Still More Confrontations - Escalating!

Chef Allegedly Killed Over Meal Diners Thought Was Poorly Prepared, Reports Say

The Huffington Post | By Cavan Sieczkowski Posted: 05/16/2013 1:28 pm EDT | Updated: 05/16/2013 2:21 pm EDT

A Japanese star chef was allegedly killed over a meal of noodles that diners claimed was poorly prepared, reports say.

Miki Nozawa, a 57-year-old Japanese chef working in Germany, died on Monday as a result of injuries he purportedly sustained from two disgruntled diners he served at a restaurant on the North Sea island of Sylt, according to the Australian Associated Press. The chef was allegedly attacked by two men who claimed they "didn’t like" the meals he served, the report notes. A dish of fried noodles with beef and vegetables was a point of contention.

Nozawa's unnamed ex-wife told German newspaper Sylter Rundschau that her husband died of "severe brain injuries and internal bleeding" he sustained during a Sunday night altercation.

"My ex-husband was not aggressive, absolutely good-natured man," she said, according to a Huffington Post translation of the report. "He never would have started a fight."

"We have heard that the men wanted to get back their ten euros for the food. We see this as a racist act," she said, claiming that the chef had been called a "chink" while working on the island.

A conflicting report by German tabloid Bild says the two suspects left the restaurant without paying and later ran into the chef as they went into the table dance venue "Z1" and the fight escalated. The suspects are said to have been "intoxicated."

The AAP reports that the two were arrested but then later released due to lack of evidence. They are, however, still being questioned by police.

Nozawa was a celebrity chef who was famous for his Italian-Japanese fusion cuisine, according to Bild. He has served the likes of Mikhail Gorbachev, Denzel Washington and Phil Collins.

Just a bit of background: Sylt is pretty much the Hamptons of Germany. Expensive and exclusive kind of place. The two German guys were construction workers who the chef confronted in a strip club about the unpaid €20. Interestingly, the German authorities have so far declined to arrest the two due to "lack of evidence".

There's speculation that either someone rich or prominent was either involved directly or was a witness and is being protected. Although there was a functioning security camera outside the club, there seems to be no actual recording of the beating. The prosecutor is waiting for autopsy results to see if the chef's internal bleeding was actually caused by two grown men kicking him repeatedly in the head or if..... as most of us would assume... it was natural causes.

I'm not making this up.