Lack of 'Eat-In' Asian cuisine restaurants?

Question

I live in London, and we have many Asian takeaways, but very few eat-in Chinese or Japanese cuisine restaurants. Is there a reason for this? Is this just a British thing, or do other countries notice a shortage in their cities too? Do people consider ethnic cuisine fast food, as opposed to gourmet food?

(I love tofu/bean curd!)

Answer 1

It might just be a British thing. Everywhere I have lived in California, Asian restaurants have sit down dining as well as take out or delivery, sometimes. In fact, the only restaurants I can think of that only have take out are cheap pizza restaurants (like Domino's and Little Caesar's). Even almost every fast food restaurant has table seating.

I think it might just be a cultural thing. Here, when people think of fast food they think of hamburgers. Ethnic food is less commonly eaten here than in London, so for many people it is an occasional treat. In the small town I used to live in, the best restaurant in town was an ok but not great Chinese restaurant.

Answer 2

It must be the area you are in, or it may be England in general (I live in USA). The town I live in used to be that way, but over the last ten years, we have gotten many more ethnic sit down restaurants-Tibetan, Japanese, Chinese (soo much better than 'fast food' Chinese), Thai....all kinds of goodies. Try looking in your surrounding towns. If other ethnic restaurants in the area get good business, perhaps they will open some in London. You could always try making your own home made ethnic cuisine, too. =) There are lots of easy, fun recipes out there!

Answer 3

We have plenty of eat-in Asian restaurants in Las Vegas, but maybe because those people make up a high percentage of the population here - just look at the dealers on the strip. Also many big $ high-rollers are Asian, so the bigger resorts all offer Asian cuisine in a fine-dining atmosphere. Plenty of stand-alone off-strip eat-in ones too.