# Would a a Japanese-German fusion restaurant work? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [August 16, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122 "2025-08-16T00:38:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/41 "2025-08-17T08:31:08Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > The biggest obstacle would be to reduce the meat portions that are often expected in Germany: those feel un-Japanese. And the potatos perhaps too, though I can imagine Knödel in ramen-style broth. Let me introduce you to Nikujaga. Japanese meat and potatoes dinner, well over a hundred years old now. > **[Nikujaga](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikujaga)** > > Nikujaga (肉じゃが; lit. 'meat \[and\] potatoes'\[a\]) is a Japanese dish of meat, potatoes, and onions stewed in dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar, sometimes with ito konnyaku and vegetables like carrots. Nikujaga is a kind of nimono. It is usually boiled until most of the liquid has been reduced. Thinly sliced beef is the most common meat used, although minced or ground beef is also popular. Pork is often used instead of beef in eastern Japan. > Nikujaga is a common home-cooked winter dish, served wi... ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/42 "2025-08-17T08:37:24Z")
That sounds feasible! Will look for recipes, looks like it can be accept variations. Seems more like a winter dish, so no hurry. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![LouMa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/louma/32/19472_2.png) [@LouMa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouMa)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/43 "2025-08-17T13:24:22Z")
Japanese are enthusiastic about Baumkuchen which as far as I know is a German recipe. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/44 "2025-08-17T17:18:35Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Let me introduce you to Nikujaga I can see nikujaga with a little pickled cabbage (like, sauerkraut that is only a couple of days old vs. forever old) in it, especially with pork. The tartness of the cabbage would go well to cut the fattiness of the pork. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/45 "2025-08-17T17:26:38Z")
In the show, Bobby is fusing Japanese robata with Texas hill country German cuisine. The bbq method used by coth cultures seems like it would work for the fusion. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/46 "2025-08-17T21:12:25Z")
I’m pretty sure someone makes it somewhere in Houston, Dallas, Austin, or San Antonio. That said, I’m not sure that Texas BBQ ramen isn’t a degree of separation too far; Texas BBQ is kind of where German-style meat markets and smoking met Southern US BBQ in the late 19th/early 20th century. I mean, there isn’t smoked brisket or ribs or any of that traditional bbq stuff save smoked sausages in German cuisine. There is smoked meat, but it’s typically in a different style. The real defining characteristic of American BBQ isn’t the smoke, it’s the long, slow cooking AND simultaneous smoking of uncured meat. Lots of places have pieces of the puzzle (smoked sausages, smoked hams, braised meat, etc…), but the combination seems to be something that came together in US cuisine, whether it’s the pork BBQ of the South, the beef brisket of Texas and the KC area, or other stuff entirely like tri-tip in California. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2025, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/47 "2025-08-17T23:11:46Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The Germans got hooked on Currywurst after it was introduced during the British occupation, so it’s clear they’re open to exotic new cuisines. And the Japanese make terrific curry. So maybe “katsu currywurst”? That would be Japanese curry with breaded bratwurst. ---
**Author:** ![fedman1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e495f1/32.png) [@fedman1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fedman1)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/48 "2025-08-18T00:26:19Z")
both Friedo Kahlo and Salma Hayek are German/Mexican ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/49 "2025-08-18T00:30:47Z")
Former Presidente Vicente Voz tambien. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/50 "2025-08-18T00:40:21Z")
Muku-Ramen in Frankfurt has developed a few Japan-German fusion recipes. One of them made its way to Japan’s Shin-Yokohama Raumen Museum before being profiled in the manga/anime _Miss Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles_. The recipe was reverse-engineered here: > **[Crunchyroll #82: German Ramen from “Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles”](https://yumpenguinsnacks.wordpress.com/2018/03/17/crunchyroll-82-german-ramen-from-ms-koizumi-loves-ramen-noodles/)** > > Learn how to make it here! Koizumi from Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles is a ramen connoiseur – a true ramen foodie who will stop at nothing to have her ramen and eat it too. In this episode, Koizu… Ramen naturally lends itself to fusion recipes. ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/51 "2025-08-18T01:04:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > I mean, there isn’t smoked brisket or ribs or any of that traditional bbq stuff save smoked sausages in German cuisine. That’s because it isn’t traditional old-world German cuisine, it is Texas Hill Country German food, of which Central Texas barbecue is probably the most important style. Or at least the component of the style that has had the biggest impact outside of the community it originated in. Yes, Central Texas barbecue, as practiced by the German immigrants to the area is a certainly a fusion of German, Caribbean, African, and other cooking techniques, where (as is often the case) Blacks are not receiving proper credit for their contributions. > [@bump](#): > > The real defining characteristic of American BBQ isn’t the smoke, it’s the long, slow cooking AND simultaneous smoking of uncured meat Barbecue is smoke, meat, and time. Propane is fine for grilling, but it doesn’t make barbecue. Always been my biggest issue with the show, and that belief by the title character is how you know it’s set outside of Dallas, not outside of Austin or San Antonio. Glad the creators are using the revival as a chance to address that character’s mistake. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/52 "2025-08-18T01:40:38Z")
Bobby’s restaurant is actually an affront to the two previous generations of Hill men: he uses charcoal, not propane as his father wished, and it’s a fusion of German and Japanese, his grandfather claimed to have fought in both theaters in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/53 "2025-08-18T02:03:09Z")
I find it a bit of a minor plot hole that Hank and Peggy didn’t know Bobby was going to use charcoal in his restaurant long before they set foot in Dallas. At some point in the previous three years, Bobby would have FaceTimed with his parents and told them he was opening a robata restaurant. Hank would have asked if robots were going to serve the food, Bobby would have explained that robata is an ancient Japanese charcoal cooking method, and Hank would have flipped his lid. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/54 "2025-08-18T02:14:27Z")
> [@fedman1](#): > > Salma Hayek She is of Lebanese descent. To be precise, she is of Lebanese and Spanish descent. Kahlo was descended from German and various other ethnicies . ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/55 "2025-08-18T02:25:03Z")
Well… I always understood it to be something of a mish-mash of multiple places and tropes in Texas. I mean, Arlen doesn’t really come across as a suburb of Dallas; it’s too small in scope for that. It always gave me the feel of maybe Waco or Belton or some other small/medium sized city like that- larger than a small town, but still kind of provincial in most ways. I never thought Hank really weighed in on barbecue; he always talked about grilling in particular. “Taste the meat, not the heat” was his catchphrase. But I’ll agree that until very recently, the Dallas barbecue scene was embarrassingly bad for such a big Texas city. We’ve got some top flight places now though. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/56 "2025-08-18T02:32:20Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > it’s a fusion of German and Japanese, his grandfather claimed to have fought in both theaters in WWII Though that same grandfather sired a half-Japanese son… ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/57 "2025-08-18T04:34:05Z")
> [@bump](#): > > But I’ll agree that until very recently, the Dallas barbecue scene was embarrassingly bad for such a big Texas city. We’ve got some top flight places now though. Over the last 10-15 years Texas barbecue has really spread out of just Central Texas. Here in Colorado I can now get acceptable brisket, but still no beef ribs. Sad thing is the gas station barbecue at the supercharger in Henrietta is still better than 95% of the barbecue around here. To keep it on topic, many of the fusion things suggested seem pretty easy. Sub one form of pickled vegetable for another, or play around with some seasoning in a sausage. The thing I always want some chef to succeed at is adding cheese to East Asian food. Germany isn’t really famous for cheese, but is definitely a common enough food there. Butterkase in a sushi roll, somehow getting a German Emmentaler into some Udon? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/58 "2025-08-18T07:11:23Z")
I just want schnitzel breaded with panko. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/59 "2025-08-18T09:43:46Z")
I eat that all the time. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2025, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122/60 "2025-08-18T10:54:58Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I find it a bit of a minor plot hole that Hank and Peggy didn’t know Bobby was going to use charcoal in his restaurant long before they set foot in Dallas. At some point in the previous three years, Bobby would have FaceTimed with his parents and told them he was opening a robata restaurant. There is an entire episode on that point where it’s clear that Hank had talked “at” Bobby about propane and ignored Bobby’s input. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-a-a-japanese-german-fusion-restaurant-work/1022122.md?page=4)