On the Menu | Is 90-minute wait to eat worth it? For food made with love and care, yes

In recent weeks I have spent a lot of time waiting for food. I am talking about literal hours, and the strangest thing was, I did not mind.

Context matters, of course. In one instance I was sat in a coffee shop in Furano, Hokkaido, in Japan, run by a silver-haired woman who pottered gently around making pancakes and coffee.

Her cafe was filled with warm winter sunlight and a dining table covered in books, so I was more than happy to while away the afternoon reading while I waited.

Coffee came at the one-hour mark, pancakes came at 90 minutes. She was constantly apologetic to every customer, but no one flew into fits of rage, and I got through two-thirds of the novel I started when I sat down.