About YUUHow Napolitan began
Napolitan is a spaghetti dish said to have been born in Yokohama after the war. There is the tomato-sauce version from a hotel, and the ketchup version served at local Western-style diners.
👀 At a glance
🕰️ How Napolitan came about
The Hotel New Grand opens in Yokohama. Napolitan is said to be one of the dishes born in its kitchen[1]
There was a time when American officers stayed at the hotel[3]. American soldiers often ate boiled spaghetti simply tossed with salt, pepper and tomato ketchup for lunch or a late-night snack[4]
Seeing this, the hotel’s second head chef, Shigetada Irie, made a sauce with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, tomato paste and olive oil. This is described as the first Napolitan[4]
Center Grill, a Western-style diner also in Yokohama (opened in 1946), served Napolitan made with ketchup instead of tomatoes, at a low price[4]
🍝 Two kinds of Napolitan
🍅 The hotel’s Napolitan
A sauce made with fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, tomato paste and olive oil[4]
🥫 The diner’s Napolitan
Thick noodles are boiled and left overnight, then stir-fried well with ketchup, vegetables and ham to cook off the sourness and bring out the sweetness[4]
👉 Recipin’s Napolitan is also made with ketchup
💬 Different accounts
Accounts differ on when it was created and by whom.
- Yokohama’s official tourism site: a Yokohama dish created in the 1950s[2]
- Kanagawa Tourism Association: the second head chef, Shigetada Irie, made the sauce[4]
- The hotel’s official English page: one of the dishes introduced by the first head chef (S. Weil)[5]
Make it
Sources（5）
- Hotel New Grand official site (About the hotel, in Japanese)
- Yokohama Official Visitors’ Guide (food born in Yokohama, in Japanese)
- Hotel New Grand press release (July 25, 2024, in Japanese)
- Kanagawa Tourism Association (feature on Kanagawa food, in Japanese)
- HOTEL NEW GRAND official site (English): HOTEL NEW GRAND Story
Checked on 2026-10-07.