Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Dim Sum Automat

Retro futuristic design meets asian cuisine
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The automat concept fits well with dim sum chinese food in that you go up to the serving area and look into the little windows and choose whatever food looks good. Open the window and help yourself, and when you're done eating you pay the attendant based on how many plates, bowls and cups you've accumulated.
jaksplat, Dec 15 2004

for [neilp]: Waiterless Restaurant Waiterless_20Restaurant
[jurist, Dec 15 2004]

An automat http://www.dr.dk/p1...2003/12/automat.jpg
I think this is what he means. Looks like a big vending machine, but staffed behind the scenes. [wagster, Dec 15 2004]

Automat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automat
by wikipedia [calum, Dec 15 2004]

One of these http://www.si.edu/r...q/where/automat.htm
[skinflaps, Dec 15 2004]

theautomat.com http://www.theautomat.com/index2.html
[jaksplat, Dec 15 2004]

[link]






       What's an automat?
harderthanjesus, Dec 15 2004
  

       It automatically wipes your feet with dim sum?
skinflaps, Dec 15 2004
  

       I think Vending Machines have been done before ?
neilp, Dec 15 2004
  

       [neilp] You would probably have to be older than forty to appreciate that Automats and Vending Machines differ significantly in terms of freshness, food quality, and human contact. We have discussed some of those differences on earlier ideas. To put it in popular context, I always think of Doris Day and Audrey Meadows in "That Touch of Mink" (1962).
jurist, Dec 15 2004
  

       hey [jurist], I'm not (older than forty).. erm.. is this an actual idea from [jaksplat] ?
neilp, Dec 15 2004
  

       I would appreciate it if you linked said ideas or told me what an automat is.
harderthanjesus, Dec 15 2004
  

       I suspect we maay be wasting our time [harderthan].
neilp, Dec 15 2004
  

       //I suspect we maay be wasting our time [harderthan].//   

       [neilp] & [htj]: This was brought up as recently as five days ago on the "Waiterless Restaurant" idea. The Horn and Hardart link posted there is a good starting point for reference.[link]
jurist, Dec 15 2004
  

       [wagster], [calum], [skinflaps]: Those are all good links, but all seem to focus on the space-age designs promulgated in those dark & sorta desperate design days following the launch of Sputnik and before Neil Armstrong placed a boot on the lunar surface. Prior to Sputnik, the world was only half as dreary. Doris Day was a beacon, and any salad purchased from a Horn and Hardart Automat was crisp (even if it included a scoop of cottage cheese and half a Cling peach.)
jurist, Dec 15 2004
  

       I first saw this idea in a sci-fi movie called dark city and I thought it'd be a cool way to eat asian food such as dim sum or sushi. Everyone is familiar with eating in a cafeteria and this is similar. I really think this could work in a big city like L.A. or san francisco.
jaksplat, Dec 15 2004
  

       [marked-for-deletion] err. the automat exists, it's designed to put food in, and you're suggesting putting food in it.
or WIBNTTISIAM or similar.
neilp, Dec 15 2004
  

       well what else would you put in it? antimatter? and automats are extinct, or at least i've never seen one, other than in a movie.
jaksplat, Dec 16 2004
  

       Well, these are supposed to be original invention ideas.
bristolz, Dec 16 2004
  

       I've seen very few truly original ideas on this site. some of the very best ideas were inspired by someone else's idea. An original twist on an old idea coulld launch an empire.
jaksplat, Dec 16 2004
  

       That could well be true but I don't think it applies in the case of an automat stocked with dim sum instead of pastrami.
bristolz, Dec 16 2004
  

       OK, OK, we'll get robots to cook the food, dress up the attendants like geishas, design the dining room like a zen garden and make people buy their food with ninja star shaped fun tokens.
jaksplat, Dec 16 2004
  

       The automat counter could be broken up into little roving robot carts, similar to real Dim Sum. I can see that this idea hasn't been popular, but... how can (you not*) love automats, or dim sum?   

       *whoops, got ahead of myself there.
tiromancer, Dec 16 2004
  

       I LOVE dim sum - and used to eat it at every opportunity with soy and that chilli sauce that you only seem to find in Chinese restaurants. There was this one place in Geneva that after the dim sum course, served 2 huge salted-chilli prawns that you ordered by the gram - absolutely fantastic.   

       I think the concept of automat-meets-dim-sum is, when viewed as a whole, rather than a sum of its parts, an original enough idea to avoid sanction, and think it could compete with other minimal restaurants like Yo Sushi or Wagamama.
zen_tom, Dec 16 2004
  

       *sobbing* My favorite dim sum restaurant closed down just a few weeks ago! [jak], I'll give you a croissant if the Automat dim sum is as good as or better than my lost restaurant's.
Machiavelli, Dec 17 2004
  
      
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