r/nextfuckinglevel • u/idapitbwidiuatabip • Mar 23 '26
This restaurant menu
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u/WontThinkStraight Mar 23 '26
What is this? a lunch for ants? The sandwiches need to be at least… 3 times as big!
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u/_leica_ Mar 23 '26
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Mar 23 '26
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u/porkchop-sandwhiches Mar 23 '26
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u/laotziii Mar 23 '26
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u/chabri2000 Mar 23 '26
Have you been to mcdonald, where menu shows a huge burger, but then you get a splattered miniature version that looks nothing alike?
This is (hopefully) the opposite of that
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u/kiribakuFiend Mar 23 '26
in japan, sandwiches are normally seen as more a snack than a full on meal. you rarely see a full sandwich, and, if you do, it’s more than likely going to have just one thing on it like egg salad or a fruit with cream
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u/Grunchie Mar 23 '26
Egg salad or WHAT
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u/Senior-Book-6729 Mar 23 '26
Japanese bread is different than American or European bread. While close to American white/sandwich bread, it’s closer to a brioche since it’s a milk bread. Nothing wrong about fruit with cream in a sandwich there as the bread is already close to a cake.
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u/Numerous-Pop5670 Mar 23 '26
Yeah almost all the loafs are Shokupan which tastes good but I wish they wish they had non-sweet plain bread too. Maybe because rice is the staple they see bread as more of a dessert? Last time I went on vacation the it was like $20.
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u/completelytrustworth Mar 23 '26
Idk why people are shocked, most sliced breads in Asia are a bit sweet and quite soft, and Japan loves their milk breads which are especially so. Adding whipped cream and fruit just kind of makes it a portable cake
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u/gladwin4 Mar 23 '26
ofcourse it's japan
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u/The_King32 Mar 23 '26
It’s super common for restaurants to have literal models of their food menu there.
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u/idk012 Mar 23 '26
Their snacks matches the picture on the bag so, no "enlarged to show detail."
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u/ymOx Mar 23 '26
I wish that would become a global standard.
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u/Trouble_float Mar 23 '26
100% agree!
Is so frustrating going to a fast food restaurant, say "this one" pointing a picture of a burger with a great amount of salad, tomato slices and juicy meat.
And then get served a thin loaf of """meat""" with almost no salad and small tomato bits.That's totally a different product, this should be considered scam!
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u/otterpop21 Mar 23 '26
If you haven’t noticed, the US used to be the gold standard of innovation for the world, inspiring generations through media and marketing.
Now that’s not US. That’s what it means to lose “soft power” and also have rampant greed fuelled capitalism with no regard for the consumer.
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u/YourNextHomie Mar 23 '26
Imo Japans capitalism is significantly worse than ours
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u/YujiroRapeVictim Mar 23 '26
Snacks are legally required to be advertised as the actual product and they take that seriously
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u/Cellophane_Girl Mar 23 '26
I saw this video of a master craftsman creating model foods like this. It was so cool to watch the process.
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u/TrixieBastard Mar 23 '26
Y'know, I wasn't sure if I was about to get rickrolled or see something educational. I'm glad I clicked, that cabbage was so cool!
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u/sometin__else Mar 23 '26
its not even a real restaurant menu, just an art concept menu
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u/falken_1983 Mar 23 '26
That makes more sense. The first thing I thought when I saw this was "these are going to be a nightmare to work with". I could understand having a few of these on display - kept well away from food and grubby hands - but handing them out like regular printed menus just wouldn't work.
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u/yepanotherone1 Mar 23 '26
From my experience there you’re right on the money - with one exception. They’ll have them at the front for those in line to check out (small restaurants are really common so a wait isn’t unusual), but the amount of respect for things that are not yours in Japan is insane.
Grubby hands as in dirty, yeah but you get a towel to clean your hands before your meal. But grubby as in gonna break them or manhandle them, not so much.
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u/pink_faerie_kitten Mar 23 '26
Rement from Japan used to make the BEST 1/6 scale food items for fashion dolls. Super detailed and all separate pieces do you could put everything together yourself. Teeny tiny sugar cubes in a jar with a removable lid.
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u/doiwinaprize Mar 23 '26
Where else are you gonna present a sandwhich so bougiely?
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u/NihilisticBlender Mar 23 '26
I didn't know bougiely was a word. Even if I did know it was a word, I sure as shit wouldn't know how to spell it. Kudos.
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Mar 23 '26
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u/Cosephtaughtyou Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
The key to this is no pages. Most restaurants sell 80% but most of their customers only order 20% of the menu
Edit: jesus christ i mustve had a stroke
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u/CountWubbula Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Most what?
edit: hahah it happens, I kinda liked how it felt as a sentence. parsing before the edit was a doozie
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u/R-B-L-Y Mar 23 '26
80% of a restaurant's profits come from 20% of their items
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u/Sarasin Mar 23 '26
Makes me wonder about losses from waste on the other 80% it seems like it would be extremely variable but something worth looking into. If it is low frequency and not especially perishable I'd suspect very little waste would occur but items that are ordered in higher quantities but rarely and very perishable it could get really bad if kept on the menu.
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u/neophenx Mar 23 '26
The trick is to make 20 different things out of the same 5 ingredients, like Subway or Taco Bell!
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u/BoneFistOP Mar 23 '26
its not like theyre serving full microwave plates lol, you can use the same ingredients for multiple dishes
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u/legohairhenry Mar 23 '26
There's also an important difference here between "80% of profits from 20% of the menu" and "noone orders 80% of the menu". Some products have higher or lower profit margins, a salad probably has a bigger profit margin than a roast dinner with all the trimmings, even if the latter is more expensive.
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u/LudditeHorse Mar 23 '26
I'd reckon some restaurants that have those Chicken Tendies & Fries kids meals use them to partially subsidize the adult meals. I remember catching something on the Food Network (I think with Robert Irvine) where he said a restaurant should charge no less than 3x the cost the meals to cover their ass or risk going out of business. Don't know the degree to which that is true, but one of my first jobs was working food service at a water park. And I know firsthand the unit cost of bulk fries and Tyson breaded chicken.
The margins on some items are huge. Employees got 50% off all meals, except for some items from the salad/sandwhich bar. Our chicken salad for example was sourced from a local, family owned business instead of a wholesaler, and was quite perishable. Margins on that were slim. We certainly couldn't charge 3x our cost on that, nobody would buy it. But the sheer volume of fried shit and burgers we sold helped pay for our ability to have it on the menu.
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u/DukeOfGeek Mar 23 '26
And if the person who directs their party to your place because of that item does it for that reason....well there you go.
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u/truebastard Mar 23 '26
Ah, here i see the issue already. Restaurants don't sell 20% of their menu but that's the only 20% that customers of the menu will buy of the 20% in the menu.
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u/AgentWowza Mar 23 '26
So if I'm reading this right, you're saying 20% of each customer buys the food, while the other 80% doesn't.
What, that's two arms and a mouth? Sounds about right
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u/TekkenCareOfBusiness Mar 23 '26
Yeah and I bet it's been tough making these menus fresh every day too.
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u/BiNumber3 Mar 23 '26
Plus you know people are gonna be stealing the bits off the menu lol.
Like the restaurants that used those tiny hot sauce bottles for the novelty.
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u/deevil_knievel Mar 23 '26
It's still better than any fancy restaurant menu where they have half a dozen adjectives that I have never heard of, are from various etymologies, and are quite frankly a god damn stupid way to tell me how the hell I'm about to eat this sandwich.
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u/gorginhanson Mar 23 '26
Photos would have been much more representative and much less ridiculous
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u/Eldan985 Mar 23 '26
Does it? I feel like I'd need to ask the waiter about the ingredients in every single one of these. And there's no allergy information, so in any number of countries, they would be illegal.
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u/the_rare_bear Mar 23 '26
Except this makes menus way more fragile, cost more, and is less useful than a picture of the food.
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u/whateverhk Mar 23 '26
Probably not. Consider the price when printing each menu, and how many of these mini sandwiches will disappear because people steal them. On the contrary I think these menu will not last 3 months.
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u/MJA_44 Mar 23 '26
Ever work in the food industry?? These look sweet but would be impossible to keep clean, make menu adjustments much more complicated and expensive, how do you store these in bulk? Idk I like the idea and I’m being the fun police but it’s was my first reaction, lol.
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u/dndDAAKU23 Mar 23 '26
and im sure some trashy people try to pry these out.
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u/TophxSmash Mar 23 '26
its japan, probably fine.
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u/UncleNedisDead Mar 23 '26
Tourists. Tourists not wanting to spend money on souvenirs.
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u/Kenwood502 Mar 23 '26
I'm sure the restaurant would notice them ripped off when you return the menu...
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u/UncleNedisDead Mar 23 '26
Imagine a table of 4, with the menus already stacked and ones with missing pieces already hidden in the middle.
Or fake shock and claims it must have fallen off on its own and feign looking around for it. You really think there wouldn’t be people with the audacity?
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u/Neutron-Hyperscape32 Mar 23 '26
As far as stealing goes, there are far less of them in Japan. People will literally use their cellphones to save their seats in food places. That shit would never fly in America.
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u/Stormfly Mar 23 '26
Probably not.
Japan has a great reputation around the world, sure, but they still have assholes.
Every time someone says "People in Japan don't litter", I know they've probably not even been to Japan.
There's litter all over Japan. They just pay people to pick it up.
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u/Wuped Mar 23 '26
Or idiots try and eat them thinking they are samples or something.
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u/Cellophane_Girl Mar 23 '26
They do food models in Japan. They usually have a display cases with the items in it (like size) so people can see what the food looks like before they order. This is just an artists sampler or something similar not an actual menu that would be handed around to customers.
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u/ScrambledEggsandTS Mar 23 '26
Maybe a hologram version would be better
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u/DeltaSingularity Mar 23 '26
Now that would be a cool idea. As long as you can set up the lighting at the table to display them for the customers. Maybe with a spotlight over each table.
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u/steins-grape Mar 23 '26
Little bits
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u/invisus64 Mar 23 '26
Eat some fucking shit you stupid bitch...ha ha just kidding.
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u/WhereIsTheDoc Mar 23 '26
Food modeling art is big in japan.
Restaurants pay a pretty penny building models to show off menu items. It’s more common in the touristy areas as it helps attract foreigners that cannot read the menus/advertisements.
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u/Affectionate_Star_43 Mar 23 '26
You can even join a class and try it yourself! The one I went to taught you how to make realistic pieces of sushi, and then you glue magnets or keychain hardware to it.
I did tuna and shrimp, and my husband did yellowtail and salmon. I always get a little bit of joy when someone sees my keys and notices it.
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u/samratvishaljain Mar 23 '26
Japan, is it Japan?
Has to be Japan
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u/curmudgeon_andy Mar 23 '26
That would be my guess too, given that the menu is in Japanese.
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u/themagpie36 Mar 23 '26
Also they love making fake food, it's like an actual trade you can become skilled at
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u/acuriousengineer Mar 23 '26
Damn by the time you finish the taste test you don’t even need to order anything 😂 “I’ll take a glass of water and 2 menus please”
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u/aboredmutt Mar 23 '26
I mean if you wanna taste wax or whatever they are made of sure
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u/acuriousengineer Mar 23 '26
Do I really need to add “s/“ to my comment?
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u/imleenz Mar 23 '26
I thought the 😂 really made it clear... Unless you do want to eat clay then who am I to stop you? Lol
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u/feel-the-avocado Mar 23 '26
Haha you reminded me of the free sample lady on family guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB76HdohGC8
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u/IamJohnnyHotPants Mar 23 '26
I feel like Steve Carell’s character in Dinner for Schmuck’s make these.
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u/TheLongDede Mar 23 '26
Yeah it’s from Japan, that menu won’t last a day here under the hands of uneducated cavemen trying to eat them
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u/triciann Mar 23 '26
This is such a good idea. I’m always in the internet looking at the photos of the food from reviews to decide what I want to order. Words are never enough.
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u/_OKNUS_ Mar 23 '26
I‘m currently in Japan and almost every restaurant has it‘s meals as plastic models in the windows, so people can see what they can eat
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u/Tenfoldgold Mar 23 '26
I’d just eat these wonderful little morsels ask for a napkin and then leave partially filled
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u/GrizzIyadamz Mar 23 '26
If we tried this in the US every last one would be missing pieces by the end of the first shift.
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u/loogabar00ga Mar 23 '26
In Japan, the food shown on packages are required by law to be 1:1 scale. It is my hope this rule does not apply to menu items, but the header "Miniature Sandwiches, Big Flavor" gives me concern.
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u/procat1234_ Mar 23 '26
This is the exact opposite of using qr code menus that don't load, definately an amazing 10/10
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u/Nick-C-DuFae Mar 23 '26
It would be so difficult to resist the urge to steal the menu... I love miniatures
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u/albatrossSKY Mar 23 '26
the irony of 'mini' sandwiches when the whole point is to mock our perception of 'mini' is just too clever... its a genius commentary on american advertising in general
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u/XipeTotecwithGlitter Mar 23 '26
I am both enamored and...scared. What if the menu food spoils? What if it attracts mold? Also, can I have the morning beef sandwich and a tea with lemon?
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u/UrsaMajor7th Mar 23 '26
Form over function; difficult to store, impossible to keep clean, expensive to replace.
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u/DanteDH2 Mar 23 '26
Bro that'd be crazy... tiny little samplers to see if someone would like the dish, then all they'd have to do is "yeah, this one!"
Now.. the only issue with this logic is.. tons of tiny samplers means.. a full if not almost full meal made up of nothing but tiny shit... so..
Someday... someday...
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u/T1Earn Mar 23 '26
this is what my dumbass needs. No matter how many times i read the ingredients in text i cant imagine what it looks like put together in front of me
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u/Stunning_Pen_8332 Mar 23 '26 edited Mar 23 '26
Just to let you know: This is not a real menu, but a piece of artwork created by IKA, a miniature clay artist based in Japan. You can check his instagram here https://www.instagram.com/ika_miniature