A restaurant inside Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum has drawn criticism for describing its kimchi sandwich as a combination of a French dish with Japanese influences.
Sungshin Women’s University professor Seo Kyoung-duk posted an image of the restaurant’s menu on social media Monday.
The menu said Bistro Vincent “celebrates life and the art of Vincent van Gogh with a unique culinary journey inspired by the countries that shaped him: the Netherlands, France and Japan.” It added that the restaurant combines “classic French dishes with subtle Japanese influences,” using Dutch ingredients.
Seo said the restaurant had confirmed that it sells the kimchi sandwich, adding that it should not include Korea’s signature fermented cabbage dish on a menu whose only Asian reference point is Japan.
“It appears the restaurant mistook kimchi for Japanese food,” Seo wrote. “This needs to be changed because it could create the misunderstanding that kimchi is Japanese food, as the Van Gogh Museum is visited by many foreigners.”
A Google review raised a similar concern six months ago.
“The restaurant says its cuisine is inspired by Japan, the only Asian country mentioned in its introduction. Yet, it serves kimchi on the menu,” the review read.
“For Koreans, kimchi is a core part of our cultural identity, and seeing it presented as part of Japan-inspired cuisine feels culturally insensitive,” it added.
The restaurant replied to the review three months later, saying it takes cultural representation seriously and would discuss the matter internally.
This is not the first time kimchi has been misrepresented in Europe. In 2025, German grocery chain Aldi labeled kimchi as Japanese on its website, while a Spanish store sold a product called “Kimchi Sauce” in a bottle decorated with an image of a woman in Japanese traditional attire and Chinese characters spelling pao cai.
Pao cai is the Chinese word for pickled vegetables.
seungku99@heraldcorp.com
