Where to go for breakfast

Now that I decided to embark on a journey around the world once more, the only question is where to start. I guess technically my journey has already started as I've left Jantar city, but it still doesn't quite feel like it.

That being said, since I want to end the journey at my home town, it's best to plot a course that takes me to as many locales as possible en route there.

Though in all the excitement, I haven't eaten breakfast or even done my morning beauty regiment. The rock, or I guess in my case, tent, can also create cosmetics as well as soap. I tried out one of the cream masks and much to my surprise, it worked instantly.

While I do like the instant beauty, a part of the fun of doing a beauty ask was rocking it while it took time to work it's magic. Perhaps I could ask Irina if there were products like that, though that issue can wait. There's something else I'm desperate to know the fate of in this era.

"Irina, is it still possible to eat breakfast at a restaurant in this era?"

"Huh? What do you mean? We can pretty much eat breakfast anywhere."

It seemed she didn't quite understand my question so I just pulled up an old video of me eating at a restaurant. With how intently Irina stared at the video, I began to fear it meant she had never seen a restaurant before, meaning that thanks to the food spawner, they were likely obsolete.

"Things sure were done weird back in your era. They actually charged you to eat in places like that?"

"Um, yeah. That's how the restaurant industry worked?"

"Sounds pretty backwards. Food's a basic necessity. Besides, you could eat out in the open in your era, right?"

I'll admit, it was a little difficult to fully get what Irina was getting at, but I could understand how someone from this era would think charging for food is insane. Hunger's a non issue in this era by the looks of things along with homelessness. And heck, since you can pretty much whip up any meal you want on the fly, I get why restaurants would become obsolete. But that meant that some of the magic restaurants had were also a thing of the past.

Many small restaurants I visited were often run by passionate folks that often had their own unique dishes. Sure, some were based off of popular dishes, but these dishes had their own spin on things.

And then there were the unique places that focused more on atmosphere than food. I remember one place had statues of elephants while another was themed around a rainforest, and another a Hawaiian themed place that adorned the walls with tiki masks and surf boards. The food being good at those places was just the icing on the cake.

And while it was a bit on the futuristic side, though now likely a thing of the past, conveyor sushi places just have some sort of magic, ya know. But with instant sushi, I doubt there would be places like that. And now I'm remembering that one sushi place that had everything riding around on miniature trains. Ugh...

...

I never really studied up on these "restaurants" of the past, but maybe I should have since Hana looks like she's getting really sad thinking about them. But what she showed me looks just like places you can just waltz into whenever, no charge at all. Heck, think there's a place a little ways off with a bunch of panda and elephant statues just like in the video. Maybe I'm just not conveying things right, or maybe there's something else saddening her. Welp, guess I'll just try taking her to that spot.

"Ya know, there is a place like the "restaurant" you mentioned, a little ways down. Wanna check it out?"

That seemed to have an effect as Hana's sadness seemed to ease a bit. No clue if this is what she wants, but guess we'll know when we get there.

"All aboard the Irina express. We're going to Panda Place."

...

We quickly boarded a sand scooter and began heading in what I assumed was the opposite direction of where Jantar city was. I'm still struggling to get my bearings in terms of directions, and with things now seemingly merged into a single supercontinent, who knows how many of the old landmarks have been re-arranged.

But in regards to what Irina claims is like one of the atmospheric restaurants I visited, I'm cautiously optimistic. It could just be a art park or something else, but I guess there's no use stressing over it. We'll be there shortly.

...

I was honestly surprised at how quickly the scooter got us to our destination. When Irina informed me that my phone now had geographical services, I checked it out and found our destination looked to be in what was known as Inner Mongolia in my era.

Jantar city it seems was located in Southern Mongolia, and bordered the Gobi desert, while wherever we were heading looked to technically be part of China. I'm honestly surprised nearly all the countries of my era still see to exist in some shape or form. There appears to be plenty of new nations, most being combinations of smaller ones, but I'll worry about geography later. Right now, I want to know more about the place Irina's taking me to.

As we parked at a docking bay, Irina grabbed my hand and began leaping through the sky with me. It was a bit surprising, but I guess I'll have to get used to it. Though despite our sky walk, we ended up returning to solid earth a few minutes later.

"Well here we are, Panda Place."

The building was reminiscent of a restaurant, but the true test would be what was inside. Though this place was off to a good start as a wave of nostalgia hit me. The room was far more spacious, but with various tables and chairs along with giant statues of animals, it reminded me more of a mall food court, which I'd consider a good substitute for the restaurant experience I'd been pining for. But things weren't quite settled yet. While the atmosphere was right, there was more to the dining experience than just that. Mainly, the food itself.