Theme restaurants

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Posted at 10:30AM, 26 June 2008 by Graeme Allister - blogger

What do you look for in a restaurant? Good food? Attentive service? The sound of gunfire to accompany the Kalashnikovs on the wall? The latter may sound like a joke but it's to be found in Beirut's newest restaurant, the winningly-titled Guns and Buns. It's just another striking example of what might be called the extreme-theme restaurant.

If the thought of dining among weaponry is enough to put you off your food, you probably won't fancy eating whilst perched on a toilet, chatting to your companion across a sink. It's how they do things at Modern Toilet in Taipei, where food comes served in mini-toilet bowls and napkins are dispensed from toilet roll holders.

Still, that all sounds rather tasteful compared to Japan's Alcatraz ER a hospital/prison themed restaurant. On entering, you are handcuffed to a 'nurse' and led to your cell; drinks are served via a drip or in a test-tube. The food is served on metal surgical dishes and accompanied by little blue pills.

What's interesting about these extreme-themes is how different they are to what we understand by theme restaurants, which tend to be child-orientated and more fantasy-like. Mars 2112, or instance, is a popular New York restaurant, decorated to look like the Red Planet and entered via a simulated ride.

London's Rainforest Café is another themed restaurant, with tropical sounds, waterfalls and waiters dressed as safari guides. And, as with every child-orientated destination, there's a complete range of merchandise available.

Regardless of whether the theme is fantastical or stomach-churning, any theme restaurant seems to share a similar ethos. First, they're designed with tourists in mind. Also, the emphasis is strongly on atmosphere and decor rather than the food; it's all about the experience.

In providing an attack on all the senses, it is taste which is often forgotten and the food tends to be predictable, lacklustre and overpriced. The staff may be enthusiastic but they're less there to serve as to entertain.

Have you eaten in any theme restaurants? Are they a bit of fun or tacky tourist-traps? What about the extreme-themes? How long before Britain surrenders to their charms?

Comments

tattookitten

26 June, 11:26AM
tattookitten

I love the idea of themed restaurants although I'd only return if the food was yummy. Bring it on!!

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Antonia

27 June, 11:00AM
Antonia

Theme restaurants generally send me running a mile. When I was a kid though, I loved the likes of Planet Hollywood and Hard Rock Cafe. A couple of years ago, I gave in and took my niece and nephew to The Rainforest Cafe. They loved all the animals and sound effects of course, but the food was poor and it was very expensive.

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bubbleboy

27 June, 11:44AM
bubbleboy

I agree - fun for kids but the food is terrible. The other themes sound quite fun but I think I'd nip in, take a photo and then got eat elsewhere!

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Isabelle

27 June, 8:03PM
Isabelle

wow,definatly themed restaurants!! what fun! food HAS to be the driver though (obviously) MAbe like that blind restaurant is it,where you eat blind -folded ? thatssemi-themed,bit of an 'experience'. exciting!

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Chez Coco

3 July, 8:29AM
Chez Coco

I utterly dislike theme restaurants. A restaurant should be about good food, well served, that you can enjoy while talking together (not: making sign language amidst raucous music). In the so-called theme restaurants it is all about experience. Children may like it, but children like lots of things that are not necessarily good for them. Give me a good restaurant in France anytime, where children actually like their food and are able to eat a 3-course meal correctly and without the need to race around and tear the place down between courses!

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