The pandemic has made a tremendous impact everywhere. From our own lifestyle to how different industries operate, every aspect of the world has been affected. The way we relax and unwind from work has changed too in the past two years. For instance, the functioning of restaurants and eateries has been drastically hit. Being a place to socialise, restaurants and bars had to take all precautions to ensure that we enjoy our time stress-free, rather contact-free. From scan menus to maintaining social distancing and other aspects of contactless dining, several precautions have been taken by restaurants across the world to minimise the chances of catching the virus.
A restaurant in Japan, however, has gone a step ahead and managed to create a unique kind of experience in order to maintain social distancing. A village of restaurants in Japan's Nagano prefecture has come up with private Igloo-shaped domes, called Kamakura, for diners, and we can’t get enough of the images. This dreamy concept not just facilitates the concept of social distancing besides offering a unique dining experience, but also has several interesting twists to it.
Every year, in the month of February, Iiyama in Japan sees the construction of about 20 odd Igloo huts for the 450-year-old Yokote Snow Festival. These huts serve as private dining areas for visitors who come here to enjoy winter sports via a two-hour train ride from Tokyo. Inside each igloo is an altar to honour the water gods and pray for plenty of clear water, besides offerings of sake and rice cakes. The special item that features on the menu of these igloo huts is Noroshi Nabe, a local recipe that dates back several hundred years. It is basically a hot pot with miso and vegetables, with mushroom and pork meat dipped in.
The unique bit is that this restaurant pops up only in the winter season, and later is replaced by rice fields. For health and safety purposes, each Igloo can house a maximum of four people only. Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?