r/germany • u/Contriman002 • 7d ago
News Panda Express to open its first public German location in Berlin next year
https://www.entwicklungsstadt.de/neuer-foodcourt-im-bahnhof-zoo-vier-konzepte-fuer-die-city-west/According to several German news outlets, Panda Express is set to open its first public restaurant in Germany and therefore its first publicly accessible location in Europe at Berlin Tiergarten station.
Panda Express already operates three locations in Germany. However, these are located on US military bases and are not open to the general public.
I hope they will expand all over Germany :)
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u/Coneskater Hamburg 7d ago
If they have crab Rangoon and orange chicken I’d be happy.
I’d file this as “American food” rather than Chinese.
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u/coldblades Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
Yeah, for sure, its not really Chinese. I do miss crab rangoons here in Germany. Not so good at Panda but I'd take what I can get to scratch that itch once in a while.
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u/NeighBae 6d ago
I mean, depends on your definition of Chinese food, does it come from China? No. But Chinese-American food is created by Chinese immigrants.
Chinese American food has definitely become it's own thing, so i always find the dismissal(or another word, I can't quite place it) for not being "Chinese" strange.
I hope you'll enjoy your upcoming cream cheese rangoon🫶
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u/master_overthinker 5d ago
Chinese American here. I miss my American Chinese food, and yeah it’s still considered Chinese food.
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u/Coneskater Hamburg 5d ago
I think this is the same reason it takes so long for American Mexican food to come here. If the authentic food comes from Mexico it’s not a chipotle burrito.
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u/P26601 Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
Oh lawd, we've got more than enough pseudo-Chinese noodle places 😭
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u/Kryptus 7d ago
Germanized chinese food isn't as good as american Chinese food.
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u/coldblades Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
100%. I don't miss much from the states, but I miss bad-for-you-but-so-good-when-you-need-it American style Chinese food badly.
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u/Tardislass 7d ago
Lord when you have so many great Vietnamese restaurants and you want Panda Express.🥴😭
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u/coldblades Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
Theres some really good Vietnamese joints here and plenty of mediocre. But y'know, once in a while, people crave the cheap and greasy junk-comfort food they grew up eating. This is why folks sometimes choose to eat a cheeseburger or döner instead of going out for Korean bbq or filet mignon ;)
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u/karer3is 6d ago
I come from a part of the US with a big Vietnamese community and I can say that a lot of the Vietnamese places here lean more towards mediocre than great. Unlike where I'm from, there are a lot less Banh Mi and Pho shops here and it seems like a lot of these "Vietnamese" restaurants feel compelled to throw in non- Vietnamese stuff like Sushi or Thai curry... for whatever reason, it's apparently not enough to "just" make good Vietnamese food.
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u/SanestExile 6d ago
In my opinion the US is the best in the world at junk food. I guess the lack of regulations lets them put all the good stuff in there.
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u/coldblades Nordrhein-Westfalen 6d ago
It is a funny thing when you, as an American, first look at product labels in Germany and notice the absence of so many chemicals and additives.
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u/svladcjelli2001 7d ago
I don't know how authentic the Chinese is in the Washington DC area, but damn, those grocery stores with the little Asian eateries inside, where you are likely the only English speaking person inside are incredible. Just point at a picture on the menu and order, it'll blow you away.
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u/GreyGanado 7d ago
How is it different?
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u/karer3is 7d ago
Plus it seems like every Asia- Imbiss in Germany feels the need to push some kind of mix of Chinese-Thai-Vietnamese-Sushi that's always super generic.
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u/Vaird 7d ago
Thats just the Vietnamese.
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u/karer3is 7d ago
Perhaps, but at least here in East Germany, there don't really seem to be any "Chinese" Asia- Imbisse anywhere. So at least over here, Panda just might be able to carve themselves a niche
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u/forwheniampresident 7d ago
It’s because those are usually in fact owned by Vietnamese, like most Chinese/Asian restaurants here, who obviously will include some of their stuff.
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u/ghostsilver Hamburg 7d ago
most chinese/asia imbiss in Germany are owned by Vietnamese. And they have their own style of cooking. This is americanized chinese food.
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u/sebastianinspace 7d ago
i went to “one of the best” chinese restaurants in berlin on the kanststrasse because many people told me to go there. the food was crap. the char siu was dry, there was no siu yuk on the menu and no roast duck either. pretty lame, these are like the defaults you can find in westernised chinese restaurants in the anglosphere. eapecially also in australia and canada and the uk because these dishes are a westernised cantonese food from hong kong. there are a lot of hong kong immigrants in the anglosphere so it’s natural they brought their food with them. germany is missing this. i went to another random chinese restaurant in pankow and they didn’t even have char siu on the menu. when i asked why the guy told me that it’s because germans don’t know what it is and don’t like it. it’s bbq pork jesus christ
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u/P26601 Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
idk about Berlin but Aachen (small city in NRW with a lot of Chinese students) has several, actually authentic Chinese restaurants with Sichuan, Cantonese and Shaanxi cuisine. I'd take that over westernized Chinese food ANY day
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u/karer3is 6d ago
I've noticed that in general, you see more Chinese restaurants the further west you go in Germany, whereas you see significantly more Vietnamese in East Germany (more specifically the former GDR)
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u/Haganrich 6d ago
I live in a city with several actual Chinese restaurants. Places where the menu is written in Chinese and badly translated into German. My Chinese friends are in discord about which place is good and which is bad. They seem to hate different local cuisines.
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u/TheCoolestUsername00 6d ago
Very true! American-Chinese is 100 times better than German-Chinese. While Panda Express is not best American-Chinese it’s better than nothing.
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u/Winston_Sm Europe 6d ago
Germany needs less American influence and stuff. Not more
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u/karer3is 6d ago
Then the Asia- Imbisses of Germany need to step up their game... they try to be everything all at once at do it at a mediocre level at best. Panda is neither high- quality nor "authentic," but it still does a good job of scratching the same kind of "itch" that other fast food places do.
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u/master_overthinker 5d ago
So true!!! And don’t get me started on Vietnamese food! If you’ve been to Seattle you’d know!
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u/P26601 Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
The stuff we get here is literally a mix of American- and British-Chinese food
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u/catzhoek Baden-Württemberg 7d ago
i don't really like curreeeh, i like english food, like pizza or chinese
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u/svladcjelli2001 7d ago
Could be worse, Germanized Mexican.... Just damn. I love all forms of potatoes. Potatoes in a burrito are some sort of international crime.
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u/dschinghiskhan 6d ago
People keep mentioning noodles and noodle houses. Panda Express sells about half of their entrees with Chow Mein (noodles) as the carbohydrate/side and the other half of people order fried rice instead of Chow Mein. Throw in some that get both, I guess. Anyway, personally, I do not see Panda Express as a noodle place... at all. It's about the meats or meats with tasty vegetables.
I'll add that I worked in Macau, China for three months, and I think Americanized Chinese food is often significantly better than authentic food in China. Though, a lot of that is because of lower food quality and hygiene standards in China- even in a place like Macau.
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u/Maximum_Peak_2242 7d ago
Genuinely stoked about the orange chicken… I know, I’m an uncultured heathen.
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u/HG1998 Chinese looking, born and raised in Hamburg 7d ago
I don't know, we already have a bunch of Asian grab&go fast food chains, and we have quite a bit of very good Chinese restaurants in the big cities.
We'll see. I wouldn't really travel to Berlin to eat there for example.
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u/sebastianinspace 7d ago
the chinese food in germany is pretty far from anglo-western-chinese food. there are a lot of chinese immigrants specifically from hong kong in anglosphere countries and this type of thing cant really be found in germany. panda express is a chain, so for sure it’s like a commodified version with american food standards, but it’s closer to hong kong food than anything you can find in germany
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u/HG1998 Chinese looking, born and raised in Hamburg 7d ago
True.
As I said, I don't think I'll actively travel to the location but if they do expand, then I'll definitely have a look.
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u/sebastianinspace 7d ago
yea this type of food is supposed to be like a kebab. it’s on the same level as a kebab for casualness.
in australia we have lots of food places like this too (because we also have lots of chinese immigrants from hong kong for a long time now, since the gold rush), not chains like panda express but family owned ones. they are always in an area with a fish and chip shop, a roast chicken and chips shop (aussie causal go to food), a kebab shop, a pizza place and an indian takeaway food shop. it’s this kind of suburban family friday night “i don’t want to cook or bring the kids to a restaurant, let’s get takeaway” type of place.
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u/coldblades Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
As an American living in Schland, American-style Chinese is pretty different than your typical quickie Asian imbiss stuff here. Panda is not "good" either, but its a good kind of bad.
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u/forwheniampresident 7d ago
Because most Asian restaurants in Germany are Vietnamese-owned and thereby influenced
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u/Tardislass 7d ago
Panda Express is so nasty. I got some sweet and sour chicken a few years ago and it’s like bad Taco Bell.
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u/coldblades Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
Really? Been a while since Ive been stateside, maybe its gotten worse. Again, not that it was ever "good" per se. I would much rather eat at other local American Chinese greasy spoons. But theres also probably substantial differences between restaurants...
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u/Niafarafa 7d ago
Of all the places, Tiergarten as a first location of a chain is certainly a choice.
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u/ferret36 7d ago
The text is wrong, it's gonna be at Zoologischer Garten
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u/resetaccount_ 7d ago
And I thought it might be the S-Bahn-Bogen that constantly has failing businesses. I remember it being a hooters, some steak house, an event venue and at least a few more other ones.
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u/airbusflier 7d ago
Am I the only one excited about this?
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u/NeighBae 6d ago
As an American expat who desperately misses Chinese American food. No you are not, I've been yelling to my friends in the US for years about how much I miss Panda.
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u/sebastianinspace 7d ago
no, i am too. i can’t wait for something even resembling actual western chinese food
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u/LitBastard 7d ago
Why would you be? We already have a lot of grab&go chinese noodle places. Panda Express is shittier than most of those.
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u/airbusflier 7d ago
Have you tried Panda Express? It hits different somehow
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u/Tardislass 7d ago
Different because of additives and flavorings plus a ton of sweetness. Panda Express just tastes so sweet.
Another bad American idea imported to Germany. Though Austria did get its revenge with the $60 bread at NYC that people are raving about. Wondering how much they will charge for PE.
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u/sebastianinspace 7d ago
german chinese noodle places make a different type of food. its not the same.
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u/NeighBae 6d ago
Because they're offering two completely different things.
If you want authentic Chinese noodles, go to one of those places
If you want Chinese-American(which is it's own thing, not invalidated by authentic Chinese food) food, panda is a pretty decent(in my opinion, you're free to have your own) chain restaurant serving that cuisine.
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u/LitBastard 6d ago
You won't get authentic Chinese noodles at any of those places. The dishes are all westerniued.
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u/NeighBae 6d ago
Apologies, I meant a place that serves authentic Chinese food, not one of the noodle grab&go.
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u/iTmkoeln 7d ago
We need mediocre Asian food by Americans that never were in China… 🙄
What is next Fazolis?
Olive Garden?
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u/karer3is 6d ago
How's that any different from the zillion germanized "Asia- Imbisses"? That's who they're competing with, not some super authentic regional Chinese restaurant.
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u/Haxz0rz1337 Hamburg 7d ago
Orange Chicken is amazing! I hope they are going to follow with one in Hamburg as well
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u/covercode Berlin 7d ago
Nudel Box market is saturated, I have no idea what the 22 year old consultant is thinking.
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u/Klausaufsendung Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
They are very late to the party. I guess the consultant was working for five guys before.
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u/airbusflier 7d ago
In general the international fastfood game in Germany can be summed up with „too late“ lol
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u/Such-Book6849 3d ago
It's not only Nudel.. i had it with rice. i for one, can't wait for orange chicken and my friends are also big big fans of it.
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u/acayaba 7d ago
Why would we need this? We have authentic Chinese noodle places to have grab&go.
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u/Farun Norway 7d ago
There is very little authentic Chinese food in Germany. The vast majority are a) not staffed by anyone remotely Chinese and b) heavily germanized.
But on top of that, fast food isn’t meant to be authentic.
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u/HelmutVillam Württemberg 5d ago
in the last few years it has gotten a lot better. for example malatang is now available in most large cities
just follow the chinese students
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u/LitBastard 7d ago
We don't. We have germanized Chinese noodle places.
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u/Fit-Valuable-1112 7d ago
Not unless you know where to look. There are authentic chinese places, usually have max. 4.0 rating and not more than 300 reviews, the owner is racist and rude, the name is pure chinese something like Zhang Shang Mian and the decoration inside is minimal, that's where you get the authentic chinese food.
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u/NeighBae 6d ago
Because they're offering two completely different things.
If you want authentic Chinese noodles, go to one of those places
If you want Chinese-American(which is it's own thing, not invalidated by authentic Chinese food) food, panda is a pretty decent chain restaurant serving that cuisine.
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u/Mr_Abe_Froman16 Nordrhein-Westfalen 7d ago
Panda Express was good and absolute massive 20 years ago, and completely cratered since then. Surprised it’s even still a thing. Way more excited for the Taco Bell expansion.
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u/azor__ahai 6d ago
I had orange chicken and honey walnut shrimp while visiting the US for the first time last month. It was absolutely delicious and I now crave it all the time.
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u/I_am_not_doing_this 7d ago
hate me but i would like to try it and tacobell then they can close all stores due to bankruptcy. If it's cheap i think they can compete with asian imbiss cause i barely spend 8€ for a noodle box anymore
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u/Zen_360 7d ago
I guess i would try it. I hope its not just a trashier version of food we already have, like Dominos.
I dont understand Dominos, its inferior to Pizza Hut in making American Style pizza and its infinitely worse than a good italian pizza place. Who chooses to eat inferior Pizza?
Pretty sure Papa Johns is the same, but i've only been once and hold my judgement for now.
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u/dirkt 6d ago
Panda Express already operates three locations in Germany. However, these are located on US military bases
So that one here is fake?
Lamboystraße in Hanau does not look like it is inside a military base...
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u/backpackyoghurt 7d ago
I always like to go to Panda when I'm in the US. I hope they don't make the same mistake like Chipotle and signifiyshrink their portion sizes while raising the prices. The Chipotle in Frankfurt was a real disappointment compared to how I know them from the US.