The menu's list is long and there is amazing variety and choice. That's because none of the food is made in the kitchen. The food is made in every other restaurant there is within a few kilometers distance from the restaurant that you sit. You make the order and the food gets delivered to the restaurant you sit. The salad's from famous "Fresh Salad Deli", the sushi from 5-start "Nobu", the pasta dish from "Luigi's". In big cities like NY, London or Tokyo there would be so much variety to choose from!

What do you think of a new type of restaurant where the customers bring the ingredients for the meal and the chef cooks it for them? I'm thinking the idea will appeal to people who enjoy shopping for groceries and food but don't want to spend time cooking after. A good idea would be to have the restaurant conveniently located close to food markets. Nothing is charged for the meal and profit is made from monthly/annual membership fees. It's obviously a members-only restaurant. The menu is advertised online offering details on the ingredients/quantities so that customers know what to bring with them and book a table in advance. What's your opinion? Can such business do well?

I stumbled upon this sign at a restaurant in Tokyo. First I wondered what it might mean. No smoking, sneezing and drinking elephants allowed in the restaurant? No blowing cylindrical items in here? Imaginative and cute for a "No Smoking" sign you will probably only see in Japan.

What if all countries could designate one restaurant in every country to represent them as the country's most authentic culinary ambassador?

The main criterion for culinary embassy designation should not be which overseas restaurant has the best taste or the most number of awards. It should rather be which restaurant offers the most authentic taste, as if customers received a culinary experience that is the closest they can get to having traveled abroad and eaten at a local restaurant. (read more)

I was at a bar restaurant recently and I was sitting in a dark area of the store. I could not really read the menu due to the lack of light. I thought it would be good to have menus prnted with reflective letters so that they light and make it easier to read them. Maybe only for the name of the drinks and food but not for the prices :-)

A friend of a friend of mine who lives in Hamburg told me about it. The customer only has to pay for the time he spends there. The charge is per minute, you pay nothing for the food you eat, only for the time it takes you to finish your meal. The name of the restaurant is Take A Minute. The faster you eat, the less you will have to pay. Wondering if the food they serve is worth the time checking it out. Has anyone been there?

Dessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal but I am thinking that in a weak economy people should become creative with cost-cutting and try to keep doing as many of the activities they were used to as possible. One is going out to eat in a restaurant. I guess I can eat at home and then go out in a restaurant with my friends and just order dessert and perhaps a drink to go with it. (read more)

How would you feel if you sat with your friends in a restaurant and they offered one menu for all to share? That's the custom in traditional Japanese restaurants. If you ask the Japanese why they serve one menu only, they will tell you they don't know why. They don't know where the custom comes from either. Weird!! I searched online but could not find the reason for it. There are two questions. Where does the custom come from and why do they still keep it to this day? (read more)

The other day I was having dinner with a friend at an upscale, expensive Indian restaurant. We noticed that most of the items in the menu were variations of curry, a recipe that both rich and poor people eat daily. I am sure Indian gourmet food also includes recipes that you won't see people eat every day, but what is interesting is that most recipes on the menu or what people order the most in a gourmet Indian restaurant are curry variations with fresher spices and ingredients, better cooking and obviously better taste. (read more)

Apparently it's possible with CleanPoo Mini! from Sanikleen company in Japan. I took this photo at a ramen noodles restaurant in Azabu Junban, Tokyo!