The bun nam bo with beef and a spring roll at Kiko in Kaiserslautern, Germany. While sushi is featured prominently, the restaurant has Vietnamese roots. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
I doubt many of you have ever asked someone what they’re thinking for dinner and suggested Vietnamese-German sushi.
It took me about six years of living in the hinterland of Kaiserslautern to get to that point, which was preceded by 13 years in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.
The sushi here can’t compare with the variety of fish found along the Pacific Rim. But in between the concessions made to people who think of vinegared white rice as exotic, let alone raw fish, there is quality to be found.
Kiko in Kaiserslautern adds flourishes of light to its warm and otherwise understated dining area. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
Kiko Sushi and Grill opened earlier this year, about a five-minute drive from the U.S. Army’s Kleber Kaserne in the restaurant-deprived Pre-Park area.
How deprived, you ask? The other choices are Burger King, a furniture store cafeteria and a Chinese restaurant inside a movie theater.
I tried Kiko with Japanese friends and family, months after its opening during the summer, and again more recently.
Kiko moved in sometime after the demise of Salz und Pfeffer, which lasted for a few years. One thing they kept was the pleasant courtyard seating, which surrounds a fish pond. On a warm evening, the outdoor tables filled up long before the indoor seating.
I started with a glass of the house dry riesling, which I enjoyed. A bad riesling in the riesling-growing Pfalz region is a predictor that the meal won’t be very good. This one was appropriately bone-dry and tart, with pear and kiwi notes in the finish.
We ordered the K-Town for Two platter, which has six pieces of nigiri sushi and 31 rolls of different sizes. For variety’s sake, we also had the fried “dream duck” with rice and vegetables. The duck was dry that day, though a few online reviews I’ve seen thought better of it.
The K-Town for Two platter on a pleasant summer evening at Kiko in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
The sushi, both that night and on the subsequent visit, summed up what I’ve experienced with Vietnamese-German sushi in the Pfalz region.
After a while, you begin to notice the similarities in the offerings on the black menus of Asian fusion restaurants from Ramstein to Kaiserslautern to Neustadt. Some restaurants are better than others, like with any cuisine. But the common threads often lead back to a thriving Vietnamese community with roots in the area going back to the late 1970s.
The crispy duck on a summer day at Kiko in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Sushi is prominent on the dinner menu, but there are several Vietnamese and pan-Asian dishes as well. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
They offer a lot of adapted sushi-esque food, like a fried roll with cooked salmon. Kiko’s version was on the platter, and while it’s not what I’d come for, it was better than some others I’ve had.
Much more critically, they get the rice right. It’s appropriately sticky short-grain, firm and pleasantly seasoned. The Japanese diners in my party were thoroughly pleased.
Think rice doesn’t matter? When it’s cold, bland and mushy, it will diminish the best topping the same way stale bread ruins a sandwich.
The fish in the smaller uramaki rolls didn’t stand out. But the a la carte scallop nigiri sushi had a subtle sweetness to it. This led me to larger pieces of fish during my November visit.
On that night I ordered the Kiko Mix, which includes six pieces of sashimi. I’ve had some bland salmon in the Pfalz, likely a product of too much time in the freezer. This salmon was superb. The butterfish was something I haven’t had often; the taste and texture were similar to albacore tuna sashimi.
The Kiko mix, which includes a crispy chicken roll along with more traditional offerings, at Kiko in Kaiserslautern, Germany. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
The crispy chicken roll was another nod to the Western crowd, but I’ll admit the crunchiness was a nice counterpoint.
Along with the sushi, we added some Vietnamese food. I’ve been on assignment in different parts of Vietnam over the years and developed a liking for bun nam bo. It’s a rice noodle base paired with vegetables, herbs and beef, though other meats and tofu are available.
The soft-textured beef will probably remind American diners who haven’t had much Vietnamese food of some classic American-Chinese dishes. I also enjoyed the tangy fish sauce on the side. It was mild for my tastes, but the stronger version is hard to find in Europe.
The herb basket common to bun nam bo wasn’t there, though the bowl had enough fresh mint to competently referee the competition of sweet, savory and pungent flavors.
All of the food came with remarkable speed compared to the average restaurant in town. Although the Saturday night crowd showed up in force by 6:30 p.m., our entrees were on the table in 15-20 minutes. The service was polite and most of the staff members I encountered speak English.
Customers dine on a busy Saturday night in November at Kiko in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The restaurant has garnered a lot of praise in online reviews since opening earlier this year. (Erik Slavin/Stars and Stripes)
The Pre-Park area has a lot of office buildings, and that’s the only reason I can imagine why Kiko Sushi and Grill turns into Schnitzelville for breakfast and lunch. They don’t actually change the sign to that. But it’s German morning standards like bread, cheese and salami, followed by lunch specials like chicken cordon bleu. I did see a Thai dish once, but Asian dishes are rare during the day.
I guess the office workers want what’s familiar. I can’t fault anyone for that, because for me, that’s what Kiko is at night.
Kiko Sushi and Grill
Address: Europaallee 10, 67657 Kaiserslautern
Hours: Breakfast and European meals, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m.; Asian fusion, Tuesday-
Prices: Most cooked and grille items range from 13 euros to 21 euros. Sushi sets average 10-25 euros per person, with a la carte selections available.
Friday 5 p.m.-10 p.m., and Saturday, Sunday and holidays, 1 p.m.-10 p.m.
Information: 0631-8001-6565; https://www.kiko-kl.de
