No cleaning of dishes etc. (Unless you pay extra).

You come in with your date (or group of people) and choose what you want to eat. Possibly if it's out in the country, you also get to pick the tomatoes directly off the vine. You then prepare the food, assisted by the chef, together with your date, chatting and helping each other, and if it's with a group, some of you set the table, while others choose flowers.

Then you sit and play music (instruments provided by the restaurant) or read the paper or just talk till the meal is cooked.

Bon-apetite.
-- pashute, Oct 18 2002

Almost baked by okonomiyaki restaurants In Japan http://www.inet-shi...d/okonimiyakiya.htm
Okonomiyaki ROCKS. [calum, Oct 18 2002]

A cooking school http://www.feastivals.com/cooksch.asp
[Mayfly, Oct 18 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Another one http://www.theseaso...hef.net/fgifts.html
[Mayfly, Oct 18 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Butcher Shop Steakhouses http://www.thebutch...mphis/index_new.htm
Hardly kosher, but this small chain of upscale restaurants specializes in the "do-it-yourself" concept. [jurist, Oct 18 2002, last modified Apr 01 2007]

The Grate Steak (sic) http://norfolk.city...om/profile/10599728
Local chain where you can cook your own steak. [phoenix, Oct 18 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

Ukyo Kuonji http://www.angelfir.../ranma/art/flip.jpg
Okonomiyaki, Martial Arts Style... [yamahito, Oct 18 2002, last modified Oct 17 2004]

I like the idea. It would be a don't know what to do with my date kind of place. How much do I have to pay myself to eat at your restaurant?
-- lazloquezos, Oct 18 2002


I meant, wait till it bakes...

Thank you calum.

The difference here is that the cooking is done in the "kitchen" which would be a big room with several "kitchen areas". Thus you stand, chopping the salads etc.

Oh and forgot to mention, everything in the restaurant is strictly kosher.
-- pashute, Oct 18 2002


I like the idea, too. One reservation: the chef would have to be of an agreeable disposition. I don't much fancy being lambasted for a lumpy jus.
-- calum, Oct 18 2002


//Oh and forgot to mention, everything in the restaurant is strictly kosher.//
Don't anticipate doing much business in/near Muslim countries, aye?
-- thumbwax, Oct 18 2002


Baked - See link.
-- Mayfly, Oct 18 2002


You would probably be surprised to hear that besides the wine, the Jewish kosher system is thought of as OK for many of my Muslim friends...

// One of them told me as follows

// "The two nationalities that everybody hates the most, are you Israelis and us Palestinians, including hatred in the Arab world. And here we fight.

/// and please don't reply to this annotation, it's really OFF COURSE
-- pashute, Oct 18 2002


Mayfly, somehow i think it's a different idea. The school is for teaching you how to cook. Here you come to eat out. It's the excitement of cooking, baking etc. that's added activity.

Thank you anyways for serving the baked goods.
-- pashute, Oct 18 2002


Nice link calum. I'm going off to Japan for a couple of weeks next year. I let you know if it was any good.
-- DrBob, Oct 18 2002


If Japanese and Korean hibachi-grill restaurants don't meet your design specs, you may want to check out the Butcher Shop Steakhouses (link). Fascinating history, and interesting concept restaurants: You go to the glassed refrigerator cases, pick the cut and size of prime grain-fed aged Midwest Angus beef you want, and cook it yourself over hickory/oak charcoal grills. House salad, baked potato and fresh bread are included in the "per pound" price.

Despite screwing up a banking empire in the early 1980's, the Butcher Brothers (hence, the name) managed to successfully clone this Knoxville restaurant concept in Memphis, Littlerock, Dallas, Chicago, Orlando, and San Diego (for a while, at least).
-- jurist, Oct 18 2002


This sounds good. Next door to a supermarket, or just a traditonal open-air market. Oh, and a wine cellar.

Help and advice from the expert chef if you want it, or want to try a new technique. If not, take turns with your friends. Sample other people's cooking, too. Swap recipes. Show off your fancy pans.

No washing up, no dining room to clear in the morning. Uniformed flunkeys pushing wheelbarrows to take you home when it's all over. Very nice.
-- 8th of 7, Oct 18 2002


pashute: Mayfly's annotation seconded: many cooking schools function exactly along these lines, especially as special courses for rich tourists. You really need to get out more.
-- DrCurry, Oct 18 2002


I don't see how this restaurant idea has anything to do with a cooking school.

Having said that, I also don't see the attraction of this idea. If I wanted to cook myself, I would stay home and cook (and invite others over). If I go out, it is precisely because I want someone else to do the cooking.
-- waugsqueke, Oct 18 2002


Kind of like an interactive cooking class. Different instructors (specially trained, with people skills, of course) would help you along in planning and carrying out a meal. There could be the decorating lady, the wine person, the chef, etc. A fully stocked kitchen and wine cellar would give you the resources you need to make anything you wanted. The chef could even help you out in making your own recipe, if wanted.

Maybe I'm just a cooking person, but it sounds like great fun with a few friends. Walking off with that knowledge of how to do this/make that at home would be worth any extra cost to me.

A commercial kitchen environment would most certainly *not* be the setting, however. In order to do this correctly, soundproofed rooms to keep other chatter out with beautifully designed traditional kitchens and dining rooms would be required, making this more than a restaurant doing a week-long publicity stunt. Instead, it would be a place to learn from professionally trained teachers about how to entertain and cook decently.
-- BinaryCookies, Oct 18 2002


I'm almost ten years older, and sorry I didn't take this idea as last decade's project.
-- pashute, Apr 05 2011


Well, I had a splendid time in Japan if anyone is interested.
-- DrBob, Apr 06 2011


Hey, isn't that the place everyone in the world has been hearing about?
-- rcarty, Apr 06 2011


No way Dr. B. Japan. You just been there? How could word of this not come this way...these are things I would like to know about.
-- blissmiss, Apr 06 2011


What light from yonder reactor breaks, Dr. B.?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 06 2011


Did you bring an active radio with you?
-- pashute, Apr 07 2011


Sorry, I haven't *just* been to Japan. I was referring to my anno up the page a bit, from Oct 2002, where I said I'd let everyone know if it was good.
-- DrBob, Apr 07 2011


Smart move, getting out in time.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 08 2011


There was actually a small (by Japanese standards) earthquake in the Narita region the day after I left!
-- DrBob, Apr 08 2011


So, there was a quake when you departed, and another much larger one while you were away. Do you feel no sense of responsibility whatsoever?
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Apr 08 2011



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