It was also, when first instituted, a highly noticeable reminder to customers that there was a drought on; and that adding up a whole lot of tiny water savings makes them no longer tiny.
Now that people are used to having to ask for water, that’s of course much less so. But my guess is that the total savings to the restaurants in serving time, wash water and power to heat it, and attrition in glasses made it worth many places’ while to keep only bringing water to those who asked for it, even when there isn’t a drought.
I was somewhat exploiting the system, but on a fairly recent trip to Portugal, with my obviously pregnant wife and 2yr old child, every single queue’s members insisted we go to the front.
Even arrival at Lisbon Airport, we got called out of the customs queue and sent through the diplomatic gates.
Every tourist destination, where queues can be hundreds of people, and even tiny coffee shops, where the queue was just 3 people: in every case, my wife was taken to the front of the queue. I just accompanied my wife and child (male privilege?)
It is a great, empathetic, and child loving society.
I’m not used to asking for water. In my experience it is either brought out when the waitstaff asks what I would like to drink, or they ask if I would like water to start.
Probably depends on where you are. And I don’t eat out much, so can’t even give a fair sample for what’s happening here locally; though I’m fairly sure that in recent years on most occasions when I did, what happened was that somebody would come ask what we wanted to drink, and I’d ask for water either on its own or along with whatever else I was ordering.
Dim sum is an exception, now that I think of it. We do have to ask for water, tea, Tsing-dao, or even menus.
I love the dim sum carts and despise buffets. I wish more buffet-style restaurants would adopt carts instead. Can’t say I’ve been to China to see dim sum carts there, but relatives have, if that counts.
Not read all of this thread, so apologize for repeats. The parts I did read made me Canada proud since we sometimes do some of the stuff mentioned.
(US) 1. Free drink refills everywhere. Lots of ice. Big portions. Cheerful service.
(UK) 1. Interesting public television. Whimsy and humour. Peaceful pub nights drinking quality beer followed by drunken curry or delicious fish.
(Mexico) 1. People who are friendly, knowledgeable, quick to be social, slow to take offence at trivia. 2. Work ethic. 3. Spicy food. You can find tacos anywhere, but not agua de frutas, Yucatecan barbeque, mariscos, micheladas and mole. 4. Best street food.
(Italy) 1. Great coffee. 2. Important museums. 3. Love of conversation. 4. People dress nicely and with care.
(France) 1. Impressive knowledge and respect of simple food and cooking. 2. Respect for the past. 3. World’s best window displays.
(South America) 1. Love and knowledge of music and dance. 2. Ability to forget troubles and enjoy life. 3. Humorous use of slang.
(Japan) 1. Efficient public transportation. 2. High sashimi standards. 3. Affordable downhill skiing. 4. Cleanliness. 5. Area of Tokyo with dozens of cool bars each completely obsessed with one cultural soupçon.
(China) 1. Night markets. 2. Restaurants specializing in Peking Duck or Szechuan food 3. Remarkable variety of things available.
(Australia) 1. Zoos open at night time. Zoos which serve alcohol. 2. Street signs which saw “No Brawling” showing a slash through two people brawling. 3. Laid back beach culture.
There is an area east of Shinjuku Station in Tokyo. It is a small area of a few streets containing bars. Japanese people are work centred, however most have a hobby that many take very seriously. Some Japanese people who enjoy, say, jazz music likely knows almost everything about jazz music.
This area has several hundred tiny bars each catering to a narrow theme - jazz music, or even just a certain movie or book or music group or fictional character. Everything in the bar, which might have only 3-8 seats, is related to that theme. Most serve simple food. Many act as clubs for people into that theme. You go bar hopping there and meet interesting people in very cool and intimate places.
You go to a jazz bar. The entire wall is filled with thousands of obscure jazz CDs. Japanese people are very sociable and relaxed when drinking, much less so at other times. You sit down at one of the six seats. A Japanese businessman introduces himself, gives you his card, discusses his love of Melody Garson and the Errol Garner song now playing. You enjoy a beer, some polite conversation - he tells you about the real Japan, what you should do in Tokyo.
You move on to the next bar. Everything in the bar is devoted to English punk bands from the 1970s. They serve ramen and British beer and nothing else. The bar is decorated with faded posters and looks like a Sex Pistols museum. They only have three seats and one type of music. The woman serving beer is attractive, dressed like a rock star, asks you how you came to love Sid Vicious?
Which bar next? The one devoted to Tintin? To Harry Potter? To Voltaire? To the Rolling Stones? To Star Wars? To The Wizard of Oz? To train stations? To James Bond? To the TV show Alf? I thought it was very amusing.
I wonder at how these bars can specialize in such obscure and narrow subjects but then I remember just how many people live there; something like 14 million. I suppose that NYC could sustain something similar on a smaller scale.
More like 47 million. It’s touristy but does not cater to tourists. Most are clubs for people into that hobby. Some are two floors with thirty seats but the majority are exceedingly small and intimate places with room for only 3-10 drinkers. It’s a fun place, conversations are basically already started. Would love to see this elsewhere but probably needs a big city to support it. Ideal mix of curious tourists and the favourite spot of many Japanese to drink and practice their English.
I’m just going by memory from my Lonely Planet guide, and might be wrong. Tokyo is an impossibly huge place, but that figure may include other metropolitan areas. You could spent ten years visiting different places there, in my few days I saw all the main things, but still almost nothing. Since it is impossibly dense, it requires a Japanese level of organization, few could keep such a sprawling place clean and attractive.
You can do something a little like that with Canada Post: give them the money and the contact info and they will give it to your contact at any post office.
Ooh! I think I’ve been there! Weird, dystopian post-WWII cramped apartments turned into weird, tiny bars seating just a few people. Me and my Tokyo friends wandered into one that had a guy dressed in a pink nurse’s uniform serving drinks to a single table that sat about 8 people. Everyone was quite friendly, though I didn’t catch more than snatches of conversation since I don’t speak the language. Other than the transvestism, not sure what the theme was supposed to be, but it was pretty interesting. And there were seemingly hundreds of these bars in just a few block square area.
Otherwise I like your list.