A Restaurant with Character – Kyoto, Japan
Here’s another modest looking restaurant in the same area as yesterday’s photo. And although we don’t have red, we will have some lively lanterns, which is always a plus. I think it looks inviting through the neighboring shops and the cracked stucco detract. I suppose that’s the point of the photo. A modern and pristine looking storefront may entice more customers but it tends to be more boring, photographically.
This looks like the kind of Mom and Pop restaurant that you want to like. Perhaps it’s a hidden gem, known only to locals, that hasn’t hit the radar of tourists. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was run by the same family for generations. I didn’t eat there so all of this is creative story telling. Romanticizing a type of restaurant that I haven’t been to in a while.
Back in Austin, I don’t have a family owned restaurant that I frequent. The kind of place where everyone knows your name. Actually, there was a Chinese place, years ago, but they changed ownership and I’ve lost contact.
It’s nearly impossible to establish this kind of relationship with chain stores. Even local places, these days, seem big enough that I see different people working there each time. Sure, there’s chain restaurants in Japan too, where you can get friendly but impersonal service. But it seems like there are a lot more smaller places, run by one or two people.
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Locally, we have only family-owned places, but few than we used to because people are poorer these days and no one can afford to “eat out” often enough to keep places in business. Also, our local restaurants aren’t very good.
I’m sorry to hear that. It’s gotten very expensive to eat out.
Ironically, with the 25 years of economic malaise in Japan, there are places that are less expensive in Japan — even in Tokyo — than in Austin.
They have opened a couple of new places in this very small town SO expensive, they are MORE expensive than Boston. I don’t know who they think is going to pay that kind of money, but I figure they’ll be out of business in a month. Two, maximum. Maybe the food is great, but we’ll never find out.