Other kitchen types
Restaurant and canteen kitchens found in hotels, hospitals, army
barracks and similar establishments are generally (in developed
countries) subject to public health laws. They are inspected
periodically by public-health officials, and forced to close if
they don't meet hygienic requirements mandated by law.
Canteen kitchens (and castle kitchens) were often the places
where new technology was used first. For instance, Benjamin
Thompson's "energy saving stove", an early 19th century
fully-closed iron stove using one fire to heat several pots, was
designed for large kitchens; another thirty years passed before
they were adapted for domestic use.
Today's western restaurant kitchens typically have tiled walls
and floors and use stainless steel for other surfaces
(workbench, but also door and drawer fronts) because these
materials are durable and easy to clean. Professional kitchens
are often equipped with gas stoves, as these allow cooks to
regulate the heat quicker and more finely than electrical
stoves. Some special appliances are typical for professional
kitchens, such as large installed deep fryers, steamers, or a
Bain Marie. (As of 2004, steamers—not to be confused with a
pressure cooker—are beginning to find their way into domestic
households, sometimes as a combined appliance of oven and
steamer.)
The fast food and convenience food trends have also changed the
way restaurant kitchens operate. There is a trend for
restaurants to only "finish" delivered convenience food or even
just re-heat completely prepared meals, maybe at the utmost
grilling a hamburger or a steak.
The kitchens in railway dining cars present special challenges:
space is constrained, and nevertheless the personnel must be
able to serve a great number of meals quickly. Especially in the
early history of the railway this required flawless organization
of processes; in modern times, the microwave oven and prepared
meals have made this task a lot easier. Galleys are kitchens
aboard ships (although the term galley is also often used to
refer to a railroad dining car's kitchen). On yachts, galleys
are often cramped, with one or two gas burners fuelled by a gas
bottle, but kitchens on cruise ships or large warships are
comparable in every respect with restaurants or canteen
kitchens. On passenger airplanes, the kitchen is reduced to a
mere pantry, the only function reminiscent of a kitchen is the
heating of in-flight meals (where they haven't been "optimized"
away altogether) delivered by a catering company. An extreme
form of the kitchen occurs in space, e.g. aboard a Space Shuttle
(where it is also called the "galley") or the International
Space Station. The astronauts' food is generally completely
prepared, dehydrated, and sealed in plastic pouches, and the
kitchen is reduced to a rehydration and heating module.
Outdoor areas in which food is prepared are generally not
considered to be kitchens, although an outdoor area set up for
regular food preparation, for instance when camping, might be
called an "outdoor kitchen". Military camps and similar
temporary settlements of nomads may have dedicated kitchen
tents.
In Schools where Home Economics (HE) or Food technology
(previously known as Domestic science) is taught, there will be
a series of kitchens with multiple equipment (similar in some
respects to laboratories) solely for the purpose of teaching.
These will consist of between 6 and 12 workstations, each with
their own oven, sink and kitchen utensils.
Restaurants range from unpretentious lunching or dining places
catering to people working nearby, with simple food served in
simple settings at low prices, to expensive establishments
serving refined food and wines in a formal setting. In the
former case, customers usually wear casual clothing. In the
latter case, depending on culture and local traditions,
customers might wear semi-casual, semi-formal, or even in rare
cases formal wear.
Standardly customers sit at tables, their orders are taken by a
waiter, who brings the food when it is ready, and the customers
pay the bill before leaving. In finer restaurants there will be
a host or hostess or even a maître d'hôtel to welcome customers
and to seat them. Other staff waiting on customers include
busboys and sommeliers.
Depending on local custom, a tip of varying proportions of the
bill (often 10-20%) may be added, which (usually) goes to the
staff rather than the restaurant. This gratuity might be added
directly to the bill or it may be given voluntarily.
Restaurants often specialise in certain types of food or present
a certain unifying, and often entertaining, theme. For example,
there are seafood restaurants, vegetarian restaurants or ethnic
restaurants. Generally speaking, restaurants selling "local"
food are simply called restaurants, while restaurants selling
food of foreign origin are called accordingly, for example, a
Chinese restaurant and a French restaurant..
Depending on local customs and the establishment, restaurants
may or may not serve alcoholic beverages. Restaurants are often
prohibited from selling alcohol without a meal by alcohol sale
laws; such sale is considered to be activity for bars, which are
meant to have more severe restrictions. Some restaurants are
licensed to serve alcohol ("fully licensed"), and/or permit
customers to "bring your own" alcohol (BYO / BYOB).
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