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.
1. 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!
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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).
6. 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)
7. 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.
8. 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 (17)
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As someone who loves the ocean, that sea restaurant is amazing!
posted by Adam Singer on 12-30-2008 at 11:00 pm
Man, the guy wearing a condom on top of his head was hilarious!
posted by JP on 12-30-2008 at 11:36 pm
I’ve wanted to try Le Noir for a while now. The visual aspect of cuisine is an awesome one, but it is also superficial to the actual element of taste. I would definitely ask the waiter for a recommendation.
posted by Johnny Cat on 12-31-2008 at 1:30 am
I hope Dinner in the Sky comes with barf bags for everyone who’s scared of heights.
posted by Daniel on 12-31-2008 at 3:26 am
There’s The Witchery in Edinburgh, which is located where they used to burn witches in the 1600s.
There’s also a chain of Belgian restaurants in London called Belgos. They specialize in Belgian beers, and the waiters dress like monks.
posted by Stuart on 12-31-2008 at 9:17 am
You need a “part 2″ for all the weird restaurants in Japan. There are the maid cafes and butler cafes; a vampire cafe where some food is served in little coffins; a Alcatraz/E.R. combo themed restraurant; Ninja, a sneaky themed restaurant; a Catholic themed cafe, and a Cannibal sushi house.
…I did a report on these in my Japanese Culture and Society class.
posted by Leah on 12-31-2008 at 11:24 am
There is a restaurant similar to Le Noir in Montreal. I don’t think the waiters there are blind though.
posted by Musicholic on 12-31-2008 at 2:18 pm
I’ve heard of the prison one, it’s a good idea – gives them a chance to see a new interest and most take great pride in it, prepares them for life in the real world.
But I’d be most interested in dinner in the sky, that’s cool idea. The idea behind le noir is that you’d be able to taste your food better, and experience it moreso – but again I’m not entirely sure that’s all that great, you could just as well do that at home.
posted by Television Spy on 12-31-2008 at 7:12 pm
you missed a real good one.
pittsburgh penguins star center and current NHL points leader Evgeni Malkin, who is a native Russian, owns a restaurant in Russia that is styled like a Stalin-era Soviet prison. you can even order this wierd alcoholic beverage that prisoners used to make in their cells.
posted by billbob on 12-31-2008 at 10:46 pm
I’ve eaten at Dans Le Noir in London, and it was incredible! Diners chose one of four menus, white, red, blue or green. Each of these menus is centered around a different type of food; red is meat, blue is seafood, green is vegetarian and white is “surprise.” My boyfriend and I had the white and red menus respectively, and while I would have ordered some of the food served under normal circumstances, it tasted delicious. We also had a really interesting, 2-hour conversation with the couple eating next to us, whom we could not see. We compared afterward what we thought they would look like versus what they actually looked like, and it was really funny. If given the chance, this restaurant is a must-visit.
posted by Megan on 9-1-2009 at 4:43 pm
These are amazing! Love the dinner in the air in Brussels…but on a fine weather day only! Sea restaurant also looks cool!
posted by Travelphant on 3-24-2010 at 6:59 am
We went to a restaurant similar to Dans Le Noir in San Francisco…I think it was called Opaque. Very cool, enjoyed the whole experience, EXCEPT for the couple next to us, who was enjoying the experience on an entirely different level. Awkward…
posted by Erin on 5-12-2010 at 11:15 am
There is also a Dans le Noir in Berlin. I went a few years back, a very interesting experience.
It’s worth mentioning that the menu is also in riddles which leaves you guessing as to what your meal actually is and gives a deeper reliance on your other senses.
posted by Christina on 6-30-2010 at 1:19 pm
am i the only one that noticed the bathroom themed restaurant was #2 on the list?
posted by robert on 7-29-2010 at 11:16 am
My bio teacher went to Opaque in SF (similar to Dans Le Noir). I would love to experience it but I might have a nervous breakdown because I am terribly afraid of the dark.
posted by Kim on 8-6-2010 at 6:05 pm
Dinner without the lights on?
Can’t wait to hear about the next oh-so-trendy restaurant — the one without food.
posted by EgoNemo on 1-31-2011 at 2:14 pm
Dining in the sky sounds thrilling.
Dining on toilet seats sounds lame.
Dining in the dark is overplayed.
Dining in a prison sounds risky.
Dining underwater seems claustrophobic.
posted by Daniel on 3-15-2011 at 4:33 pm