In my previous post about the Hello Kitty Sweets Restaurant, I wrote about one of the many themed restaurants in Taipei City, Taiwan.  Another themed restaurant I visited in Taipei during my recent trip there, was the famed Modern Toilet Restaurant.  I have heard of great stories about this restaurant, and wanted to see what the hype was all about!  So what’s so special about the Modern Toilet Restaurant?  Well, read on and you’ll find out!      

There were many branches of the Modern Toilet Restaurant in Taipei, the one we visited was the largest one in Taipei which was located in Ximending district.  The Modern Toilet Restaurant is essential a themed restaurant that revolved around eating in your bathroom, instead of in your kitchen or dining room.  Furthermore, to make things even more bizarre, they would even have bowls in the shape of mini toilet bowls, urinals or bath tubs that you eat your food out of!  I truly wonder what other crazy ideas they will think of next?!

My wife in the main entrance of the Modern Toilet Restaurant, touching the “pink poo” mascot.

It was kind of a wacky experience.  The decor in the restaurant was out of this world!  Flashy coloured bathroom tiles decorated the walls of the restaurant, while orangey florescent lights illuminated each table.  To be honest, it actually felt like being in one of those trendy washrooms in a night club.  As dining tables, it was essentially a giant sink with a piece of clear glass on top, while a shower head and faucet tap connected from the end of the giant sink and hung on the walls as decoration.   Last but not least, your chairs were real toilet bowls, fitted with a sparkly plastic toilet seat and cover!

The sink as your dinning table, the toilet seat as your chair, and the shower head and faucet to enhance your bathroom eating experience!

That’s me deciding what to order on the menu, and getting acquainted with my toilet seat.  Notice that I actually flipped the toilet lid up?  It really felt like being at home! 

After settling down and getting comfortable with my toilet seat, my wife and I were ready to order our food.  The menu was nicely laid out to tell you exactly what you will be eating out of (toilet bowl, urinal, or bath tub).  My wife ordered some type of braised chicken cutlet, while I ordered a kimchi hot pot with rice.  Reason why we ordered those?  Because we get to eat out of a mini toilet bowl!  There were also brown curry dishes available in the mini toilet bowl too, but let’s not visualize what that resembles…hint hint…wink wink..

The braised chicken dish in a toilet bowl.

Kimchi hotpot in a toilet bowl.

The food portions were quite large, but to be honest, the food tasted only average.  So don’t really expect anything too much out of the food.  I’m guessing most people (such as myself) only come to the restaurant to get a good laugh at the novelty of eating in a bathroom.

That’s me, eating out of a toilet bowl, while sitting on a toilet bowl!

To top off our meals, the set we ordered it came with ice cream as dessert.  And guess what the ice cream looked like?  You guessed it, it was a soft serve ice cream all twirled up to look like poo!  There was only one thing I was disappointed with the dessert, the ice cream only came in vanilla flavour and not chocolate!

The “poo” ice cream.  Imagine what it would have looked like if it was chocolate colour? 

Before I paid the bill for the meal, I needed to make a quick stop at the washroom.  Plus I was also curious what the washroom would look like in a bathroom themed restaurant!  haha

As I was looking for the gents, I was caught off guard with a toilet bowl near the entrance of the washrooms.  For a split second I thought…”that’s odd, why is there a toilet out in the open like this?  Was this where I was suppose to go?”  But after rationalizing and looking at it a bit longer, that’s when it occurred to me, it was really just the sink where you wash your hands in!!!!

Is this the toilet?

Nope…it’s just where you wash your hands in….

Overall, the novelty of eating in a bathroom was quite amusing to me.  What really got me amused was the feeling of amazement of the wacky and trendy ideas people come up with in Taiwan.  It really was fascinating!

In terms of cost of the meal (for 2 people), it cost me about 600 Taiwan Dollars, which was about 20 USD.  That would equate to an average basic meal you would get at a fast food joint in North America.  As mentioned before, the food tasted only average.  But the main difference was, does a typical fast food joint such as McDonald’s allow you to eat out of a toilet bowl?  The answer is obviously NO.   So if you look from that perspective, then it is worth it if you are looking for that novelty factor.

However, if you are not into novelties, and want only good tasting food, then I don’t suggest you to dine there.

So that’s pretty much it for my experience at the Modern Toilet Restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan!

 That’s me posing with my souvenir portable urinal, from which really is for you to drink out of!  Serious!

Visitor’s Information To The Modern Toilet Restaurant in Ximending, Taipei Branch:

Just a word of caution if you do intend to visit the Modern Toilet Restaurant branch in Ximending, Taipei.  When I first attempted to find the restaurant, it took my wife and I over 1 hour to find the place in Ximending!  I thought I knew where to go based on the research I had done earlier online, but it turned out that the information I got from the Internet was neither clear or accurate!

So for your convenience, I will try to describe the route to the Modern Toilet Restaurant in Ximending, Taipei as clear as possible with pictures below to guide you:

Location map of Modern Toilet Restaurant in Ximending.  Follow the steps marked on the map (numbered 1 to 4) with descriptions below.  The star is where the restaurant is located.

1.)  Take the MRT to Ximen MRT station, and head out of exit # 6 from the station.  Walk west along Chengdu Road.

2.) Once you reach the intersection of Kunming Street and Chengdu Road, turn right onto Kunming Street.

3.) Walk along Kunming Street until you see a giant parking lot on your right hand side.  Walk until you see the next street junction just after the parking lot and then turn right onto that street.  It is small street so at the position numbered 3 in the map above, the area on that small street will look like the below.

Position # 3 in the map above should look something like this.  The giant parking lot is that brown structure on the left of this picture.

4.)   Walk along that street that you turned into from Kunming Street, and walk straight for a few meters, and then on your left you will see a small street (really looks like an alley instead).  You walk into that alley and a few shop units in you will find the Modern Toilet Restaurant.  At position #4 in the map above, it should look like what is seen below:

This is what the alley street looks like where the Modern Toilet Restaurant is located as seen at position #4 in the map above.

This is what the entrance to the Modern Toilet Restaurant in Ximending will look like.

So hope this quick direction guide to the Toilet Restaurant helps you all!

What other quirky restaurants you been to around the world?  Please share your experiences in the comments below.  Cheers!