The new way of dining out: what will an evening look like?
The Netherlands is under the spell of the one-and-a-half-metre rule. Because what does a one-and-a-half-metre society look like? We’re only just getting used to it in the supermarket (sort of), but what does a one-and-a-half-metre restaurant or café entail?
Martine Kamsma takes a shot at describing that situation in NRC and sketches an evening out at a one-and-a-half-metre restaurant. And honestly, as Rob Geus would say: it doesn’t exactly cheer me up.
Queue at the door
Just as we currently queue outside the supermarket, we’ll soon be waiting at the door of our favourite restaurant, where we already had to reserve weeks in advance, by the way: although they work in shifts, there’s simply less space.
Half the atmosphere
Less space, fewer people, no groups, fixed shifts. That does something to the atmosphere. And while it will work perfectly well for some restaurants, for other places it will be an absolute mood killer. The hubbub and dynamism of slightly tipsy guests, servers walking back and forth, clinking glasses: it’s all just as much a part of a restaurant as the food and drinks being served.
The new way of serving
Speaking of serving: will that still be possible? Martine predicts trolleys from which we’ll have to take our own food. Picking it up from the pass could also be an option. Or will it become – à la Nicolette van Dam – a game of catch? Adeline can at least be happy about one thing: servers bending down are a thing of the past. They’ll have to explain the menu from one and a half metres away. Very unsociable. Or as Martine writes: ‘They no longer make small talk – there’s no intimacy at this distance.’
4x more expensive
The song by SMBG and Lil Kleine suddenly turns out to be extremely topical. Okay, it won’t all be four times more expensive, but prices have risen quite a bit in order to make everything at least somewhat bearable. There will undoubtedly also be places that keep their prices low, but the money has to come from somewhere, so you may be allowed to stay for an even shorter time or have to compromise on quality.
On the menu
According to Martine, the days of shared dining, buffets and finger food are over. I doubt that, after all: you share the food with the person at your table, not with the other guests, right? As long as you’re from the same household, that one-and-a-half-metre distance doesn’t apply at all. But yes, how do you prove that? And more importantly: how are restaurants supposed to find out? There is one other thing I do fear Martine is right about: farewell, biscuit with your coffee.
Different forms
This could be one of the possible one-and-a-half-metre restaurants, but of course many other types are possible. Eating between (plexiglass) screens, for example, or in separate booths like the ones you find at karaoke venues. Private dining could take off, and formerly ‘normal’ cafés might suddenly become speakeasy bars that you can only visit by appointment.
Square-metre parties
And well, where there’s a will, there’s a way, so after the illegal raves, illegal pop-up restaurants could well become a thing. Noise, crowds, conviviality: a place where not only physical hunger, but also skin hunger and hunger for what once was, are satisfied.
Or will we opt for the slightly more daring version: the square-metre parties that are already taking place. You ‘get’ a square metre that you’re allowed to move around in. Want to move so you can chat with someone else for a moment? Then you move like a living chess piece from B2 to A7. We’ll see.
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