By Kim Tae-jong
At first sight, Ichimen in Sinchon, Seoul, is an ordinary Japanese noodle restaurant, frequented by young people just like any other eateries in the commercial area.
But the difference is, those who are lined up in front of the restaurant split and sit solo on a bar-like table divided by partitions for one person to squeeze in. This restaurant specializes in seating those who feel awkward about eating out alone.
“It’s very comfortable here to come and eat on your own,” said 33-year-old Lee Kyung-jun, a patron of the restaurant. “In here, you don’t have to worry about other people staring at you.”
The restaurant has solo and couple tables divided by partitions. You buy a ticket from a vending machine and hand it to the staff over curtain-blinded counters — you can avoid having to make eye contact with anyone.
You can enjoy your dishes “hidden” in this subtly enclosed space, with only your back exposed. Many people feel uncomfortable about eating alone at a restaurant and think they might appear like a social outcast. The need to eat is greater than the fear as the niche market for these solo diners is getting bigger.
At another popular shabu-shabu restaurant, Hana Shabu Jeong, in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul, an individual customer can order a shabu-shabu dish, which usually must be ordered in multiple servings to group customers, and enjoy it at a partitioned table.
The increase in the number of these solitary diners is a new trend in Korean society that is historically rooted in a farming culture of working and eating together.
For young people and singles eating alone is nothing new and industry insiders have already noticed the gradual prominence.
“Now most people who open their own restaurants consider special tables and menus for those who eat alone,” said Park Nam-soo, an official from the Korea Institute of Business Strategy, a business consulting firm. “They are emerging as an important element that restaurant owners must take into consideration.”
Restaurants should make special sections or tables for those eating alone by putting in a bar-like table or dividing a table with partitions so that people don’t have to look across at the people’ faces sitting in front of them, he said.
“Another thing they should also think about is the characteristics of those eating alone. They don’t want to wait long. They want to eat quickly, like in less than 20 minutes. So we advise people to develop special quick menus for them,” Park said.
The emergence of those eating alone also indicates that young people are putting more weight on individualism rather than the traditional group culture.
“Different from the past, most families consist of less than two children, and all members hardly sit together to eat. Such changes reflect the rise in people who prefer to eat alone at restaurants,” said Prof. Seol Dong-hoon at the sociology department of Chonbuk National University. “It is nothing new, unusual or problematic to young people who enjoy individualism.”
But extreme degrees of isolation and confinement can be a social problem like in Japan where there are a large number of reclusive people who have chosen to withdraw from social life due to various personal aspects and social factors, he said.