Dining out, at a distance

Bars, cafes and restaurants are still closed here, but other countries are cautiously opening them back up, with some fun responses to the challenges they face.

This restaurant in Bangkok uses cartoon dragon dolls as space keepers for social distancing – Design You Trust
These guests look special! They are green, they have wings and they don’t say a word. The dragons are of course not living beings, but figures. The owner of a restaurant in the country of Thailand in Asia has placed them at the tables in his restaurant.

Restaurant finds a genius way to help their customers feel less lonely while social distancing using pandas – Bored Panda
Maison Saigon placed plush pandas in the restaurant so that people have to sit at a safe distance. Also, if you come to eat alone, you have some company. The rules and regulations are changing rapidly and most of us are confused about what to do and how to be safe, so this idea is a charming and smart way to make sure everyone is being protected from the virus.

Restaurant to reopen with cardboard customers to make diners comfortable – Sunrise
Five Dock Dining owner Frank Angeletta has placed cardboard customers in empty seats around the venue. He’s also prepared ambient background noise, including chatter and the sounds of clinking cutlery, to play in the background. “We really wanted to add some atmosphere and give diners that realistic dining experience,” he told Sunrise. “The cut outs and background noise are a bit eerie when you first walk in – but once you’re sitting down it’s a bit of fun.”

Cafe in Germany gives customers hats with pool noodles to keep them apart – Bored Panda
The owner of “Café Rothe Schwerin”, Jacqueline Rothe, went the extra mile and came up with an ingenious idea to make sure the patrons keep their distance—pool noodles! Yup, you read that right. The business is using pool noodles attached to customers’ hats to help them with social distancing! She also clarified that this was a one-time event only for the reopening of the cafe and the guests don’t wear the hats regularly.

Don’t quite know what to make of this, though.

Mask in a restaurant? This one can gobble like Pac-Man – Reuters
Israeli inventors have developed a coronavirus mask with a remote control mouth that lets diners eat food without taking it off, a device they say could make a visit to a restaurant less risky.

I think I’ll stick to takeaways for now…

Update 05/06/2020

Spotted another.

Burger King debuts ‘social-distance crowns’ in Germany as restaurants test quirky ways to keep customers apart – Business Insider
“We wanted to reinforce the rules of high safety and hygiene standards that the BK restaurants are following,” a Burger King representative told Business Insider. “The do-it-yourself social-distance crown was a fun and playful way to remind our guests to practice social distancing while they are enjoying food in the restaurants.”