Day 20. Dining and Teppanyaki

Day 2o. Today I begin to show my face more in the service area, which means I actually get to learn how to serve customers the proper way and what nots. Well I have to be honest, it was pretty terrifying because we all know in fact that it is really hard to serve and speak in Japanese. And when we are dealing with actual Japanese customers, it makes it about 10 times harder because our service methods are being observed constantly by the customers and we have to be very careful when serving them, trying not to offend them and so on.

The dining area is pretty scary at first. I have absolutely no idea what to do and how to serve the customers. Apart from that, the greeting in Japanese seemed pretty much like alien language to me. So yeah, I was having a hard time. But I soon learned to just calm down and relax, slowly adapting to the new environment I was facing. At least I know what should be done at first. Get the hot oshibori which are the face towels and serve them immediately when the customer is seated. Like within 2 minutes. Next, the person passing the menu would have to ask for the beverages, whether it is hot or cold ocha, which is Japanese green tea, or plain water maybe. So again within 2 minutes, the beverages have to be served. And all food orders are to be served together. So there you go. That's my basic knowledge on Japanese restaurant serving. The rest are prolly about the same as the normal serving methods. So apart from that, I should be just about fine :)

After break, I was assigned to the Teppanyaki area. Something which is pretty new to me because I have no idea what it's all about seriously. And yeah, it's kinda different compared to the normal dining area. We'd only have to worry about the appetizers and the desserts because the main course are all obviously served there. However, we still have to get the miso soup from the kitchen. Apart from that, the table setting is also slightly different because the cutleries and the apron are placed on the tray, which is already available on the table counter itself. So yeah, customers would eat from the side plate placed on the tray. Teppanyaki is all about a live cooking show I would say, so aprons are given to customers just so they don't get their clothes dirty or something. The food I would say is pretty good. But of course the price is even better. No comments really. Just something I wouldn't be eating anytime soon. Not with my financial status. Nope :P

And that's about it for today. I managed to learn alot more I guess. We'll just have to see what tomorrow brings. A whole new day, a whole new experience :)