Tokyo's burger 'vending machine'
Tateishi Burger was featured on TV Asahi's Nanikore Chin Hakkei. (Video from YouTube user fyoudolphin.)
Tateishi Burger (Horikiri 3-17-15, Katsushika-ku, tel. 03 3695 9133) is an old-school hamburger joint with a faux-modern twist: Patrons can order burgers through a coin-operated 'vending machine.' In a country obsessed with vending machines this one takes the love affair to a new, albeit technically inferior level. Pop in ¥100 and out drops the Tateishi Burger. Plop in ¥300 to the orange vending machine nearby, and a Tateishi Royal Burger with pickles and bacon rises from the bottom.
Just don't try to order two at a time. The machine is automatic -- and not really a machine. It's more like the 18th century chess-playing Mechanical Turk. The chef cooks the burgers in his kitchen and manually operates the machine with a piece of string.
The burger vending machine gimmick is fun, but maybe not fun enough to take a trip all the way out to Katsushika-ku.
Check the Tabelog for some customers' reviews of Tateishi Burger's cooking before heading to Horikiri Shobunen station.
