Americans line up around the block for popular Down Under takeaway chain that secretly opened in New York – but Aussies are NOT happy: ‘It’s ours!’

An Aussie eatery has opened its first store in New York and Americans are lining up to try it.

The Australian chain Fishbowl has 46 stores spread across New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria and has now established itself in New York under the name ThisBowl.

New Yorkers are waiting up to half an hour for one of the healthy takeaway restaurant’s tasty Asian-fusion salad bowls, which many say are ‘worth the hype’ – and it’s left Australians angry.

Aussies have complained about not being able to get their foot in the door due to the queues and the eye-watering price of $17 USD or $25 AUD per bowl.

Others wondered if the style of food ThisBowl serves is really an Australian invention, but the owner quickly allayed any concerns.

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Aussies have complained about not being able to get their foot in the door due to the queues and the eye-watering price of $17 USD or $25 AUD per bowl

Australian woman Ruby, who lives in New York, wanted a taste of home so visited the ThisBowl store but was disappointed to find a queue out the door.

“It’s huge here and everyone keeps talking about it and I think it’s OURS. New York, you got all your own stuff, leave me to Fishbowl,” she ranted.

Australian expat Simona had similar thoughts.

“Nothing could have prepared me for the amount of anger I felt this past week as I watched Americans post TikToks about trying Fishbowl, aka ThisBowl, for the first time in New York,” she said.

”I got mine with avocado, I really recommend it guys, it’s so fresh”. We know. We invented it, it’s ours.’

Australians living in New York claim Fishbowl as their own, but the blandness hasn’t stopped Americans from raving about the tasty Asian fusion salad bowls

Many disputed Simona’s claim that poke-style salad bowls were an Australian ‘invention’.

‘I’m Aussie, but Fishbowl isn’t even Australian. Poké bowls are Hawaiian,” one woman commented.

“Your food is in our town, how about we share it?” another blow back.

“As I passed by I thought it would be a normal experience and the line was 160 people. I’m just going to Sydney for it,” said a third.

“I mean…it’s the same as a poke bowl,” a fourth wrote, and someone replied: “What’s the Fishbowl poke like? They look more like salads than poke’.

Nic Pestalozzi, co-founder of Fishbowl, responded to the criticism for stealing another culture’s food news.com.au.

“First of all, we are not poke and we don’t claim to be. Poke comes from Hawaii and is a meal that is very different from the salads we serve,” he said.

One New York foodie called ThisBowl the “most viral lunch spot in town” and another called it a “flavor explosion in my mouth”

‘We serve salads, which are packed with vegetables and all kinds of proteins. Poke is all about raw fish, it’s great, but that’s not what we do.’

But the blandness hasn’t stopped Americans from trying and reviewing ThisBowl.

One New York foodie called ThisBowl the city’s “most viral lunch spot” and loved the “overflowing bowls of fresh veggies, hot sushi rice, salmon crudo miso eggplant, all piled high with notes of house-made toppings.”

“People are right to call this one of the best lunch options and evening quick dinners as we crave their bowls and can’t wait to work through their entire menu, definitely worth the hype,” they said.

Another said they were hesitant to try ThisBowl because of the price, which usually costs between $13 and $18 in Australia, but said the generous portion made it worth it.

‘RUN, DON’T WALK. I swear to God the flavor explosion in my mouth,” she wrote.