In Japan there is a kind of restaurant that is half-way between fast food and a normal restaurant. Normally rather small, these restaurants are often specialised in just one dish: tempura,udon, soba, ramen, curry or much more.
They are characterized by a long counter where customers who are alone and want to be served quickly –maybe before taking the train home- normally sit. Some of these restaurants are popular because of their particularly fast service –and to make things faster you might have to make your order at an automatic machine at the entrance of the shop instead of to the waiter. This can be hell for the average Westerner who has no knowledge of Japanese. Other restaurants offer a more relaxed environment with also table service for those customers who are in groups or want to be more comfortable.
In Japan it is very common to wear the uniform of your workplace. Restaurants are no different, with all waiters wearing the restaurant’s uniform. As soon as you enter you they will all welcome you by shouting “Irasshaimase”, in choir and sometimes even the cooks join in. It’s the Japanese way to greet the customer, who is treated almost like a living god in Japan. Don’t let the ritual between waiter and customer frighten you: the customer is always right and can simply remain silent while the waiter cares for everything and makes everything go the right way. The majority of restaurants in Japan have a menu in English and often you will not even need asking for it: your Western face speaks loudly enough. The English menu, though, might not help you out that much, as it rarely can really give you an idea of what you’ll find in the plate you are going to order. So, if you are no experts of Japanese cuisine, luck plays a rather important role. It is not necessarily a bad thing: trying out many restaurants and dishes is the best way to get acquainted with the cuisine of this country. Once you find something you like, write it down and talk about it with the Japanese people you know. They will be pleasantly impressed by your interest for local food. Japanese people love talking about food –both Japanese and foreign-, food is by all means a big part of Japanese culture.
More than from the English menu, you will find some help by looking at the entrance of many restaurants. In many cases you will find some plastic models of the dishes that are offered, something very surreal but also very useful.
A part from the quick service, another nice thing of these small specialized restaurants is the price. Drinks like water and tea are free (water, actually, is considered a free service almost everywhere in Japan) and with 300-800 yen (that is 2,50-7,50 euro) you can eat a big portion of your favourite dish, tempura, udon, soba and much more. If you like beer you will find some of high quality in Japan, but be ready to pay much more. Japanese love drinking beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks, but prices are rather high: accompanying your meal with a couple of beers can easily double your check.
Once your meal is over you can pay the check and let the waiters submerge you once again with their “arigato gozaimasu”.
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