There is no doubt everybody prefers
going to a restaurant
rather than preparing something to eat. Nowadays
it’s normal for us to go to a restaurant but where and when were the beginnings
of those services? Actually we don’t know when the first restaurant was
created. Guinness Book of Records sets Sobrino
de Botin as the oldest restaurant in the world. The restaurant was founded
in 1725 in the middle of Madrid by Jean Botin. As we can count, it is almost 300 years old and still offers its services. I suppose it’s a really good
restaurant but now there are no differences between old
and new ones. If you want to eat in a special style then I have some places to recommend.
Dinner in the
Sky
There is high probability that you’ve heard about Dinner
in the Sky. The first restaurant like this was founded about 10 years ago
in Belgium but other countries rapidly borrowed this idea and now we can have a
dinner in the sky in over 30 countries in the world. It looks like you’re strapped to your seats and the dinner
will be hoisted over 50 meters up in the air, suspended by a crane. It’s
definitely not for anyone with Acrophobia(fear of heights).
Dark
Restaurant
The second position
on my list is taken by Dark Restaurant.
The first dark restaurant was opened in 1999 in Zurich by a blind clergyman – Jorge Spielmann who wished to
convey the experience of blindness to sighted customers. The basic concept of Dark dining is that the removal of
vision enhances the other sensed and increases gastronomic pleasure.
http://payload140.cargocollective.com/1/10/336806/5115585/07.jpg
Ice Bar
The third and the
last place is an Ice Bar in Dubai. Okay, you can say “There are many
restaurants like that in the whole world” and I can’t agree with you more, but…
Maybe a little history to explain what I
mean. The first ice bar was found in Jukkasjärvi(Sweden) in 1994. Ice bars are
usually located in colder regions around the world, as it is easier to keep the
ice stable. I’ve chosen an Ice Bar in Dubai. An average temperature in this city is about 30 and
the highest about 40-45 degrees so how is it possible to keep the ice stable inside
the building? Maybe money is an answer. Returning to the description of this
restaurant, almost everything in the restaurant is sculpted out of ice. Diners will
sit on ice benches or chairs, eat at ice tables, out of ice plates, drink from
ice glasses served from a bar made of ice.
Have
you ever been to a restaurant like this?
Do
you know other strange bars or restaurants in the world?
Thanks
for reading!
Sources:
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230306
Comments
I have heard about a restaurant where plates have shape of toilets and when you order something there, you will literally get a dish in a toilet, what for me looks disgusting. I have also heard about an interesting one - restaurant so tiny that it has just a few tables, kitchen is so small that only one person can be there at one time and there is no option for two people to pass each other. Surprisingly they have all the tables reserved in advance for a long time do that you can't go there just like that, because there will be no free table.
Two years ago I was in Crete in a bar who had an "cold chamber". It was amazing thing. You could drink a beer in very comfotable conditions. There was about 15-20 degrees. Of course, in normal situation it's not so cold, but if outside is about 40 degrees and you wear shorts, it's really cold.
After sightseeing, I thanked God I could go there ;)
http://www.pda.or.th/restaurant/
I'm addicted to light, I mean I can not eat my dinner without lights turned on even when there's the slightest overcast in the middle of autumn or winter day. That's the reason I'd probably hate having dinner in the dark reastaurant, althought I enjoyed my visit to "invisible exhibition" - what an extraordinary experience, I totally recommend it!
Last year I saw ice statues at Zakopane and decided to have a photo on ice sofa. The seat was covered with thick fur, but still it was enterely freezing when sitting on it, so I wouldn't like to have a sit at ice bar.
Do I know other strange bars or restaurants? Unfortunately not :(
However I think that FOOD should be the biggest asset of the restaurant, not the fact that you are eating it in weird conditions.
Week 9 [05.12 - 11.12] World’s oldest and
interesting restaurants
I’d like to tell you about my experience with unusual restaurants in Lviv, Ukraine:
1. Mozo - it’s a sad mask restaurant where you can come over with your girlfriend and slap each other while drinking shots and of course you can use different BDSM tools in whatever porpuses you wish.
2. Rose - it’s a Jewish restaurant where there are no prices on a menu. It’s a place where you should negotiate the price of your meal. And you can even over them your watch for an exchange. Founders told me that they had formal problems by making all this happen in a legal way.
3. Mason - it’s the most expensive restaurant in Ukraine. But there is one tip. If you know the special code (mason) the prices become 10 times smaller. So instead of paying 100zl for a beer - you’d pay 10zl.
When I travel to another country I always try to find the place where locals eat. It should be far away from the touristic zone and you could get a great experience there. You can taste the good food, you could watch how locals communicate in their casual life, it is very interesting and exotic. No chances to find those type of bars and restaurants on TripAdvisor - you should ask people or google. Or just leave the touristic zone and find the right place. For me it became a great tradition, so I highly recommend :)
What comes in my mind are the restaurants in Lviv, Ukraine which have kind of fame in Ukraine. If you are in Lviv, you should visit one of them.
I really would like to have a dinner in the sky restaurant! I think it's a lot of emotions.
The idea of eating suspended 50m above the ground seems superb. I would definiately try it if I had chance. Although I would have to be really carefull not to drop a fork or something.
I have heard about a cat cafes in Japan. I'm sure they fit you list ;)
http://time.com/2280/heres-an-inside-look-at-japans-best-cat-cafes/
From places mentioned in the article, I would most likely visit one of those "Ice Bars", then I would consider "Dinner in the sky" (I'm a bit afraid of height), and I would be less likely to visit a "Dark Restaurant", I prefer to see what I'm eating - eating in complete darkness would be traumatic to me. I don't trust people who serve food that much.
If you'd like to watch a short video about weird restaurants around the world (for example - the toilet restaurant in Taipei), here's what I found recently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQPN_wqcLE0&t=271s
I think the most interesting restaurant I visited was in the Paris Disneyland, it was stylized to look like a pirate cove, it was dark, I think there were boats swimming around the place and they served a lot of seafood.
It is known for very special, original and unconventional types of tastes and ingredients, which combined in the right way give an amazing experience to the customer. It is definitely a life time experience.