In this global age where everything is constantly evolving, the dining experience has become as important as the food itself. Things are no longer limited to just top-notch food and great ambience, but restaurants and cafes are amping up things to provide an elevated experience to diners. The concept of restaurants with a theme has been around for a while now, but these unique themed restaurants in India have just redefined the normal.
Merging fun and fiction together, Indian restaurateurs are truly taking things up several notches by creating the most distinctive spaces for people to come together and dine. While themes like pet cafes, toilet restaurants and rainforest-themed restaurants have gone viral over the years, there have also been so many novel concepts that are interesting, to say the least. Today, we take you on a trip across India with its most unique themed restaurants and cafes that grabbed our attention.
Unique themed restaurants in India
Igloo Cafe, Gulmarg
It is exactly what it sounds like. I remember memorising “I for igloo”as a child, only to be intrigued by the concept of a snow house. That was the 1990s. Today, you can just walk inside one and have one of the most interesting meals of your life. The cafe was conceptualised and built by Wasim Shah, the owner of Kolahoi Ski Resort, a hotel in Gulmarg. Claiming to be the largest Igloo Cafe in the world, the cafe can accommodate 16 guests at once. Everything here is made of snow, and no, you won’t freeze here.
Address: Kolahoi Green Heights Lawn, opposite Ice Rink, Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir 193403
Kaidi Kitchen, Kolkata
Kolkata’s first jail-themed restaurant, was started by two friends, Ankit Madhogaria and Rohit Ojha in 2012. When you walk inside the restaurant, the first thing that will grab your attention is just the sheer drama created by the attention to detail. The place is done up with prison cells, inside which you can dine. Kaidi Kitchen is a national brand, which has several outlets in other cities, serving all kinds of fares from around the world.
Address: 1st Floor, 4/1, Camac St, Kankaria Estates, Park Street area, Kolkata, West Bengal 700016
Junkyard Café, Delhi
The USP of this unique themed restaurant is hidden in its name. If you thought that junk as a concept doesn’t go with a restaurant, think again. Because this place is literally done with all ‘junk’. The art installation here includes old worn-out tyres, barrels, spare parts of automobiles, old transistor radios and TVs, and even discarded beer bottles and vintage bikes. To add on to the raw and rustic charm, even the staff here is dressed in overalls and hard hats. If there’s a place that literally brings ‘junk’ back to life, it is this place!
Address: Pratap Building, 90,91,93, 2nd floor, Connaught Cir, Mc Donalds, Connaught Place, New Delhi, Delhi 110001
Food Bus India, New Delhi
Well, you might not be able to go to London right now, but London can come to you. Stationed inside London’s iconic red double-decker bus (Bollywood references, anyone?), this themed restaurant is truly unique. It brings to you street food from all over the world. Dig in some succulent spring rolls with spicy chilli dip and juicy burgers at Food Bus India. Don’t worry about crammed up spaces, because the interiors are spacious and allows you to move about freely.
Address: Multiple locations across Delhi
Taste of Darkness, Hyderabad
If you are a fan of the movie Begin Again, you are going to love this. Or if you are a fan of blind dates, there’s literally no place better than this! India’s only dark restaurant, this place takes dining experience in the dark too seriously. Once you have paid the cover charges, you will be led inside to a pitch black room by a visually impaired man. The menu is pre-decided, and you will be treated to a full-course meal, but with a twist! You will not be able to see your food and that’s where the guessing game commences!
Address: 5, Inorbit Mall Rd, APIIC Software Layout, Sri Sai Nagar, Madhapur, Hyderabad, Telangana 500081
Ohri’s Silver Metro Restaurant, Hyderabad
If all metro rides came with such delicious food like this, we’d sign up for a lifetime supply of passes for metro rides. A railway-themed family restaurant, this one comes with a little bit of twist. While there are plenty of railway restaurants around, this one chose the metro for creating a novel experience. The Butter Chicken and Lucknowi Bhuna Tangdi are two of the must-haves here.
Address: 5-9-30/16-20, Opposite Old Gandhi Medical College, Basheerbagh, Hyderabad, Telangana, 500063
FlyDining, Manali
While India has a number of Fly Dining restaurants, the one in Manali truly offers an unmatched experience. A unique themed restaurant, suspended at a height of 160 feet in the air by a crane, this one’s not for the faint-hearted. But if you are up for some adventure, sign up for this fun activity with unparalleled views! The restaurant has several slots open during the day that you have to pre-book. So head over to this restaurant the next time you’re in Manali!
Address: Old Manali Rd, Old Manali, Manali, Himachal Pradesh 175131
All Images: Courtesy Instagram
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Answer: A themed restaurant is one where the restaurant uses the space for a unique kind of theme. It is done in order to attract diners by creating a memorable experience.
Answer: Gravity Spacebar at Gurugram is one of the newest space themed restaurants on the block.
Answer: Themed restaurants aim to cater to people's desire of eating at places that have something unique to offer, thus creating something novel and distinctive.
A journalism student who studied the subject only to meet SRK in person, she settled for the best way to meet him. Covering Entertainment throughout her career, and now Food, Health and Lifestyle as well, Sreetama is also a self-proclaimed plant mom. In love with all things slow and quiet, she can often be found hunting for quiet corners with a glass of wine in hand. Other loves include little, inconsequential things, like neatly tucked-in bedsheets and big, significant things, like whole cheesecakes. She dreams of being a baker and writing about food someday.
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