If you think you have seen or heard of weird restaurants, things and places in your life, then you have got another think coming because am about to shock you.
I thought that I have had enough of weirdness and unusual stuff until I stumbled upon some of the weirdest and strangest of restaurants from around the world.
Frankly, if some of these strange restaurants from around don’t make you giddy, then I guess nothing ever would.
Ranging from restaurants floating in the sky, to those found under the sea, to those in the tombs, to where you get served in prison uniforms by waiters dressed as prison wardens and down to where you get served by monkeys.
And when you think you have had enough weirdness, there is also the restaurant where you eat humans. Well, not in that sense, but a lookalike that makes you feel more like a cannibal. It can’t get weirder than this.
I call these the unusual and strangest restaurants from around the world!
I had much fun researching, compiling and writing this article; and I have no doubt that you are about to get thrilled and tickled with these list of unusual and strangest restaurants from around the world.
Buckle up for a roller coaster ride.
Here we go!
Monkey Tavern – Izakaya Kayabuki, Japan
There is no doubt that monkeys are smart; in fact smarter than you would ever think; so much that they can be used as waiters and waitresses.
In Japan, the owner of the Monkey Tavern certainly put this to good use in his restaurant as he uses monkeys to serve his guests.
Well, if you happen to breeze in there you would certainly save some bucks as you wouldn’t have to tip monkeys…and the owner, Kaoru Otsuka gets away with having not to pay workers.
Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Maldives
Located in Maldives, Ithaa restaurant is one of the strangest restaurants in the world; and also one of the most expensive as it costs $5 million. Imagine the cost just to make your taste buds happy.
However, it is not the cost that puts ithaa in this list but the unusual and weirdness. Imagine a restaurant located 16 feet below the surface of the Indian ocean, and as you eat your eyes are feed with an array of sea creatures just swimming around.
This aquarium styled eatery is the first of its kind in the world and certainly weird in a good way.
Devil Island Prison Restaurant
If there is another name for weird, then the Devil Island Prison Restaurant would definitely earn it. This restaurant is built and modelled after a concentration camp, aka prison. The owner wanting to raise the awareness of how difficult and tough prison life could be and to scare away people from a life of crime decorated the restaurant to the last detail as if it were a real prison.
This restaurant is located in china. The realistic decoration includes a large steel structure at its entrance just like a real prison. The floors are made of metal and the inside doors and windows have steel bars.
The owner takes things to the extreme as the waiters are dressed as in-mates with white striped uniforms while the security personnel there are dressed up like guards.
Even the food you get served is brought in typical prison trays.
My dear, if this doesn’t scare or gives you the creeps about prison life, then you are probably a hardened criminal already.
To take matters a notch up, you are photographed, finger-printed and given the option of being handcuffed just like a criminal.
You are treated like a criminal.
There is no fancy table with decorations…nah! Remember you are being treated like a prisoner.
For me……I don’t cherish the experience, and this is sure one of the strangest restaurants from around the world.
Cannibalistic Restaurant
When I first saw the theme of this restaurant, it scared the craps out of me; and I bet it did same to you. The cannibalistic restaurant sure fits this list as one of the strangest restaurants from around the world when it comes to weird.
Though you are not served human flesh or raw meat, the name alone gives the creeps.
Located in Japan, the food served is called Nyotaimori and it means ‘female body plate’ and is one of the strangest and unusual food from any Japanese restaurant.
Here, they serve you Japanese sushi and sashimi inside a woman’s body.
What?! I hear you scream.
Well, not a real human body as in flesh and blood but it’s real enough. The body is actually made from food and is placed on a table tailored after a surgical table found in a hospital.
Customers are free to eat from any part of the body. What makes it look so real is that as you cut and dig into the food, it will appear to be bleeding just like a real human body.
Kick me if this is not weird enough!
Dinner In The Sky
Dinner in the sky experience can only be described as crazy and breath-taking! If you fancy high altitude and aint scared of heights, then this might be for you.
With its origin from Belgium and having spread to more than 40 cities around the globe, the idea revolves around hoisting guests in a crane who are securely strapped into dining chairs 160 feet above the ground.
Tables, waiting staff and along with everything required to enjoy a good floating meal above the ground are taken along.
If you don’t see this as weird and strange, then I wonder what is; and all for a meal that costs about $30, 000!
Black Ants Restaurant
If there is another stronger word for strange, the Black Ants Restaurant would almost certainly earn it. This is a New York restaurant where black ants are served as part of the meal.
If you have fear or distaste for creeping or crawling creatures, then this is not for you. Here at this New York restaurant serving traditional Mexican cuisine, creepy crawlies are on the menu. Be ready to get served insects in your drinks and appetizers. Grasshoppers are also on the menu.
For those not enthusiastic about finding insects in their meals, you can go with the traditional Mexican cuisine, sans-ants.
If you have never eaten at the Black Ants Restaurant, you might want to give the black ant guac a trial. It’s been said that it’s well worth it.
Modern Toilet Restaurant
Located in Taipei and owned by Eric Wang, the idea behind this strange restaurants was born when one of the owners was reading while sitting on a toilet.
Can you beat that!
Initially, they were just into the sales of chocolate ice cream sold in toilet shaped containers but as the idea caught on and became a success, it was turned into a full-fledged toilet-themed restaurant. The meals are served in non-functioning toilet-shaped bowls dinnerware.
If you flinch at the idea of eating in a place that gives you the idea of a toilet, then this is not for you. The surprising thing about this restaurant is that it is highly affordable. With just $10 you get a sumptuous meal in a toilet-shaped bowl.
If this is not one of the strangest restaurants in the world, I wonder what is.
Ice Restaurant
If you have watched Disney’s cartoon, Frozen, then you might get an idea of what the Ice Restaurant might look like. While the owners don’t turn what they touch into ice, almost everything in the restaurant is ice-themed. Diners get to sit on ice benches and chairs, they get to eat at ice tables and eat out of ice plates, and they also get to drink from ice glasses served from a bar made of ice.
What have you got to say about that!
I have watched Frozen and I loved it…especially the Ice Castle scene. If you really want to get that Frozen world Disney experience, then the Ice Restaurant based in Dubai it is.
I have no doubt whatsoever that the lady by your side will love it!
Dinner In The Dark
Have you ever considered the idea of eating in a pitch black restaurant with myriads of other people; just digging into your meal?
Spooky, some of you might say……but this is what you get at Dinner In The Dark restaurant, a joint located in Beijing, China.
All the rooms in the restaurant are designed so black and so dark, and incoming visitors are guided by waiters who are equipped with night view binoculars.
This certainly fits this list as one of the strangest restaurants from around the world.
Flashlights and mobile phones not available, and visitors can only smell and taste the food by eating in the dark. Just use your senses to relish the meal.
Tombs Restaurant
Though coming at the tenth position on this list, it’s one of the strangest restaurants in the world. Now imagine the idea of eating in a cemetery….with tombs around you.
That’s the lookalike you get with the Tombs restaurant located in Ahmedabad, India, though you get served meals by real people and not zombies.
This strange restaurant is quite well-known for menu like the milk-tea and bread rolls, as well as the tombs between the tables. The owner of the restaurant claimed to have opened the restaurant for about 40 years, an inheritance, and doesn’t know who are buried beneath the graves.
Draculas And Witches In Britches, Melbourne Australia
For fans of the supernatural like Vampires, Werewolves, Dracula and Witches, you will find these restaurants a dream come true. Owing its popularity to the resurgence of the Twilight phenomenon, these horror-themed restaurants based in Melbourne are the craze.
Draculas claimed to have served more than three million people in the 30 years it has been in business. Draculas offers its drinks in a graveyard and you are also welcome to a ghost-train ride.
The 40 years old Witches in Britches is located in Wicked Castle, offering a kitschy interactive show with its roots in contemporary pop culture with pumpkin soup made of herbs picked from ‘the old hags garden’, and ladled from a cauldron.
Really witchy I say.
There, you have it. Some of the most unusual and strangest restaurants from around the world.
If there is any other weird restaurants not listed here that you know of, kindly make mention of it in the comments section and we will be sure to add it up.
Research Materials Used For This Article and Further Reading: