Elaborately themed restaurants make great tourist attractions—just look at the success of chains like the Rain Forest Cafe. But not every themed restaurant is quite so fun and wholesome. Some theme restaurants are downright disguising and disturbing, especially in some parts of Asia. We’re not sure how customers can keep their appetites with gross themes like toilets or scary settings like a prison. If you think your stomach (and heart) can handle it, read on to learn about the most gross and disturbing restaurants and eateries of Asia.
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Toilet Restaurant – Taipei, Taiwan
As much as we try to avoid using public toilets, it’s inevitable when traveling. But some tourists are going out of their way to check out the toilets at this restaurant in Taipei. The Modern Toilet seats their customers on porcelain thrones rather than chairs and serves all of their food in ceramic toilet bowls and urinals. Assuming you can make it through your meal you can stay for some chocolate swirled ice cream that looks like a steaming pile of fudge.
Source: Fun Fever
Photo by rinux
Medicial Themed D.S. Music Restaurant – Taipei, Taiwan
If hospitals freak you out then you won’t enjoy your dining experience as D.S. Music Restaurant in Taipei, but if you’re looking for an unforgettable dining experience, it’s just what the doctor ordered. Waitresses dressed like nurses administers “shots” of booze squirted from a syringe into your mouth. The entire restaurant carries the medical theme with bathrooms marked “emergency room” and wheelchairs and crutches as part of the decor.
Source: Spot Cool Stuff
Photo by Spot Cool Stuff
Bread Head Bakery – Thailand
Would you care for some flesh bread? No, that wasn’t a crack at how Japanese people pronounce R’s, it was a serious statement about this disturbing bakery in Thailand that serves body parts made out of bread. To make these frightening baked goods even more grotesque they are painted with edible paint to look bloody and oozing. Despite appearances everything at the Bread Head Bakery tastes really good with extra goodies like raisins, cashews and chocolate baked right in.
Source: Geekologie
Photo by Geekologie
Alcatraz Prison Themed Restaurant – Tokyo, Japan
If you’re worried about sharing a hibachi table with strangers at Benihana’s, then you really won’t like sharing a cell with other inmates at Alcatraz, the prison themed restaurant in Tokyo, Japan. Diners spend the evening locked inside of a cell where they get served meals like “Adultery Dish” and a cocktail called “Lethal Injection.” And of course you can’t just get up to grab your waiter—you have to bang a cup on the bars to get his attention.
Source: Trend Hunter
Photo by Rob Sheridan
Our cultured readers and japonophiles may already know about nyotaimori, the tradition of serving food off of a woman, but have you ever heard of food served OUT of a woman? The Cannibal Banquet serves a “piñata” body filled with delicious meats and a red sauce that “bleeds” when the body is cut into. Another instance of things getting lost in translation, there don’t seem to be many details other that photos about where, when and how this cannibalistic cuisine goes down.
Source: Pork Your Pork
Photo by Weird Asian News
Maid Cafe – Akihabara District, Tokyo, Japan
The adorable maid look, popular in Japanese animation and comic books become the central theme of this quaint little cafe in the Akihabara district. While the maid uniforms (although surely fueled by the bizarre fantasies of otaku) seem normal enough for waitresses, you eventually realize those aren’t exactly “waitresses” wearing those pink plaid dresses and aprons.
Source: Weird News
Photo by Getty Images
Pork Your Pork – Roppongi District in Tokyo, Japan
If the crazy internet stories are to be believed then there is a club in Japan that, well to put it bluntly, let’s you pork your pork. After paying the incredibly high door price customers can chose an animal, “have it their way” so to speak, and then have it killed, cooked and served. We’re not entirely sure of the exact name or location of this seedy eatery, but it’s supposedly located in Tokyo’s Roppongi district, which is known for its S&M clubs and makes any other city’s night life scene seem like a daycare center.
Source: Pork Your Pork
Photo by hungrymofo212
Pitch Black Restaurant – Beijing, China
Setting the right atmosphere for an enjoyable dining experience is usually as much about lighting as it is decor. But in this case, it’s all about the lighting. The Pich Black Restaurant in Beijing, China serves their meals in completely and utter darkness… which means no cell phones or illuminated watches aloud. The only people who can see are the wait staff who wear night-vision goggles. As scary as eating in complete darkness sounds, the no cell phones rule seems downright delightful.
Source: Gizmodo
Photo by Spulch
Christon Cafe – Tokyo, Japan
The dark gothic theme of the Christon Cafe combined with powerful religious imagery would put the fear of God back into anyone raised Catholic. But this ironic style does extremely well with the ever popular Lolita goth scene in Japan. Somehow the contrast between cherubs and stained glass combined with macabre details like a menu shaped coffin and blood red curtains comes together to set a scene you’d expect to see in an old vampire film set in Europe… you know before sparkling teenagers were involved.
Source: Not Quite Nigella
Photo by Not Quite Nigella
Hajime Restaurant with Samurai Robot Waiters – Thailand
Sometimes it seems like all Americans think of when they think of Japan is stuff like kimonos, samurai and robots, but apparently we’re not alone. Hajime Restaurant, a Japanese restaurant in Thailand uses samurai robot waiters to serve their customers in what most ignorant gaijin must assume is a traditional Japanese manner. To be fair, this isn’t really all that disturbing, unless you’re afraid of robots taking over the earth.
Source: World Must Be Crazy
Photo by World Must Be Crazy
Guo-li-zhuang Penis Restaurant – China
It takes some pretty big cajones to try exotic food when traveling to remote parts of the world, especially if you stumble into the Guo-li-zhuang Restaurant in China. This restaurant may not have an elaborate theme like prisons or toilets, but it sets itself apart in what it serves. Catering specifically to wealthy businessman (who may be trying to compensate for something), this restaurant specializes in penis and testicle dishes, some of which can cost as much as $360.
Source: Times Online
Photo by Stefanoperna
Rising Sun Anger Release Bar – Nanjing, China
In Japan businessmen unwind with a little karaoke, but in Nanjing, China they have take a very different approach. The Rising Sun Anger Release Bar lets their customers use their staff as punching bags—literally. For anywhere from $7 to $40 patrons can vent their anger not only through excessive drinking, but by beating the crap out of one of their well-built male employees. The bar has sparked some controversy as to whether or not it’s providing a healthy outlet or encouraging violence.
A380 In-flight Kitchen – Taipei, Taiwan
If you thought a toilet themed restaurant was unappetizing wait ’til you get a load of the one that’s airline themed. But the A380 In-Flight Kitchen in Taiwan doesn’t just serve crusty chicken or fish, they serves a range of delicious western cuisine. The meals come in a standard airline tray, served on carts by flight attendants (or stewardesses if you prefer) just like during an in-flight meal, except there’s enough room that you won’t get your elbows banged up while they go down the aisles. Even still we’re not sure why anyone would want to be reminded of the horrors of air travel.
Source: UNP
Photo by UNP
