Originally Posted by robyng

I see you're from Germany. On our last trip to Germany - we didn't see a single camera at the 2 3 star restaurants we dined at (Vendome and Dieter Muller). Or the lesser restaurants either. Of course - that was in 2007 - and cameras are much more common now.

These restaurants are kind of formal. Perhaps there is something about the new trend of "higher end" dining at counters (obviously not new in Japan but new elsewhere) that encourages people to be casual and kind of oblivious or even rude when it comes to how they relate to the people sitting next to them. Because people from some places - including the United States - think of counter dining as a place to have a quick meal where you read your newspaper (or electronic equivalent) - talk on your cellphone - etc. - etc. - and kind of ignore the people around you. Perhaps formal is better?

Off topic - but the food we had in Germany on our last trip was ^^^. It was spargel season too (for people who don't know what spargel is - see for example http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/...pargelzeit.cfm). What a treat . Robyn