Bar counters where alcoholic beverages are served are found worldwide, while ones where you can eat dishes are seen only in Japan. Outside Japan, dishes are prepared in another room dubbed a kitchen and brought to the customers. You can find them in hamburger shops such as McDonald's and Tim Hortons, but it is designed as a place just for passing food items to the guests. The guests frequently take seats at the counters facing the walls or outside through windows, so it should be acceptable that the guests could eat hamburgers facing the staff members of the shops, but that case is extremely rare or non-existant. Considering why, you could feel the Japanese way of thinking. To tell the truth, it's not until seeing the TV interview with French chef, Joel Robuchon, who has been frequently referred to as the best chef in 20th century, that I found the Japanese spirit in the counters of Japanese restaurants.
I'll sum up his story from now. He closed his three-star restaurant in Paris in 1996 and opened a new restaurant, in Roppongi, one of the busiest areas in Tokyo in 2003. He introduced the counter style into his FRENCH restaurant. In the interview, he talked about his intention. I thought he might know Japanese spirits better than I. I will also show you the URL of his restaurant, which has an English page. You can see inside his restaurant. I'll be sure to drop in at his counter style restaurant on my next visit to Tokyo.
(Vocabulary)
sum sth up （＜…＞の）要点を述べる,（＜…＞を）要約する
I'll sum up his story from now. He closed his three-star restaurant in Paris in 1996 and opened a new restaurant, in Roppongi, one of the busiest areas in Tokyo in 2003. He introduced the counter style into his FRENCH restaurant. In the interview, he talked about his intention. I thought he might know Japanese spirits better than I. I will also show you the URL of his restaurant, which has an English page. You can see inside his restaurant. I'll be sure to drop in at his counter style restaurant on my next visit to Tokyo.
(Vocabulary)
sum sth up （＜…＞の）要点を述べる,（＜…＞を）要約する
They have Japanese counter style restaurants in Thailand.
Posted by: Peter | Dec 20, 2012 at 12:18 PM