This phenomenon has completely passed me by and leaves me cold. I'm sure back in the heady days of culinary naivety raw fish that moved as if by magic was a real showstopper, but now it just screams 'gimmick!' (I don't care if that's how they do it in Japan - when has that country ever been the benchmark of sanity; they take pictures of fire extinguishers dammit).
I've met the founder of this chain - a charming, intelligent man who has pushed his brand forward and conquered many marketplaces with his hard-working philosophy. But this arm of his empire really should have died a death. Who wants to go to a restaurant where the dish you want sails by as you're sitting down and you have to wait another 20 minutes for the next one? It doesn't work for Transport for London, and it sure as hell doesn't work for lunch. More to the point, it seems that breathing costs money here. Well, a little exaggerated, but each mouthful has a price, saliently described in glorious technicolor by the dishes the food comes in. And although your bank balance may dwindle as the dishes stack up, your appetite never will. No matter how much miso soup is on tap read more