Photos: Freaky way restaurants meet social distancing

Jess Soman, director of food and beverage at The Inn at Little Washington, serves wine to mannequins. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

Restaurants are starting to reopen around the world, but many still have to meet social distancing guidelines to help suppress the coronavirus.

In Australia, customers must be seated 1.5m apart. That buffer is 1.8m in many US states.

Most venues will simply monitor the number of diners and their proximity to each other, but others have thought unconventionally to fulfil health obligations.

For example, one Michelin-star eatery has come up with an innovative way to still provide that "dining out" atmosphere.

The Inn at Little Washington in Virginia, US is reopening this Saturday Australian time – but with mannequins filling the empty seats to provide the illusion that the place is full.

The restaurant, which is rated three stars in the Michelin Guide, gave journalists a preview of what the dining room would look like:

Patrick O'Connell, chef at The Inn at Little Washington, poses with mannequins in the inn's dining room. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

Mannequins costumed in 1940s era clothing are seated in the dining area of the Inn at Little Washington. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Mannequins act customers in the dining room at The Inn at Little Washington. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)

In Australia, Sydney's Five Dock Dining has placed cardboard cutouts in between human customers to create the same effect:

Cardboard cutouts sitting at tables inside the Five Dock Dining restaurant. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

To make patrons feel more comfortable and like they are having a regular dining experience, Five Dock Dining owner Frank Angeletta will use cardboard customers to fill the empty space in his restaurant along with having taped background noise simulating guest "chatter" playing for ambience. (Photo by James D. Morgan/Getty Images)

Meanwhile a German cafe, Cafe & Konditorei Rothe, has gone viral for requiring its customers to wear swimming noodles to enforce social distancing:

Cafe & Konditorei Rothe showing customers wearing swimming pool noodles. (Cafe & Konditorei Rothe/Facebook)

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