35 Unusual Restaurants Around the World: Sea Caves to Dinner in the Sky

Some restaurants are worth the trip for the room alone. From a sea cave in Puglia to a dining room 5 metres under the Indian Ocean, from giraffes at the breakfast table to dinner on a platform hanging from a crane, these 35 unusual restaurants, bars and cafés around the world make the setting part of the meal.

They fall into six groups: places built around the sea, mountains, snow and volcanoes, venues shared with animals, themed rooms from film and fiction, events in the sky, the dark or the street, and some of the strangest bars and cafés ever designed. A few were pop-ups or have since closed, which is noted below.

Sea caves, islands and underwater restaurants

Grotta Palazzese, Polignano a Mare, Italy

Tables are set inside a sea cave below the Hotel Grotta Palazzese, on Via Narciso in Polignano a Mare, Puglia. The hotel above the cave has 18 rooms, and the restaurant works on a seasonal calendar, so book well ahead. Our Grotta Palazzese guide covers the town as well as the dining room. Official site: Grotta Palazzese.

Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Maldives

Ithaa at Conrad Maldives Rangali Island sits 5 metres below the sea in Alif Dhaal Atoll and seats just 14 guests in a transparent room surrounded by reef fish. Built in Singapore in 2004, the 175-tonne room was shipped to the Maldives on a barge, sunk into place and opened in 2005, billed as the world’s first undersea restaurant.

The Rock, Zanzibar

The Rock stands on a rocky outcrop in the sea at Michamvi Pingwe, Zanzibar, with a terrace looking out over the water. The tide changes how you reach it, so follow the restaurant’s current directions.

Dining in the water, Bora Bora

A table set in the shallow turquoise lagoon of Bora Bora in French Polynesia, one of the classic images of a South Seas holiday.

Labassin Waterfall Restaurant, Villa Escudero, Philippines

At Villa Escudero’s waterfall restaurant in Tiaong, Quezon, tables stand below the spillway of the Labassin dam and guests eat with water flowing round their feet. The estate was founded in 1872 as a sugar plantation, later turned to coconuts, and opened as a resort in 1981.

Ali Barbour’s Cave Restaurant, Kenya

Near Diani Beach on Kenya’s south coast, Ali Barbour’s serves dinner at candlelit tables inside a cave.

Mountain, snow and volcano restaurants

Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix, France

The cable car from Chamonix, opened in 1955, climbs about 2,800 metres to the 3,842-metre summit of the Aiguille du Midi, still regarded as the greatest vertical rise of any cable car. At the top are a restaurant and café facing the Mont Blanc massif, and the glass Step into the Void, opened in 2013.

ION Hotel’s Northern Lights Bar, Iceland

The Northern Lights Bar at Iceland’s ION hotel is named for the aurora, which on clear winter nights can appear right above the building.

SnowCastle of Kemi, Finland

Kemi’s SnowCastle has been rebuilt every winter since the 1990s, each time with a new design. Its SnowRestaurant has ice tables, seats covered with reindeer fur and ice sculptures, alongside a snow hotel and a chapel used for weddings.

El Diablo, Lanzarote, Spain

El Diablo is the restaurant of Timanfaya National Park, the volcanic landscape created by the great eruptions of 1730–1736 and 1824. Below the surface here the ground reaches 100 to 600 °C at a depth of 13 metres, and the restaurant shares its name with César Manrique’s devil figure, the park’s symbol.

Redwoods Treehouse, Warkworth, New Zealand

A treehouse dining room built up among the redwood trees at Warkworth, north of Auckland.

Restaurants and cafés with animals

Giraffe Manor, Nairobi, Kenya

Built in 1932 in the style of a Scottish hunting lodge, Giraffe Manor in Lang’ata is home to a herd of endangered Rothschild’s giraffes, which lean through the windows at breakfast. Betty and Jock Leslie-Melville bought it in 1974 and founded the AFEW Giraffe Centre on part of the estate. The 12-bedroom hotel is now part of The Safari Collection.

Nekobiyaka, Himeji, Japan

A cat café in Himeji known for its black cats, which climb, rest and play among the guests.

The Dog Cafe, Los Angeles, USA

A Los Angeles café where visitors spend time with rescue dogs.

Tsavo Lion Restaurant, Bali, Indonesia

At Bali Safari and Marine Park, diners at the Tsavo Lion Restaurant sit beside large viewing windows with lions on the other side of the glass.

Café Babo, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

A Saigon café where guests drink their coffee among reptiles and can hold them for photographs.

Themed restaurants from film and fiction

The Green Dragon Inn, Hobbiton, New Zealand

The Green Dragon opened in 2012 as a working inn on the Hobbiton in New Zealand movie set, on the Alexander family farm about 10 km from Matamata. A visit comes with a guided tour of the set and its 44 hobbit holes.

Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant, Florida

At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, guests eat in tables built like classic cars, facing a big cinema screen, like a drive-in movie theatre.

Bistrot Chez Rémy, Disneyland Paris

Inspired by the film Ratatouille, this restaurant at the Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris is decorated as the world of the film’s chef-rat Rémy.

Alice in a Labyrinth, Tokyo, Japan

A Tokyo restaurant styled after Alice in Wonderland, with playing-card furniture and theatrical decorations.

A Harry Potter-themed café

A café decorated in the spirit of the Harry Potter books, photographed by Instagram users.

Walter’s Coffee Roastery, Istanbul, Türkiye

A coffee shop in Istanbul themed on the TV series Breaking Bad, with laboratory equipment on the counter and baristas in yellow protective suits.

All Men Must Dine, London, UK

A Game of Thrones pop-up feast held in London in 2015, with tables, dishes and decorations drawn from the series.

Barbie Cafe, Taipei, Taiwan

A former Taipei café decorated entirely in pink, from the furniture to the tableware and menus.

Dining in the sky, in the dark and in the street

Dinner in the Sky

Created in Belgium by David Ghysels and Stefan Kerkhofs, Dinner in the Sky uses a crane to lift a table, diners and staff about 46 metres (150 ft) into the air. It has operated in dozens of countries; one of its best-known settings is beside the Atomium in Brussels.

CuliAir, Netherlands

A Dutch hot-air-balloon dining concept, where a chef cooks a meal for passengers during the flight.

Dans le Noir, Barcelona

Founded in Paris in 2004 by Edouard de Broglie, Dans le Noir serves meals in total darkness, with blind or visually impaired guides as waiters. Its branches include London and Barcelona.

Street Dinner, Ferrara, Italy

An open-air event in Ferrara where long tables are set along the streets for a shared dinner.

Unusual themed bars and cafés

Truth Coffee, Cape Town, South Africa

A Cape Town coffee house fitted out with industrial pipes, machinery and metalwork around its counter.

HR Giger Museum Bar, Gruyères, Switzerland

The bar of the museum of Swiss artist H. R. Giger, the designer behind the creature in Alien, is built like a skeleton, with rib-like arches and sculptural seating.

Bicycle Bar, Bucharest, Romania

A Bucharest bar where bicycle frames and handlebars are built into the furniture.

Hajime Robot Restaurant, Bangkok, Thailand

In Bangkok, samurai-styled robots bring dishes to the tables.

Prison of Fire, Tianjin, China

A prison-themed restaurant in Tianjin, where diners sit behind cell bars.

The Clinic, Singapore

A former medical-themed bar in Singapore, with wheelchair seating and medical-themed drinks.

Le Refuge des Fondus, Paris, France

A Paris fondue restaurant where guests squeeze in at close-set tables and drink from baby bottles.

Booking an unusual restaurant

Settings like these often have small capacities, seasonal calendars or set menus, so reserve early and read what the booking includes. Check transfers for island and mountain venues, tide times for The Rock, and dietary needs for fixed-menu experiences such as Dans le Noir. For one more memorable interior, our Submarine Pub feature visits a steampunk bar in Romania.