One of my favorite dining places is a tiny Japanese family-owned restaurant called Fukusuke.

I’d like to pay it a visit to get my favorite udon noddles, but there must be some other reasons why I keep coming back and recommending it to others.

The decoration style of a restaurant is almost a definite reflection of the owner’s taste and personality, and I adore the Fukusuke’s style: there are hundreds of lovely “frogs” in this place, frog toys, frog wind chimes, a “I’m-doing-yoga” frog statue… You name it. It’s just lovely. Why so many frogs? I heard that it’s because the mama-san (granny) loves them, how lovely.

Mama-san must be seventy or eighty years old, and is the diligent waitress. I love that the moment I walk into the restaurant, she greets me in English with a Japanese accent. Once, I was trying to order something new and asked mama-san questions, she started responding in Japanese. We both got confused and laughed. Haha.

At the end of a meal, mama-san holds a small plate with my fortune cookie. She gently shakes the plate and then let me pick it up. I love that personal touch.

In general, I love Japanese restaurant because of the neat food, its cleanness and people’s politeness. One more layer of personal touch makes me feel like a guest in a home, rather than a customer.