The List
7 Appetizing Anime Restaurants
by Lynzee Loveridge,
Anime is full of tasty restaurants that have seemingly grown in popularity as more and more series centered around cooking make it to the airwaves. There are even eateries staffed almost entirely by fluffy animals or attractive bakers. Since I wrote the first restaurant anime column in 2013, I think it's about time to dust this topic off and see what new outlets are open for business.
Baratie (One Piece) This fish-shaped vessel can only be found on the open ocean where Zeff and his 23 exiled cooks serve up culinary delights and knuckle sandwiches to anyone who tries to make off without paying. The ship initially includes three floors, a restaurant, kitchen, and housing quarters for the crew. After the show's time skip, the restaurant expands to include an additional dessert submarine and another secondary ship-restaurant serving hot plates. If you can avoid the flying knives and seasickness, Baratie is the best restaurant on the ocean.
Russia Sushi (Durarara!) After eating all the traditional offerings at the regular conveyor-belt sushi places, Russia Sushi offers up a more unique menu for adventurous patrons. Don't get me wrong, you can get some of the regular staples at Denis' restaurant, but why stick to plain old nagiri when you can try fried chicken sushi, prosciutto sushi, or even cheese sushi?
Casetta dell'Orso (Ristorante Paradiso) If you checked out ACCA last year, I invite you to try Natsume Ono's earlier work, which is also full of refined gentlemen, even if they happen to be approaching retirement age. The show stars a 21-year-old apprentice cook who ends up working at Casetta dell'Orso after graduating culinary school. The restaurant serves up fine wine, Italian cuisine, and distinguished eye candy for anyone seeking a quaint place to enjoy a meal in Rome.
Soma's Food Cart (Food Wars! The Third Plate) Food Wars! offers perhaps the biggest variety of dishes to drool over. Most of the focus lies within the school grounds itself, but viewers are treated to a few actual restaurants during the Stagiare arc and the Moon Banquet Festival. In the first cour of the anime's third season, Sōma faces expulsion once again if can't pull enough customers during the festival, and to make matters worse, he's up against the king of Chinese cuisine, Terunori Kuga. Undeterred, Sōma sets up a food cart right on Kuga's doorstep and invents Time Fuse Mapo Curry Noodles and Hujiao Bing. The results are drool-worthy.
Yōshoku no Nekoya (Restaurant to Another World) Come for the Western-style dishes, stay for the people (or dragon)-watching. Yōshoku no Nekoya might seem like a run-of-the-mill restaurant to Western viewers where much of this fare is available any local Denny's. While the restaurant doesn't have a Grand Slam breakfast on the menu, you aren't going to find these kinds of world-hopping customers anywhere else. Yōshoku no Nekoya's door appears in different fantasy worlds once a week. On each of those days, some otherworldly denizen inevitably stops in to get their usual, from lizardmen to wizards.
Nobu (Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World)On the other hand, Nobu offers up some of the same sights as Yōshoku no Nekoya; otherwordly adventures stop in for rest and resuscitation. Unlike Nekoya though, this isn't fantasy-Denny's, it's more like fantasy-Cheers. Nobu is a bar where hot food and cold beer are the highlights. This isn't a place serving roasted peanuts and cold nachos. Nobu's food is both delicious and filling, with menu items like potatoes in oden and juicy fried chicken.
Tawara Noodles (Poco's Udon World) This family-owned udon shop is a bit hard to access, because it's located out in the boonies of Kagawa, Japan's smallest prefecture. Despite its small size, Kagawa is home to over 700 udon restaurants. Tawara Noodles could just be another little boat in a sea of udon, but it offers something its customers can't find anywhere else. That something is Poco, an adorable little boy with magical qualities. He's actually a shape-shifting tanuki who adds a sense of warmth to the overall restaurant. Not that you'd need much to convince me to chow down on udon.
The old poll: Which of the Sakura-Con/Anime Boston announced new manga/light novel series are you most excited to read
- After the Rain
- Dragon Ball: That Time I Got Reincarnated as Yamcha!
- Katanagatari
- Kabukimonogatari
- Ao Haru Ride
- Do You Like Your Mom? Her Normal Attack is Two Attacks at Full Power
- Record of Grancrest War
- Hakumei and Mikochi
- Ran and the Gray World
- Serial Killer Detective
- The Dark Maidens
- Super Human High Schoolers Are in Another World, But Seem to be Living in Comfort!
- Chio's School Road
- Interspecies Reviewers
- Radiant
- Abara
When she isn't compiling lists of tropes, topics, and characters, Lynzee works as the Managing Interest Editor for Anime News Network and posts pictures of her sons on Twitter @ANN_Lynzee.
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