The Flickr Ethnicrestaurant Image Generatr

I am on a fireflies watching tour in Kuala Selangor. Done with the Malawati village in Kuala Selangor, some 90 min out of KL and then taken up the hill to Bukit Malawati (Malawati Hill) to feed the monkeys, and to look at the sea of Selangor from the hill top, we have now been brought to the quaint little fishing village of Kampung Kuantan for an early seafood dinner. The food was quite good, and was cooked in Thai style. I decided to walk around the fishing village while the others in our group finish their meal. I noticed that ours was just one among a line of restaurants in the village- they are apparently run only for tour groups, as there was barely anyone else in the village. (Kuala Selangor, Malaysia, Sept. 2023)

Far view of the Hornbill Cafe, purposely shot a bit off centre to show the restaurant's name sign, which is visible just above the red car to the right. I had made it a point to eat at the Hornbill Cafe this time at the KL Bird Park in KL, Malaysia. This is my third visit to this large 21 acre park which holds over 3,000 from 200 species- with my love for birds and nature, the KL Bird Park has always been an essential place of pilgrimage for me whenever I visit KL. I had always dismissed the Hornbill Cafe as one of those overpriced cafes located inside parks, but I decided to check it out anyway. Oh my, surprise, surprise! This very interesting restaurant is attached to, but is located outside the park and has a pleasant period atmosphere. The elderly manager was very friendly, and managed to keep his smile and charm despite the lunch time crowds at the restaurant. (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sept. 2023)

Adayar Ananda Bhavan, a restaurant and sweets/ savouries outlet, native to south India- here in the Little India part of Brickfields in KL, Malaysia. This is one of the more popular mid range eateries in south India and they also have have several restaurants in the US, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and other countries. Back to the Brickfields district of KL, Malaysia, this place is home to Little India- a colorful maze of Indian owned businesses like textile shops and jewellery stores, mid range and budget restaurants serving dosa pancakes and banana-leaf thali meals. Other typical business here include spice shops, grocery outlets, sweet and snacks shops, textile shops, goldsmiths, hotels, restaurants, food stalls, printing establishments and even flower stalls. An Indian Hindu temple is located here as well. (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sept. 2023)

Popular restaurant in downtown Schenectady, New York.

With no space inside the diminutive sushi bars, these two Japanese lasses here in Shibuya have decided to eat standing up, right on the sidewalk. I wonder how long they had to line up to get the food though. They are eating a corn dog or a cheese stick or some such, and the signboard of the of the cafe is just very slightly visible behind the girl in black. Notes about the Shibuya district along with more photos appeared earlier in this album (see previous pictures) and will also appear later as we go along. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

Tourists pause briefly to examine the extensive menu options on offer in the Orion restaurant, another of those typical traditional/ ethnic eateries in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. This restaurant seems to have substituted pictures for those 3D plating displays in it's show window. Notes about the Shibuya district along with more photos appeared earlier in this album (see previous pictures) and will also appear later as we go along. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

A crowd outside a sushi bar in Shibuya. This is one of the larger ones- most of the others are less than one fourth the size! It's always a queue to get to the counter or inside the cafe but this is one of the shorter lines you could encounter. I had put in a picture earlier in this album about quite a line to enter a tiny basement sushi place along with pictures of one particular lady getting pretty pissed- see previous pictures earlie in this album. Notes about the Shibuya district along with more photos appeared earlier in this album (see previous pictures) and will also appear later as we go along. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

We have come across scores of these all over Tokyo already, and so why should the Takeshita fashion street be any different? Here is an attractive display case of a local Japanese restaurant on Takeshita street with their plastic food plating displays. Many of the pre teens seemed to prefer street food though, but cafes like this were pretty well subscribed as well. Detailed notes about the Takeshita fashion street appeared earlier in this album. (see previous pictures). (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

A large restaurant in Ameya- Yokocho with those plastic food plating displays again! I have featured enough pictures of these plastic plating displays already throughout this Tokyo album (see previous pictures earlier in this album), so I will save you the commentary and simply let you enjoy the picture. Detailed notes about the Ameyoko market appeared earlier in this album. (see previous pictures). (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

There we go, those plastic food displays again! This is outside a restaurant in the Habikicho district of Tokyo. This is supposed to be Tokyo's wildest red light district, the going has been good so far, no sign of any red light activity just yet, no low life scumbags of the Yakuzi mafia either! Lets see as we walk along through this district. Luckily it's afternoon, so the vice areas are not up and running as yet I guess. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

A large deli or cafe on the way from Ginza square to the metro station. Although Ginza is one of the busiest and most crowded upmarket shopping areas of the city, I am at the fag end of Ginza now. The area around this deli looks rather deserted. Also thanks to some construction work being carried out at this end of Ginza, and the resultant barriers and blockades in place as we approach the metro station, this end of Ginza looked surprisingly rural! This deli seemed to specialize more in tea and cakes rather than full meals. Notes about the Ginza district appeared earlier in this album. (see previous pictures) (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

A relative empty entrance to a building with a host of eateries in it as indicated by the many signs in the picture. Most eateries are on the upper floors which had very few takers at that hour. I was amazed to see the sheer number of cafes, bars and entertainment establishments advertising themselves as on 2F, 3F or even 4F. I would personally be wary of going right up to the 4th floor to find a cafe (though the Nataraj Indian restaurant I ate at earlier was on the 2nd floor), but that is apparently not a problem in Japan. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

Plastic food plating in a restaurant show window is a standard feature all over Japan and so here is one in the busy Shibuya area! Despite the convenience of ready metro connections and so many food outlets and other convenient options in this district, real estate here in Shibuya is eye wateringly expensive and the hotels in fact so expensive that you should be sitting on wads adn wads of cash if you want to stay in this area. So rather than a place to stay, Shibuya is more suited towards sightseeing, eating ethnic Japanese cuisine (if you can tolerate the long queues outside each cafe) and for a spot of upmarket shopping. Notes about the Shibuya district along with more photos appeared earlier in this album (see previous pictures) and will also appear later as we go along. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

Apparently I was not the only one pissed off at the long queue of diners waiting to enter a tiny sushi and traditional Japanese foods cafe. This lady- possibly a Chinese tourist- appeared rather pissed at the crowds as well. She was standing there looking rather irritated and was right in front of my camera, so I just pressed the shutter. Thank good ness the picture came out pretty well! I am in the upmarket Shibuya area of Tokyo, Japan, notes and pictures of which appear before and after this picture. (see previous and subsequent images in this album). (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

A group pf Chinese tourists stops to look at the menu display outside a tiny cafe on a side street just of the Shibuya crossing. There were not many people in this cafe for a change. The cafe seems to be selling doner kebab (shawarma)- which I initially odd but later noticed all over Tokyo. Doner or shawarma is meat on a split, which is sliced and put into pita bread and served with salads, pickles and condiments, rolled up into a sandwich. You can faintly make out the meat on the spit dead centre. This type of sandwich is called doner in Turkey, shawarma in most Arabian countries and souvlaki in Greece. It is still fairly early in the day so I'm not sure the meat would be roasted and ready yet. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

After that unsuccessful attempt at finding headphones in the store I'd just come out of- it was a fashion mall with no electronics- I decided it was time to break for lunch. I had been in Japan for two days now and hadn't had any sushi yet, for the simply reason almost all the sushi or traditional Japanese cafes I had seen so far were tiny with long queues outside to get in. Just look at the line up of people trying to get in here! That was enough to put me off, as that would be a total waste of time, especially as I had much ground to cover yet, so I decided to seek out an alternative. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

I am looking for a place to eat in the crowded Shibuya area of Tokyo and what I have in front of me is a rather crowded sushi place with a long queue of people to get in. The lady in yellow appeared quite pissed at the crowd. (see previous picture). Sensing her frustration, a friendly restaurant staff tries to direct her towards the queue to get into the tiny basement cafe. I am in the upmarket Shibuya area of Tokyo, Japan, notes and pictures of which appear before and after this picture. (see previous and subsequent images in this album). (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

I am outside a rather crowded sushi restaurant in the Shibuya area of Tokyo and am rather pissed at the long line up of people to get in. A Chinese tourist appeared as exasperated as i was but sensing this, one of the friendly restaurant staff was trying to get her to join the queue. (see previous pictures). You can clearly see him pointing towards the queue here. The lady soon joined the queue to enter (or at least that's what I think) but I decided to move on and look elsewhere. After all, I had much ground to cover and spending this much time in a queue would be a total waste of time. I am in the upmarket Shibuya area of Tokyo, Japan, notes and pictures of which appear before and after this picture. (see previous and subsequent images in this album). (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

An European (I presume) tourist looks at the menu of a tiny local eatery in the Shibuya district of Tokyo before entering the cafes. Actually if you strain your eyes a bit, you can see that the cafe is already quite full with Chinese tourists, so this gentleman is probably lining up outside the cafe, awaiting his turn while reading the menu to pass his time. Notes about the Shibuya district along with more photos appeared earlier in this album (see previous pictures) and will also appear later as we go along. (Tokyo, Japan, Apr/ May 2019)

So this is my bown of uber spicy soup at the Kaomai Lanna Resort in Chiang Mai. Cooked in true north Thailand style, it literally blew the roof of my mouth, though my guide Kiki assured me that he had asked them to make it mild as I would probably not be used to too much heat, and this is certainly a more mild version of what is generally of offer. Still, despite being from India, and eating spicy food from local Indian restaurants here in Dubai all the time, the heat, even this so called mild heat- was too much for me to handle. I think I age more rice with the soup than I have ever done before! But all in all, the ferocious heat aside, the soup was pretty good. (Chiang Mai, north Thailand, Oct. 2018)