A GERMAN INSTITUTION.

Northland Age, Volume VIII, Issue 26, 16 February 1912, Page 2

A GERMAN INSTITUTION.

■ » THE AUTOMAT RESTAURANT. ■ The great automatic triumph ol Germany is the automat restaurant. . ku over the country one finds these restaurants. In Berlin they are le- , gion, and they compete keenly with the familiar blue-and white striped shops of Aschinger. In Cologne you find an automat under the shadow of the cathedral. Away in the north, In quaint, old-world Lubeck ; in the east, in the ancient Royal city of 1 Konigsberg ; in the frontier town of Thorn ; in the half-Polish, half Prussian city of Posep—everywhere the automat restaurant flourishes. It lielongs to a very different class from the old German cafe, but of its immense popularity there can be no doubt. Its methods, suggestive ot i the American rather than the Gtrs man, seem likely to exercise an in fluence on Teutonic habits. These automats supply wholesome ! food and drink at very moderate i prices. You find ranged alone, the wall a large variety of viands under 1 glass. By inserting a ten pfennig ; piece in a slot you get from one mu 1 chine a half-roll covered with excellent ham. For a similar sum you ( get from another a half roll with cheese, from another a roll and sar dines, Ac. The viands, it should be noted, are not simply pushed out from behind by some human deus ex machine who is invisible. You see, say, ham sandwitches each on a small plate ranged in vertical rows under the glass. The insertion of your ten-pfennig releases a lever which allows the shelves to "drop one." A plate is thus brought to an uncovered part, from which you abstract it. The next penny brings down the next in order in the same automatic fashion, and so on. One can see for himself when the supply has been exhausted. A penny cup of coffee, cocoa, chocolate, or bouillon can V e got in the same way. Gups and saucers are provided on a shelf. You drop your ten-pfennig in the slot of the compartment marked by the name of the particular beverage you wish, place your cup beneath the spout, turn a handle, and you get exactly as much as fills your cup. , Hot water can be obtained free of . charge. "Cold drinks," as they are , called, can also be got in great variety from the "penny-in-the sl,u ” machines. There are several kinds of beer, different kinds of wine,‘and usually "English porter," besides a few non-alcoholic beverages. A penny glass of wine does not sound inviting perhaps, and as a matter of course no one goes to an automat for a choice vintage. However, the quality varies, and the quantity set free by 1 the ten-pfennig piece is in proportior to the price of the wine. In the same way, also, the quantity of beer allowed varies with the sort. Glasses are set out on shelves in 1 glittering array, and each man helps himself. One of the characteristics of the automat is that there is t o service and no tips, unless wh n special dishes are ordered. Most of the restaurants provide such, and they are served in the ordinary wn . But the chief business is done in ten pfennig snacks and ten-pfennig drinl —"Chambers’s Journal."