Following in South Korea’s footsteps is Moscow’s newest eatery, ‘Crazy Toilet Cafe’. The place offers its customers a highly realistic toilet-themed dining experience, complete with faecal-inspired dishes served in miniature lavatories and urinals!
The cafe, which opened late last month on the busy Arbat street, features about 50 real toilet bowls
that serve as seating. The tables are mini bathtubs propped on legs and covered with glass, showing cartoon characters using the toilet. Cafe management says they’re solely relying on the novelty of the place to attract one-time customers, as people are highly unlikely to pay the cafe a second visit.
“We think people will walk past, think ‘What on Earth is that?’ and then come in to check it out,” said Inga Yaroslavskaya, general manager of Crazy Toilet Cafe. “It’s not everywhere that you can eat good food from a toilet bowl and drink from a urinal at very reasonable prices.”
The ‘Crazy Lunch’ menu, priced at 500 roubles ($8) per person, includes three courses – a creamy, brown mushroom soup served in a toilet bowl, poop-shaped sausage served with mashed potato swirls served in a bidet, and whipped chocolate ice cream for dessert. The drinks menu is also heavily toilet inspired, with a “range of hot cocktails served in mini urinals.” There’s no escaping the toilet even with healthy options like green tea – it’s served as a disturbingly yellowish liquid in a tiny white toilet bowl. Oh, and the bill comes in a vintage metallic chamber pot.
It’s easy to mistake the cafe for a toilet, what with the faeces-themed cartoons on the walls, but the real deal is located in the back of the restaurant. The toilet seats in the cafe are sealed shut to prevent any ‘accidents’, and customers need to use one of three cubicles for real nature’s calls.
Crazy Toilet Cafe is believed to be the first toilet-themed cafe in Europe. Owned by Alexander Donskoi, the former mayor of Arkhangelsk who previously opened a G-spot sex museum in Moscow, the cafe welcomes all sorts of people as long as they behave civilly. “It’s hard to identify them just by looking at them, so of course they are welcome if they behave normally,” Donskoi said, referring to coprophiliacs.
“We opened a strange restaurant, so it’s natural that some strange people might want to come.”
Interestingly, lots of customers say the fecal theme of the restaurant hasn’t put them off. “In general, everything is delicious,” said one customer. “There is a great atmosphere. It is relaxing and funny.”
“This is truly unusual for Moscow,” another said. “I have never seen anything like it before. But it is fascinating and interesting to visit and try. And in general, one can return again because the food here is delicious.”
Photos: VK/Cafe Crazy Toilet
Sources: The Guardian, Reuters
