It is not uncommon that waiters and waitresses make confusion, bring the wrong food or interpret what a customer orders. Behaviors that customers unravel, except in a restaurant in Tokyo. Here, in fact, the diners are satisfied with receiving a poor service. Ravioli are ordered and Miso soup is received. Grilled fish is ordered and maybe you get sushi.
And no, employees are not fired, but rather they are hired for this reason. In fact, they are all suffering from dementia, which is the main requirement to obtain that position. All this happens at the Restaurant of Mistaken Orders, or the restaurant of the wrong orders.
It has been designed as a periodic pop-up, which is held several times over several days, to raise awareness of the public on this type of illness. Here the involuntary human errors have become the true heart of the restaurant, more than the meal itself. Most of the laughter in the restaurant derives from the pleasant surprise of seeing what is actually served, surprisingly. Sometimes you can even receive coffee with the straw.
Where the idea started from
The idea of starting this restaurant was born from the encounter between the creator, Shiro Oguni, and a family home where people with dementia live.
“Like many, at the beginning I also had a negative image of dementia: people who ‘forget everything’ or who ‘wander without a half’. But in reality they are able to cook, clean, do the laundry, go shopping and carry out many other ‘normal’ activities. Up with close, they can go a little out of course every now and then, but …”
Dementia is a broad term that refers to the decline of memory, learning and communication skills. It is caused by various diseases, one of which is Alzheimer’s.
The inaugural event was held in 2017 and has since been replicated regularly. It took about 115,000 dollars of crowd-function to start since it has requested a wide planning and the collaboration of various sectors, including catering professionals, interior designers, supervision of social assistance and the participation of organizations that currently witness people with dementia.
The idea came to Shiro after, during a visit to a nursing home, he was offered a raviolo instead of a hamburger. He was about to return the bundle when he realized that these errors that did not really damage him. Why not simply accept what he received as a sign of respect for the problems that everyone around him were experiencing, as an act of kindness and humility?
“With a little tolerance, lunch can turn into a moment of lightness and human connection”,
Oguni said, underlining how the error becomes an opportunity for empathy.
Here dementia is not seen as terrifying, gloomy and isolated
Oguni tried to make the emulation of the program simple for others, allowing the sharing of what its organization has learned. Its mobile banquet has started other similar projects in South Korea and Australia.
Inside the restaurant, people with dementia are cheerful, laborious, available, talkative and kind. In the videos created to document the project, everyone has fun. In their simple clothes, the elderly employees appear committed and productive like anyone who has a third of their age. The real strength of the project lies in the fact that, instead of seeing dementia as a terrifying, gloomy and isolated, the diners tell the experience as adorable, fun, sociable.
During one of the first pop-ups, 37% of the orders were not correct, but 99% of consumers said they were satisfied with the dinner. In an event, one of the waiters even sitting with his customers. None of those who came to eat has been annoyed by all this. They know what awaits them: empathic humor and improvised cabaret.
This restaurant does not seek perfection, but relationships. Change the way society looks to fragility, transforming it into possibilities. You don’t laugh at someone, but together with someone.
Oguni said that his initiative is not limited to being more tolerant and accepting towards people with dementia, but tries to demonstrate how people can be compassionate to each other, regardless of their defects.
The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders is not just a project: it is an invitation to build a more patient, inclusive and warm society. Not “Cool Japan”, but “Warm Japan”, as Oguni himself defines it.
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