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Opening a new restaurant is risky. 60% of new restaurants close or change ownership within three years. One way to make a restaurant stand out from the crowd is to have a theme, and the wackier the better. It may be as simple as putting costumes on the waiters and decorating the walls, or it may be an entirely new concept, but it probably won’t make the food any better. However, strange themes will get valuable publicity.
Dinner in the Sky
Dinner in the Sky is a Brussels based restaurant that serves dinner for up to 22 people… 150 feet in the air! The specially-designed table and chairs are lifted by a crane. Dinner anywhere in Belgium will set you back almost 8 thousand euros; other locations are also available. Remember, you must wear your seat belt, and don’t drop your fork!
In the Toilet
The food at Marton Theme Restaurant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan is in the toilet. Patrons sit on toilets while eating, there are more toilets on the walls, and the food is served in dishes shaped like both eastern and western toilets and urinals. And business couldn’t be better. See more pictures here.
Food for What Ails You
D.S. Music Restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan is a medical-themed restaurant with crutches on the wall, waitresses dressed a nurses, and drinks served from an IV drip bottle! The owner came up with the idea to express his gratitude for care he received at a local hospital.
Pasta You Can’t Refuse
A restaurant situated inside the top security prison Fortezza Medicea in Italy is so popular that officials have since opened more branches.
Serenaded by Bruno, a pianist doing life for murder, the clientele eat inside a deconsecrated chapel set behind the 60ft high walls, watch towers, searchlights and security cameras of the daunting 500-year-old Fortezza Medicea, at Volterra near Pisa.
Under the watchful eye of armed prison warders, a 20-strong team of chefs, kitchen hands and waiters prepares 120 covers for diners who have all undergone strict security checks. Tables are booked up weeks in advance.
I couldn’t find a menu, but I made one up for them.
Safe Sex with Dinner
Cabbages and Condoms is a chain of restaurants in Thailand. There are condoms on the walls and pictures of condoms printed on the carpets. Instead of after-dinner mints, patrons are offered a bowl of condoms at the counter. Profits from the restaurants go to support the Population and Community Development Association (PDA).
Under the Sea
Ithaa is the name of the underwater restaurant at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa. The walls and roof are a transparent acrylic arch. Its capacity is 14 people, who go down a spiral staircase to a depth of five meters. See more pictures here. (image credit: Alexey Potov)
Revolutionary Culture
Shao Shan Chong Xiang Cai Guan in Nanning, China used the Cultural Revolution of 1966-1976 as a theme. The wait staff dress like Red Guards. Although it’s not an era people recall fondly, the restaurant is doing well. The food must be good.
In the Dark
At Dans le Noir? in Paris and in London, dinner is served in complete darkness to produce a sensory experience completely different from most restaurants. The concept is threefold: 1. you taste your food without visual cues as to what you should expect, 2. you relate to your dinner companion(s) differently when you can’t see them, and 3. the wait staff is blind.
A magic switch between sighted and blind people happens. For once, blind people actually become your eyes.
This reversal of roles implies a transfer of trust from the sighted person to the blind guide because without him we are just lost.
Tanya had dinner at Dans le Noir in Paris and wrote about the entire process.
Comments (15)
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There is one in Jaffo, Israel. I was there last week for a wine tasting and it was an amazing experience. It’s called Na LaGaat (please touch) and highly recommended if you are in the area.
posted by Tamar on 5-22-2008 at 7:56 am
There is a restaurant in Deer Park, Texas called “The Udder Place” the outside is painted in a cowprint pattern, and although I have never been inside I have hear people tell me that the over table lights are decorated to look like cow udders with other udder related items around.
Sounds a bit creepy to me, but to each his own.
posted by Witty Nickname on 5-22-2008 at 8:25 am
There is a restaurant called the Hobbit Cafe in Houston; obviously hobbits are the theme. It is really tiny, with lots of nooks and crannies and some people probably have to hunch because they can’t stand at their full height. The food is alright (although the reason I went is because my friends couldn’t stop raving about it). A cute and novel place.
posted by Pink Coat on 5-22-2008 at 9:13 am
We have a restaurant where I live that’s rather interesting, it’s call McDonalds…
posted by Spuchy on 5-22-2008 at 3:17 pm
I did a report in college about the theme restaurants in Japan – there’s an Alcatraz/E.R. restaurant, a vampire restaurant, and the ever popular Maid cafes.
posted by Leah on 5-22-2008 at 4:19 pm
There is a place in Panama City Beach called Dirty Dick’s. They sell shirts, koozies, magnets, etc. that say “I got my crabs at Dirty Dick’s.” It’s really cool.
I live near Deer Park (but not in it, thank goodnes! Those people are not right!) and will have to go to the Udder Place. I’ve been to the Hobbit Cafe and it’s interesting. The food is pretty good. We have a b-day tradition with one of my friends kids to bring him there each year and he loves it! The parking bites big ones.
posted by TxDeeDee on 5-22-2008 at 11:39 pm
Toilet restaurant is in Hong Kong as well, its called Modern Toilet.
posted by Phil on 5-23-2008 at 4:25 am
axaxaxaxxaax Greaaaaat !
posted by website design on 5-23-2008 at 4:49 am
7 Strange and Different Restaurants (+PICS) | Deliggit.com
\r\nOpening a new restaurant is risky. 60% of new restaurants close or change ownersh
posted by Deliggit.com | The social sites' most interesting urls on 5-23-2008 at 5:01 am
Au Noir is the same concept as Dans Le Noir, but in Canada. We have one here in Montreal (on Sainte-Catherine St.), and I know there is another in Toronto as well.
posted by h on 5-23-2008 at 5:29 am
I went to Dans le Noir. Good concept, but the food tastes like shit.
posted by Philomelius on 5-23-2008 at 7:10 am
There’s “The dark cafe” or something like that in Shanghai, China (sorry I forgot the name, but my friends have gone to it). It pretty much tries to copy “Dans le Noir?”.
posted by guy on 5-23-2008 at 7:29 am
Yeah very nice and cool :D))
posted by property bulgaria on 5-23-2008 at 7:41 am
Went to Montreal’s (Canada) “O Noir”, and it was an amazing, unforgettable experience. I suggest taking the “Surprise menu”, so you have to guess what you are eating.
posted by Dr Naud on 5-23-2008 at 8:42 am
Some of these restaurants mentioned are pretty crazy!! Dinner in the sky?! i don’t think i could even eat! My stomach would be churning!
anyways, they don’t have the same kind of “out of the box” type of restaurants, but http://www.sneakysunday.com does have the best restaurants for a ton of cities! i always go to them or help! check them out
posted by Heidi on 6-19-2008 at 2:57 pm