Are there American restaurants in other countries in the world?

we mean "hamburger" most of the time. In my town there's a small chain of american bakeries (founded by an american expat) that sells american pies, cakes, cookies and stuff. Very popular places. But that's all. No soul food, for example.

Yes.

Yup. Most of the chain restaurants have overseas versions. I spent some time in Moscow and one of the most expensive and crowded restaurants at that time was Chili's.

well, i meant besides fast foods. Of course we have american fast foods. OP said "restaurants" as in proper places, right OP?

Last Spring, Selfridges food hall had a pop-up restaurant which served dishes made using American supermarket brands: Heinz's, Uncle Ben's, Kraft, and such.

R4, yes. American non-chains or fast food.

I went to an "American" steakhouse in France.

If you don’t mean chain restaurants like McDonalds then you might find the odd independent burger joints that sells American Style burgers. From what I can tell they’re just regular burgers but much much bigger. You can also get hotdogs at those places though.

“Street food” vans are the latest craze here. There’s definitely one that does philly steak which is delicious. Those street vans have really taken off though and seem to have one to cater to every cuisine in the world so I imagine there would be one that specialises in American southern food around.

In England.

Yes, I've seen American-style restaurants. As others have said they tend to specialize in burgers.

[quote]“Street food” vans are the latest craze here.

We call them food trucks in America.

All the time I spent in Europe, both mainland and U.K., I never saw an American restaurant that wasn’t just fast food or burger house - which is essentially just fast food on a plate instead of a tray. Kind of sad really, there’s a lot of great food we can offer but it never seems to be exported. Only the junk.

Oh and Tex Mex. I’ll add that, I’ve seen a couple of places.

I remember thoroughly enjoying a wonderful American restaurant in the Marais section of Paris called Thanksgiving.

It was such a welcome relief from all the chevre chaud everywhere else. I wonder if it's still there?

We have some places here that call themselves 'American Steakhouse'....rib-eye. T-bone etc

There used to be a popular restaurant in London called “The Texas Embassy” that was basically Tex-Mex, along with other “American” food. Don’t know if it’s still there or not.

Yes there are a lot in the U.K. There’s Ed’s Diner down old Compton street.

I went to one in the shopping mall attached to Victoria Station in London. They made a valiant attempt at copying an American menu, but I remember being amused at some of the items (and their descriptions.)

Yes.

In a related note, the only Gay bar I could find in Rome in 1994 was called “The Hanger” and diplayed a huge Confederate flag over the bar and had an American theme. It was run by a guy from Louisiana.

Uhhh, McDonald's is everywhere throughout the entire, whole wide world!

Op has clarified he didn’t mean chain restaurants r20.

American barbecue and Southern cuisine is popular in the UK.

There's a bunch of Friday's restaurants in Dublin. I remember being surprised that it even existed there. It's such a boring restaurant that it seemed pointless for them to expand to Ireland of all places. I thought it was an Irish-owned separate thing altogether, but it's the same company. I never went in there... even though I constantly walked past it. There's one in a very prominent location right off Grafton st. where St. Stephens Green is, if you know Dublin. That rent ain't cheap either.

I know McDonald's tailors its menus to local preferences (even in the US --e.g., they have rice in Hawaii), but how about sit-down places like Chili's, TGIFriday's, etc.?

They have McDonalds, KFC, Burger King, and every American fast food joint in every country in the world, OP. So there.

There's no such thing as "American" food, doofus.

R24, you didn’t read the thread then

Aren't steakhouses in general considered American cuisine?

chicken and waffles in Shanghai.

[Quote]There's no such thing as "American" food, doofus.

For me, southern and soul cuisine are the closest we have to authentic American food. Elsewhere, it's just a poor man's variation of what the post-colonial immigrants ate in their native countries. I'm surprised there aren't more of these restaurants overseas, because, as tourists, they crowd the ones over here.

r26, I don’t think there a whole *cuisine* that’s exclusively American, but there are individual foods that are. Peanut butter. Popcorn. Pumpkin pie. Cheeseburgers. Coca-Cola. Egg creams. Root beer.

And as r30 says, southern and soul food.

There's a Bubby's diner exactly like the Tribeca original in Tokyo.

Not really "American" at least in Western Europe. There are some TexMex restaurants (largely horrible though).

r27 Where in the thread was my question addressed?

Yes there are American fast food chains all over the world. There are 50's style dinners / ice cream shops, too.

Whoopie pies are uniquely American

There were cupcake cafes for about 5 years. Truly horrible idea in Europe. There is a glut of "Edison bulb" brewery pubs, straight out of American design.

So do the Chili's and Fridays in Europe tailor their menus for their host countries?

Tortilla soup borscht in Russia?

MAJOR gurl please and eye-roll.

The Hard Rock Café began in LONDON and was sold back to the Americans.

Maybe OP's never heard of it.

There are a zillion places in England selling themselves as American restaurants. Mostly not very good. They can't seem to do it here.

& the same in Paris.

[quote]I went to one in the shopping mall attached to Victoria Station in London. They made a valiant attempt at copying an American menu, but I remember being amused at some of the items (and their descriptions.)

yes, Ed's Easy Diner -there are tons of them - 50s diner style - food's bad

British supermarkets now have American sections, in England.

The Fosters Hollywoid chain of restaurants in Spain

There is a new American restaurant in Jerusalem called Trump’s Turds. Extremely popular with the local Jewish population

Californian cuisine should be exported. It's fresh, lots of vegetables and fish, and delicious (depending on the restaurant). H

Traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner is absolutely an American invention. Turkeys were originally native only to North America, as was corn and sweet potatoes. Turkey stuffing was also an American invention.

bump

A placed called Kua Aina, started in Hawaii and serves burgers has a location in London. A Five Guys and a Shake Shack are also near by in Covent Garden.

R45 Thanksgiving and turkey may be American inventions, but the Brits and French eat roast turkey for Christmas.

Wild West Roadhouse Grill in Manila.

There's at least one American restaurant in Ljubljana I know of - it's called "Hillbilly's smokehouse" and specializes in BBQ specialites. I ate there recently and didn't like the food that much- I guess I'm not a huge fan of those thick 'Merican stakes you need a bloody chainsaw to cut through. I think I'll just stick to Wienerschnitzels from now on.

R22, THAT'S RACIST!!!

Turkey may be popular in Britain now but originally they were indigenous only to the Americas. Benjamin Franklin seriously campaigned to have them named the national bird of the US, rather the Bald Eagle, pointing out that their abundance as a food supply was one thing that kept many colonists from starving to death so that the country was able to survive.

r13 looks like it was turned into a grocery store and the American owners retired. new owners are locals.

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet

A big Christmas delicacy in Japan.

oops, sorry, wrong thread.

Right now in Milan "poke" (hawaiian ceviche) is all the rage. That's still american, right?

Poke is nasty shit.

^never had it. I thought it tested like sashimi or ceviche, no?

As a poster has mentioned upthread, Tex-Mex is popular in London, Lone Star Texas Grill, and Blue Star Tequila Bar are as popular as they were in the late nineties. There are several bad American chains too, other than Fast-Food: Chi-Chi's went in my old neighbourhood (Bayswater) in the 90's. Was schocked it opened in a new American-style shopping mall at the time.

Cajun food is authentic American food. So is BBQ.

I think Tex-Mex and chili are more-or-less American.

I tried that Chi-Chis, r61. It *looked" like Mexican food but, although we use similar spices, the Indian season made for a surreal experience.

Whether it is American enough R63, they are American-owned restaurants headquartered in the US.... Therefore, AMERICAN.

Chi Chi's is in no way "Mexican" or even Tex-Mex. I saw a TGIF in Madrid about 20 years ago.

R28 We were allowed to eat steak long before the US existed.

Would any Americans actually seek out an American restaurant if they were travelling to another country?

They generally aren't very good in Europe.

I think Chi-Chis was founded by Kuwaiti grads of USC

[quote]Would any Americans actually seek out an American restaurant if they were travelling to another country?

You BET they do!

I'm American and wouldn't set foot in an "American" place overseas. I'd rather eat the food of whatever place I'm visiting. I can get better American food in America.

r65 What are you talking about? I wasn't referring to any restaurant chain.

Didn't all of the Chi-Chi's in the US go out of business after that food poisoning thing? I know they still sell salsa and packaged products.

Chi-Chis in the US was done in by a bad batch of cilantro they served on the condiments bar in Ohio.

Back in the 80s in London there was the Chicago Rib Shack which was really popular with my fellow American study abroad students, many from the Chicago burbs. They even shipped in tapes of Chicago top 40 radio to play as background music while you dined. Looks like it still exists. I was in Spain last year and there were fast food joints called Iowa and Nebraska, respectively, on the same block in the center of Madrid. Fried chicken, I think, was what they were selling.

[quote]Back in the 80s in London there was the Chicago Rib Shack which was really popular with my fellow American study abroad students, many from the Chicago burbs

& before that The Chicago Pizza Pie Factory - which I loved. Wish it was still around.

The first real American Hamburger joint in London, 1969 (@ link)

The same guy opened The Hard Rock Cafe in 1971 - which went worldwide.

How long did "The Gad" last R76? Did you ever eat there? Just curious if it was good!

Yes, it was excellent.

Think it was there til the mid 70s.

I noticed that the Dublin TGIFridays alters their language to suit the European locale.

They love the word "Apps," over here in the US, but of course no one calls them aops anywhere else, so they used the more familiar term "starters" on their menu.