For enough money, unique restaurants around the world offer adventurous dining experiences for thrill-seekers. At these restaurants, which include the Mt. Huashan Teahouse and the dining rooms suspended in the sky above global cities, you have to earn your food by overcoming your fear of heights or claustrophobia. You decide if these restaurants have taken their themes too far or are worthy entrepreneurial risks.
These hot spots are not only the world's most dangerous restaurants, but also some of the weirdest we've ever come across as well. These spots also prove that people are excited by some really bizarre things, such as the option to plunge to your death en route to a teahouse in China located on a steep mountain, or the chance to dine in a creepy prison/hospital, complete with severed limbs and handcuffs.
What are the most dangerous restaurants in the world? Far from your average restaurant, these eateries attract some of the most brave and most daring diners around. Enjoy your meal, if you can.
The average person enjoys tea and taking a hike, but would you be daring enough to take a hike up Mt. Huashan in Huayin, China, for a cup of tea?
The teahouse was originally a Taoist temple and completes the five mountain peaks in the area that form the image of a flower.
The trip up the mountain is long and grueling, not to mention the possibility of falling off the side and plummeting down to, well...you know.
First, a tram take visitors to the path: ๏ปฟ
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When does it become terrifying? Immediately. Unharnessed guests have to tiptoe their way across the mountain on tiny wooden planks that are haphazardly nailed together while holding on to dear life with measly chains...
Oh, and whoever built this path to the teahouse decided to be so kind as to dig out toe holes for climbers. That'll keep you from death, surely.
If you've been lucky enough to make it this far, you'll have to climb the world's steepest staircase, secured by a fence. Can see the fence? Oh don't worry, it's there. It's actually that tiny:
Finally, you've made it to the teahouse! It must be a damn good cup of tea. Now for the easy way down...
Ever wanted to fly while eating dinner? Now you can, sort of. Dinner in the Sky is a dining experience unlike any other, wherein a suspended dinner table rises 180 feet into the air, giving diners a 360-degree aerial view of the world around them.
The flying table has 22 seats, which can all be reserved by a single party for an hour, or you can rent the entire restaurant (yes, they also have dining on the ground, too) for a whopping eight hours and rotate your guests in 1-hour increments to enjoy the suspended dining experience. Although the set price doesn't include catering, you do get a photographer to document the entire experience without having to worry about losing your SLR.
The apparatus, which was built in Belgium, is suspended 180 feet in the air from a 200 ton crane. The center can hold a waiter, a chef, and an entertainer in addition to the table and the 22 seats.
The company, which also does weddings and business meetings in the sky, is looking to expand to suspending diners over natural landscapes, such as The Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls.
Oh, and there's no bathroom up there, so if you have to go, don't ruin the fun for everyone else and make them lower the table down. Be considerate, and go beforehand.
The world's first underwater restaurant is located on the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island. Few places as unique as this have been built in the name of tourism. A quick geography lesson: Maldives is a cluster of islands located south of India and west of Sri Lanka.
The restaurant is an acrylic tunnel with a 270-degree view of the sea that is accessed through a spiral staircase at the end of a jetty. There's nothing like eating seafood while being completely engulfed by it.
The 175-ton restaurant was built in Singapore before being shipped over to Maldives (talk about a heavy meal). When it arrived at the islands, it was sunk with 85 tons of sand and secured into the sea floor with four steel piles and concrete. The restaurant is estimated to last 20 years before it has to be rebuilt.
If you really can't bear to part with the sea after your $120 to $150 meal, the restaurant can be turned into a guest room for $11,710.
Fine dining in the dark is a trend that was started in Zurich and has since spread all over Europe and the world. The idea is to give your eyes a break from staring at computer screens and to rely on your other senses to enjoy food.
Because of this, these restaurants have employed many blind and visually handicapped waiters around the world.
After choosing your meal and beverage in a well-lit foyer at Unsicht-Bar in Berlin, Germany, your waiter takes you into the pitch black dining room. You would think waiters and guests would be running into each other, dinners flying willy nilly and chaos ensuing, but the waitestaff are able to navigate around the room without any problems. Seriously, this is what they see:
Prices of three or four course meals range from 38,50 Euro for a vegetarian meal to 55,50 for beef. Lamb, seafood and a surprise deal are also available. All of the food is pre-cut for you, so the greatest damage can only be caused by a butter knife. The food on the plate is arranged like a clock so that guests know where each item is located. The restaurant does have limitations in that they can't serve foods such as peas and spaghetti because it would be too difficult to pick up with a fork in the dark.
No light of any kind is allowed in the dining room (no cellphones!) and if a guest needs to go to the bathroom, a waiter escorts them back into the lit rooms.
Don't worry, you won't have food all over your clothes when you finish the two hour experienceโ the food is pitch-black friendly, making it easy to eat.
Turning the TriBeCa region of New York City into ancient Japan, NINJA New York is perhaps one of the scariest themed restaurants you'll find. From the outside, it appears as just any other Japanese restaurant would, but step inside, and you are transported into a one-of-a-kind dining experience.
If you're lucky enough to get a reservation to this hot spot, once you arrive, you are guided through a dark and smokey labyrinthine path to your table.
When you arrive at your table, don't be surprised if it is located within one of these cozy jail-cell-like rooms.
Also, don't be afraid when an actual NINJA swoops in on your table. Wielding samurai swords and in full ninja costume, these masked foes are your wait staff.
Each of the menu items are cooked to order, often in front of each table. Arrive hungry as tasting menus, which can cost as much as $100 per guest, include enough food to feed a small army.
Set within one of several ice hotels around the world, the Laino Snow Village Ice Restaurant will have you dreaming about saunas, hot tubs and 100-degree weather in no time. That's right, this restaurant is ice cold and kept that way, frostily oscillating between 23 and 28 degrees Fahrenheit at all times.
There is no set dress code, but trust us that arriving in anything less than a full snow suit is a mistake. The entire restaurant is made or snow or ice. The walls, the tables, even the chairs, all frozen.
Because it would be impossible to keep any food warm, the restaurant serves cold meals. Just as the menu changes, the restaurant changes each year as well. That's because it's built from the ground up with fresh snow and ice each winter, then melts into nothingness when weather warms up in Finland each spring.
