These dangerous restaurants will force you to earn your food by overcoming the risks
they pose, and some take it a little too far.
You won't believe where restaurant number 1 is located.
Number 7: Marsden Grotto, England Marsden Grotto is a public house that is carved
into a cliff face at the English coast of Tyne and Wear.
The cave inside the grotto contains a bar and restaurant which mainly serves seafood.
According to legend, the cave was first used in the early 18th Century by sailors and smugglers
who used it as a hideout for their unlawful schemes.
After more than 300 years, the cave has reached its current large size after repeated excavations,
and is now put to proper culinary use.
There are many ghost stories told about Marsden Grotto, mainly relating to a smuggler known
as John the Jibber.
It is said that after he sold information to the authorities, his fellow criminals exacted
revenge on him by hanging him in a barrel inside the cave, and he was left to starve
to death.
Since then, the place is believed to be haunted by John the Jibber's spirit.
Marsden Grotto's previous pub owner is said to have left out a special glass full of beer
every night after closing, and would come back in the morning to find it empty.
One night, a visitor drank from the glass, which allegedly triggered a series of supernatural
events that made the owner quit.
The cellar became flooded from beer taps being mysteriously turned on, and floating ashtrays
smashed against the wall.
In 2001, the pub became the venue for a paranormal research aired on UKTV, where the experts
claimed to have identified at least seven different spirits.
Number 6: Blindekuh, Switzerland Reverand Jorge Spielmann is a blind clergyman
from Switzerland with a peculiar habit.
During dinner parties held at his home, he would often blindfold his guests just to let
them experience the dark world that he lives in.
Amazingly, his guests always gave good feedback, and enjoyed their meals better through their
senses of taste and smell.
Sensing a business opportunity, in 1999 Spielmann opened the world's first known dark restaurant,
the Blindekuh, in Zurich.
The restaurant enabled him to further convey the experience of blindness to sighted people,
all while letting them enjoy a good meal.
The idea quickly became a fad in Switzerland, and within years, dark restaurants began popping
up in cities all over the world.
Dark dining is a great experience for those looking to dine with a twist.
The basic concept is that in the absence of vision, the other senses are heightened, leading
to better gastronomic pleasure.
It also provides a unique dating experience where people could care less about their appearance,
and focus more on their conversations.
Logically, restaurant workers must be able to navigate themselves well in the dark.
Some waiters are equipped with night vision goggles, while some restaurants simply employ
blind and visually handicapped people who are used to living in the dark.
But eating in the dark is not without risks.
These restaurants are obviously not for nyctophobic people who are afraid of the dark.
Injuries could happen from food spills, cutlery accidents, and any chaos resulting from panicky
people.
Mobile phones and other light emitting equipments are strictly prohibited, and customers are
left to rely completely on the staff for their safety.
Number 5: Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, The Maldives The Maldives is arguably one of the best tropical
getaways on the planet, with its many visually spectacular islands and clear waters.
Apart from diving and snorkeling, one of the most unique sea-related activities you can
do there is having a meal underwater.
Situated below the sea off the shores of Maldives’ Condrad Rangali Island is the Ithaa Undersea
Restaurant.
In the Maldivian language, Ithaa translates as "mother of pearl", a befitting name for
such a magnificent restaurant.
It was opened in April 2005, describing itself as the first undersea restaurant in the world.
Very few places as unique as Ithaa have been built in the name of tourism.
Its entire structure is encased in a transparent acrylic roof, offering a beautiful 270 degrees
panoramic underwater view for diners, because there is nothing like eating delicious seafood
while being completely engulfed by it at the same time.
But as great as that sounds, Ithaa is not for those with claustrophobia.
The idea of being submerged 16 feet below sea water might even sound scary for some,
especially with various sea predators lurking around and peering through the transparent
tunnel.
The restaurant's only entrance is a spiral staircase at the end of a jetty, which was
once almost submerged during the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.
Fortunately, the restaurant suffered no damages.
Due to constant water pressure being exerted all around the acrylic roof, it is estimated
to last only 20 years, and would have to be rebuilt again completely for safety measures.
Number 4: Alcatraz ER, Tokyo In a country commonly stereotyped for being
weird and wacky, Japan's Alcatraz ER in Tokyo stands out well as a horror themed restaurant.
As its name suggests, the place combines the elements of a prison, emergency room, and
mental institution into one.
Understandably, the image that comes to mind would be dirty walls, crappy food, and bad
tempered nurses.
But that's not the case here, as Alcatraz ER has managed to create a good balance between
crazy and nice.
The very moment customers arrive, they are greeted by waiters dressed as nurses in a
blood splattered lobby.
They are then handcuffed and crammed into a small cell with dirty, dilapidated walls
and steel tables where they would eat their meals.
The most interesting part is the menu, which includes drinks served out of syringes and
bedpan urinals, and food served in kidney dishes and mannequin heads.
One particular drink is named "sperm juice", and is served with a banana carved into a
phallic shape.
As if the food and terrifying decor of the place is not enough, customers sometimes get
surprise visits from a mad doctor or scary clown who would drag them out of their cells
to be "experimented on" with syringes and sex toys.
Tokyo's Alcatraz ER is definitely not a family fun spot, and is not for the faint hearted
and those with a weak stomach.
Number 3: Muru Pop-Down Restaurant, Finland In 2012, popular Finnish restaurant Muru set
up an eatery deep below ground, taking diners far into the planet's underbelly.
Inspired by many trendy "pop-up" restaurants set up in unusual locations like rooftops
and high up in the air, they decided to create an underground "pop-down" restaurant instead.
The location is a cavernous limestone mine in the southern Finnish town of Lohja.
Donned with helmets and protection jackets, diners would have to descend 262 feet into
the belly of the earth in an elevator shaft used by miners.
During dinner events, visitors could even go as far as 1150 feet underground.
Claustrophobic people might not be able to even last a minute down here.
However, like many pop-up restaurants, this pop-down restaurant was only set up temporarily,
and the underground mine has gone back to its original use as a laboratory for Kone,
an elevator manufacturing company.
Number 2: Dinner in the Sky, Belgium In 2006, businessman David Ghysels decided
to launch a unique dining experience never done before in the world.
He teamed up with Stefan Kerkhofs, a bungee jumping organizer to create "Dinner in the
Sky" in Brussels, Belgium.
Using a 200 ton crane, seated diners are lifted together with a table and left suspended 160
feet in the air.
Depending on their preferences, the customers are usually hoisted for around 40 to 60 minutes,
tightly strapped by seatbelts to their chairs.
They get to enjoy a good meal and sip champagne while admiring the stunning 360 degree view
of Brussels from the sky, with no walls or floor to block their line of sight.
Not long after, Ghysels and Kerkhofs started getting offers from around the world, from
people wanting to recreate the aerial dining experience in other cities.
So the idea was franchised, and “Dinner in the Sky” has since toured many major
cities across the globe like Paris, London, Dubai and Las Vegas.
At times, a musician and piano is raised on a separate platform alongside the dining table,
for extra entertainment.
The only thing the sky restaurant lacks is a toilet, so in case of emergencies, the whole
table has to be brought down together with everyone else.
The experience is only for thrill seeking diners who believe that they could sit and
dine calmly while hanging 160 feet up high.
Those scared of heights, or with heart issues may refrain from trying it.
Diners must also be extra careful not to accidentally drop anything as it could potentially cause
injury to innocent passersbys down below.
So far there hasn't been any accidents reported with Dinner in the Sky, and hopefully it remains
that way.
Number 1: Mount Huashan Tea House, China How far are you willing to go for a cup of
tea?
Chinese tea might be amazingly satisfying, but it’s not something you normally associate
with danger.
Mount Huashan in China happens to merge those things together, by housing an ancient tea
house on top of it, and it takes an extremely difficult climb just to get there.
Mount Huashan is located near Huayin, a Chinese city with a 3000 year old history, that also
houses the well known Terracotta Warriors.
The mountain is uniquely shaped, with five summits that form the points of a flower shape.
Each summit has a structure built on it, with the tea house being located atop the southernmost
summit.
The place has a long history of religious importance, dating all the way back to the
2nd Century BC.
Monks and pilgrims have been climbing and residing Mount Huashan and its surrounding
areas, and throughout the years have built a network of trails to give fellow climbers
access to the mountain's five summits.
But the trails can hardly be considered safe.
Most of it is made of narrow and rickety plank walks, some only 12 inches wide.
As climbers walk the cliff-side of the mountain, they are left to hook and unhook themselves
to various cables until they reach the end of the skywalk.
Due to a sudden boom in tourism, the paths have been reinforced, but are nonetheless
still perilous.
Mount Huashan's trail carries a notorious reputation as a death place for climbers,
and although no official statistics are released, it is believed that about 100 people fall
to their death here every year.
Visitors are literally left clinging to their lives as they cross the more dangerous parts
that are given terrifying names such as the Hundred Foot Crevice, Thousand-Foot Precipice,
and Black Dragon Ridge.
If you make it to the tea house at the top, you'll be rewarded with super awesome tea,
accompanied with a magnificent view.