Agreed. If they have a small 2 person table I’m okay with that, but definitely not taking up a 4 person table if it’s pretty busy
It’s happened to me extremely rarely. And only at places where people were drinking a lot and eating. Now that I think more about it, mostly Sundays in the Philippines haha
Flying to Manila on the 31st. I like the Philippines
I’ve been eating alone for decades and it’s not weird at all to me, with 2 exceptions.
- Taking a table during the dinner rush, especially if it’s a four top. Waitstaff hate that.
- At a nicer restaurant in China. The waitresses will openly point and laugh at you.
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Someone was posting on Reddit comparing Japan to Korea and the premise was if you had a terrible outfit on in Japan they would say that you looked nice. In Korea they would say you should wear something else.
They didn’t didn’t do China, but I’m pretty sure it would be ‘you look like an fcking idiot’ 
If you’re a foreigner, you’d get away with it though because you’re weird by default there.
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What do you eat there? I can’t get into Filipino food.
Yeah sure, just more of a commentary on the politeness/bluntness of the countries
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Ehh it’s not great, but there’s some good pork dishes, anything adobo, lumpia. Fresh fish. I haven’t been in 7 years though. I eat chicken adobo a lot!
My theory is that Filipino food messes with people’s expectations of Asian food because it is very meat-centric and not at all spicy. Plus, they like sour and bitter flavors.
Bourdain seemed to like it
Bourdain also said the whole pig he had in the Philippines was the best he ever had.
I feel like this is the 10th time it’s come up, but Jollibee is by far the worst fast food I’ve ever had, and possibly the worst food I’ve ever had. It was inedible. The flavor combinations were…unacceptable.
Yeah, definitely co-sign on that.
Of course it would be unfair to judge Filipino food by Jollibee. Just like it would be unfair to judge American food by White Castle. However, standard Filipino food isn’t great. I do like lumpia, though. Can’t really mess that up.
Filipino cuisine is also a mix of Chinese, Spanish, and American cuisines which is a very unusual combination when adjusted to the sensibilities of the people I guess.
Personally, I didn’t mind the Filipino restaurant in Prague but apparently it didn’t make enough money to stay open during the pandemic.
Japanese restaurants do sometimes institute “AI-SEKI” shared-table seating during crowded times at cramped restaurants. In such cases, the Japanese way is to simply pretend the other party doesn’t exist rather than attempt to strike up a conversation.
Possibly. I think most of those countries were in Latin America, and possibly even Australia, though it’s been a while so don’t remember exactly.
Nah this seems totally fair. Americans deserve this.
White Castle gotta be slightly above average US meal imo.
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Eating at the bar alone is fantastic if the bartender isn’t swamped and feels like chit chat.
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I booked a room near the airport in Incheon for my last night in Korea bc it’s so damn far away from Seoul. I missed the last train here and had to pay for a very expensive taxi last night, then I missed my flight this morning. I suck at this.
Maybe a part of you just doesn’t want to leave.