Food: Shingo's

In a quiet little strip mall in the west of Lake Worth, an old Japanese man labors at the back of a small restaurant. He cuts fish after fish into small pieces, flitting from place to place. You can see him in the picture below, behind his younger assistant. His face is blurred in the photo; not even a camera can freeze the old man. This is crunchtime. This is Shingo's:


Shingo's won't win any awards for ambiance or service - the restaurant is a clean, plain tan box, and there are no more than two servers at any one time (all that a small family-owned restaurant can afford these days). And, in point of fact, the food at Shingo's is merely average, maybe better than most of the Japanese places in Palm Beach County but paling in comparison to what's available in the wider world.

The wider world doesn't exist here at the corner of U.S. 441 and Lake Worth Road, though. There's only the old man, and the nightly dance when the dinner rush hits. If you're the type of person who likes watching other people cook, and cook with a purpose, Shingo's is a fascinating look into an inner universe of swiftness.

2/4 stars