Senior Cafe ― 2014/02/23
The other day, I happened to stray into a café I haven’t been before. The café was in many ways quite peculiar.
First of all, despite its location, the very centre of the town, it had a plenty of space, the space between the seats was probably wider than those in any other suburban café in Fukuoka.
And each set of table and chairs was different as if the whole space was an exhibition of furniture.
Then, although the café takes a self-service system, the coffee (JPY 350, astonishingly expensive for the service and quantity) was in a small cup and saucer (maybe less than 100ml?) which was not easy to bring around and therefore inappropriate serving style in a self-service cafe.
Finally, the most striking thing in the café was every
single person there looked over 60s. The lady behind the service counter looked
a bit more mature than me (just in case she read this), a great example of
elderly employment. And my fellow clients appeared to be all qualified to
receive retirement pension.
I enjoyed being the youngest for the first time in a few decades.
Luxurious Takeaway ― 2014/02/23
This is the most luxurious takeaway I have ever bought.
This prestigious Unagi, or eel, restaurant offers takeaway meals covering most of its popular menu items, from a Kabayaki (broiled eel seasoned with a teriyaki-like sweet sauce) bowl (1,550 yen), which I bought this time, to decadent special kabayaki box (over 4,000 yen) .
As a sit-down restaurant, this place is fabulous. But not the takeaways. When you eat in, the waiting staff will treat you nicely in a helpful and courteous manner. The whole restaurant is spotlessly clean. And fresh-from-roaster kabayaki is really delicious. The skin is pleasantly crisp and the flesh is succulent. I strongly recommend this restaurant for eating-in.
However, when it comes to takeaway, this place does not seem recommendable. First of all, cold kabayaki is not very edible. The skin got tough like an old tyre (though I haven’t eaten it), and the flesh lost its juiciness and meaty texture— not worth what I paid, sadly.
And I was a bit disappointed, or offended to be honest, by the way the restaurant treated me. This time I didn’t feel I was treated as a “customer” at all. The prices of takeaway meals are exactly same with eat-in menu: This is the point. But takeaways are not accompanied with kimosui (broth with liver of an eel), which is served free if you eat-in. So at this point takeaway customers have already suffered a loss of the kimosui. Plus, I was told to wait OUTSIDE the restaurant until my meal got ready, even though it was after lunchtime and the restaurant didn’t look very busy. They even didn’t offer a cup of tea, which is customary in this kind of restaurant and of course I would be served if I ate in.
Although there was a waiting space under the roof and Fukuoka’s winter was not as harsh as other areas of the world, it was a kind of humiliating to wait a meal outside the door. Am I a dog? Even dogs can wait their meal indoor these days.
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