US toilet restaurant rides 'poop' publicity wave
A restaurant billed as America's first toilet-themed eatery has
just opened in Los Angeles -- and is packing in diners after a wave
of free publicity for the concept, said to be imported from
Asia.
The Magic Restroom restaurant, where customers sit on ceramic
bathroom bowls and eat from toilet-shaped tableware, did brisk
business on its first fully open weekend.
Some might wonder who would want to eat surrounded by reminders of
where the food ends up. But Friday's grand opening was by all
accounts a huge success, fueled by media interest from around the
world.
"Business for the past couple of days has been very good. It's
always a full house with customers waiting in the lobby," said
waiter Daniel Chyan as diners bustled around him on Sunday.
The idea comes from Taiwan, he said.
"The food we serve here its actually normal, it's typical Taiwanese
food, like for example beef stew noodle," he added.
The toilet theme extends, perhaps inevitably, to the menu, with
dishes including "black poop" (chocolate sundae),
"smells-like-poop" (braised pork over rice), and "bloody number
two" (vanilla-strawberry sundae).
A random poll of customers Sunday suggested the eatery has the
right ingredients for success.
Denesse Elias said her chicken was served in a urinal while a
shrimp rice order came in a small toilet.
"It was kind of weird at first eating from them," she said. "But
the food was really good so it didn't make a difference."
Tania Moore added: "I was like, Magic Restroom Cafe? What is that?
And we walked in and there just were toilets everywhere. It was
really interesting. It was cool."
Even a Frenchwoman, whose country is known for its demanding
gastronomic standards, was impressed.
"The food is very well presented. It's in little toilets so it's
quite funny," said Marjorie Decriem, who lives in Los Angeles.
"You have to choose your dishes carefully because some are more
appetizing than others. But the food is very good. I think we will
return with friends because it's really a place to discover."
The launch has made toilet humor headlines around the world,
including "Owners of 'Restroom Cafe' flush with success" (The
Washington Post) and "Poop for dinner? Restroom-themed eatery
serves up unsavory-named dishes" (Daily Mail).
"Toilet restaurant: would loo believe it?" read another.
On its Facebook page, the Magic Restroom had nearly 1,100 "likes"
by Monday, while some 700 people were talking about the
restaurant.
But not everyone is convinced.
"What a disgusting theme for a restaurant," wrote Celia Yatawara.
Bet you couldn't think of anything more adequate for meal
time."
