I recently had lunch at Onya, the premier Japanese udon restaurant in New York City. If you have never had udon and you are in the New York are, I recommend you take a walk to 47th between 3rd and Lexington and check it out. Aside from good food and friendly service, Onya has something that is quite rare to see in New York – a wax food display.

As you walk into the restaurant your eyes are immediately drawn to a glass display case containing several bowls of udon noodle  dishes. At first glance, they look like they just came out of the kitchen. However, when you look closely, you’ll see that the bowls are real, but the contents are not. They are made of wax.

I had a chance to speak with Head Chef Ken Watanabe about the models. He told me that the wax dishes are exact replicas of the dishes he cooks. The wax food company came to the restaurant and took photos and measurements of a variety of freshly prepared dishes. After that, they returned to their workshop where they recreate the bowls of warm noodles out of wax. It is an amazing sight to see, and a far cry from the wax fruit my grandmother used to have on her kitchen table

Homework:

1.       What is Onya?
2.       Where is Onya located?
3.       What is rare in New York City?
4.       What is in the display case? Is it food?
5.       Who is Ken Watanabe?
6.       What does the word “replica” mean?
7.       How is the wax food made?

Answers are below, but try to answer the questions before checking the answers (^o^)

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Homework Answers

What is Onya? Onya is a Japanese udon restaurant.

1.       Where is Onya located? Onya is located on 47^th Street in New York City.
2.       What is rare in New York City? A wax food display is rare in New York.
3.       What is in the display case? Is it food? Wax food is in the display case. It is not real.
4.       Who is Ken Watanabe? Mr. Watanabe is the head chef at Onya.
5.       What does the word “replica” mean? Replica means “copy.”
6.       How is the wax food made? The chef prepares the dishes. Then the wax food company comes to the restaurant to take photos and measurements of the dishes. Then they make the wax food.

Thanks for studying today!

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