thin t-bone served between two pieces of sandwich bread. \*I mostly did this on purpose to see what the result would be ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/28 "2013-07-25T00:46:06Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > I’ll never forget the time I ordered a “steak sandwich” in a beach bar in Akumal, Mexico\*, and got a very thin t-bone served between two pieces of sandwich bread. > \*I mostly did this on purpose to see what the result would be If you order a steak sandwich in many places in the southern US, you get a chicken fried steak patty on a hamburger bun. I am disappoint. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/29 "2013-07-25T00:56:28Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > As for American chain restaurants that aren’t fast food, they do have Denny’s in Japan. It’s nothing like the Denny’s in America. We went to one in Kyoto one morning and to my great dismay they only had Canadian bacon. It got no better from there. It was expensive as hell too. I left hungry. Let me repeat that - I let a fucking Denny’s hungry. After eating. I would have just ordered another 2 breakfasts but it was more than I could bear at that point. Oddly enough, right across the street from the Kyoto Royal hotel was a little independent Japanese owned coffee shop that had a daily breakfast special of 2 eggs any way, real bacon, hash browns, toast, orange juice, and coffee for like $10. They must have learned over the years to cater to the hotel clientele. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/30 "2013-07-25T01:10:52Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > In Dublin we have a place called “Captain America’s cookhouse and bar”.\* That’s fantastic. They’re soooo close, but then throw in this bizarre little speedbumps that are just soooo wrong! > [@](#): > > Mozzarella Sticks > > Delicious sticks of mozzarella cheese delicately seasoned and coated in seeded breadcrumbs Yes, yes, sounds yum… > [@](#): > > and served with raspberry coulis. Wait…what?! Nonono…served with _marinara sauce_, and possibly ranch dressing. Thank you for your time. Next! (Although raspberry coulis dipped moz’ sticks do sound kind of good, in a stoner food kind of way…) > [@](#): > > Chicken Katsu Curry > > Chicken fillet deep-fried in breadcrumbs, served with our famous curry sauce and rice. This is just a swing and a miss. I assume this is based off British food (being a curry related item), 'cause ain’t nothing like this in the US. Again, sounds delish, though. By and large, their descriptions sound pretty authentic American casual dining, though of course their presentation and actual recipes are anyone’s guess. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/31 "2013-07-25T01:22:29Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > This is just a swing and a miss. I assume this is based off British food (being a curry related item), 'cause ain’t nothing like this in the US. I would never call it American food but I’ve seen it many times in Japanese-American places. It’s certainly not unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/32 "2013-07-25T01:31:01Z")
London has The Texas Embassy. They put beans in the chili. Do I need to go on? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/33 "2013-07-25T01:32:47Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I would never call it American food but I’ve seen it many times in Japanese-American places. It’s certainly not unknown. Really? Any place you can recommend on the north side? 'Cause I’d really love to try it, and I’m too lazy to cook curry… ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/34 "2013-07-25T01:35:12Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > 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 It’s certainly become much more common here in Chicago over the last decade or so. Growing up, the first time I saw an egg on a burger was when I visited my cousins in Australia in the early 90s. Now, it seems every mid-market and up burger place has eggs as an option (which I love, but the success of the whole thing for me depends on a large-ish burger cooked medium rare, with eggs with runny yolks.) I’m not as familiar with the current dining scene in Budapest, but in the late 90s/early 00s, there were a number of decent restaurants serving American food, and a couple oddballs. There was actually decent Tex-Mex in town (a restaurant called Iguana, owned by American expats, they made their own chorizo, salsas, tortilla chips, etc.) I don’t recall seeing any Southern-style American, though–mostly Tex-Mex, Southwestern, and classic stuff like burgers and Buffalo wings. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/35 "2013-07-25T01:40:29Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > In Dublin we have a place called “Captain America’s cookhouse and bar”.\* > > Menu [here](http://www.captainamericas.com/graftonst/menu/) The _size_ of the burgers is certainly authentic… But, seriously? I have _never_ heard of serving a burger with a fried egg on it this side of the Atlantic. Admittedly, I’m midwestern - it _could_ be some East Coast thing I’ve never heard of. ETA: I’m also somewhat amused at things like fajitas being “American” food. Maybe in Texas… but around here that’s still “Mexican food”. Maybe the lines get blurry if you’re far enough away? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/36 "2013-07-25T01:44:54Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Really? Any place you can recommend on the north side? 'Cause I’d really love to try it, and I’m too lazy to cook curry… Let me think about the north side and ask around, you know it’s Japanese curry, right? Completely different animal from Indian or Thai curry. Off the top of my head the go-to place I know will always have it is the [Mitsuwa](http://www.mitsuwa.com/tenpo/cica/eindex.html) food court, but I’ll look a little more… ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/37 "2013-07-25T01:48:50Z")
> [@Pitchmeister](#): > > I think I’ve mentioned it before, but it bears repeating: [The Bird](http://www.thebirdinberlin.com/) in Berlin serves the best burgers in existence anywhere in the world, ever. > [@](#): > > P L E A S E > At least try > Eating the damn burger > With your hands. > All you uptight people with forks and knives are driving us crazy. > > And for God’s sake don’t order your meat well done. Word, the Bird! [Menu](http://www.thebirdinberlin.com/menus/bird_berlin_menu_eng.pdf) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/38 "2013-07-25T01:51:52Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Let me think about the north side and ask around, you know it’s Japanese curry, right? Completely different animal from Indian or Thai curry. I do now. 😉 I’m pretty adventurous, as long as there are no bugs or caterpillars involved. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/39 "2013-07-25T01:54:25Z")
In addition to fast food and Americana steakhouses, Brisbane has places where you can get ribs. The Smoke in New Farm claims “a smoker imported from the U.S. to ensure authenticity”. [Here’s the menu](http://thesmokebbq.com.au/dine-in-menu/). No eggs. It’s by no means the only place you can get BBQ in Brisbane, despite the hype. I singled it out because it really plays up the US angle and nobody mentioned BBQ as yet. I’d say that fajitas are considered by some as American in the same way that pizza and hamburgers are considered American. None of them originated in the US, but they were popularized there. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417/40 "2013-07-25T01:54:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I do now. 😉 I’m pretty adventurous, as long as there are no bugs or caterpillars involved. 😃 No bugs, I promise! You’ll love it, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-restaurants-in-foreign-countries-other-than-fast-food/664417.md?page=3)