Well it's not looking like a writing pad...

This tweet definitely helps to clear things up. Obvious restaurant menu is obvious.

What to have, what to have... pic.twitter.com/uPbRw7gkkg
— Alan Copeland (@SimGuruCopeland) July 12, 2013

I must confess I'm disappointed since I thought for a while it was going to be a writing pad or a journal, but the bistro environment and this setup are a dead giveaway!

As I'm sure I've said before (and if I haven't, I'm saying it now) there's been ALOT of speculation about open restaurants in TS3, and  as to whether it's even possible due to routing issues. Fortunately, that hasn't always stopped the game devs, although unfortunately, routing can still be problematic. Although over time there have been numerous attempts by fans to fix that, to the tune of recreating entire worlds from expansion packs! Some fans are happy just to have features, with or without glitches!

Personally, I'm skeptical that this could be a fix-all solution. Although, if this makes open restaurants somehow possible (with or without IP), I will be impressed.