LUX Travel: Unique Dining Experiences

Aug 16, 2012
Marisa Machak

Have you ever wanted to experience dining in an unconventional way? Here are some restaurants that will have you looking forward to not just the food but where and how you will be eating it. LadyLUX gives you nine places that are exclusive, delicious and downright unique.

Tali Wiru Ayers Rock Resort Dinner, Australia

via Ayers Rock Resort

Experience a magical dining experience under the outback sky. Meaning “beautiful dune” in the local Anangu language, Tali Wiru is an open-air restaurant at the Ayers Rock Resort in the Australian outback. Enjoy an intimate evening as you start off with champagne and canapés around a fire pit watching the sun set. Then trek to the top of the dune for a four-course meal accompanied by premium Australian wines. Try this dinner for a romantic night with your love or for a fun night out with a party of six friends. You will never forget the magnificent views of the Uluru, distant domes of Kata Tjuta and an entertaining didgeridoo performance.

Opaque, San Francisco

via Opaque

Want to try a new dining style that will make you use your senses? Originating in Europe, “Dining in the Dark” is a restaurant trend that has come to the U.S. and taken the culinary world by storm. This multi-sensual dining experience offered at Opaque restaurant in San Francisco, will enhance your sense of taste, smell, touch and hearing. Upon arrival, you will choose from a specially designed menu and then be personally guided into the dark dining room to enjoy your meal without being able to see a thing. Don’t be afraid of the dark; once your try this unique dining experience, it will all make perfect sense!

The French Laundry, Yountville, CA

via Wikipedia

Inspired by fine yet comfortable French restaurants, The French Laundry is a restaurant set in the heart of California wine country that offers two unique nine-course tasting menus of the chef’s selections and vegetables. Each menu is a series of small, focused dishes where no single ingredient is ever repeated throughout the meal. The small courses are meant to excite your mind, satisfy your appetite and heighten your palette. Each different plate and bite offers an exciting flavor but in a new texture, sensation or emotion.

Dinner in the Sky

via Dinner in the Sky

For one of the most unique and extravagant meals on the planet, Dinner in the Sky might just be added to your bucket list now. Transform an ordinary dinner into a special night in the sky to leave a lasting impression. Accommodating up to twenty-two guests and three staff members, the dinner will be hosted at a table suspended to a height of 150 feet high. This event can be held almost anywhere: a golf course, race-track, castle, vineyard or historical site. You can also have breakfast in the sky, lunch in the sky, cocktails in the sky and even a business meeting in the sky.

The Redwoods Treehouse, New Zealand

via Redwoods Treehouse

First created for a marketing campaign in 2008, the Redwoods Treehouse located in Auckland, New Zealand is now open as a private venue. The access inside the tree is provided by an elevated tree-top walkway built using Redwood milled from the site. For a private dinner party, birthday or just a fancy celebration, you can reserve the treehouse for an entire day with up to thirty guests. Guests then have the opportunity to combine this unique dining experience with the discovery of the Matakana and Warkworth area. The scenery combined with great food and some of the best wines of New Zealand will be an unforgettable experience.

Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, Maldives

via Ithaa Undersea Restaurant

Ever imagined dining underwater? As the world’s first all-glass underwater restaurant, it will be hard to top the beautiful scenery of the Ithaa Undersea Restaurant on the Conrad Maldives Rangali Island at the Conrad Hilton Hotel. Set sixteen feet below sea level, you can marvel at 180 degree views of reef and marine life, sip cocktails and savor Maldivian-Western fusion cuisine for lunch and dinner.

Eataly, New York City

via Eataly

You might be interested in a restaurant where they cook what they sell and sell what they cook. Eataly in New York City is an energetic marketplace housing seven different restaurants. You will have the opportunity to taste and take home products by the different artisans, partake in cooking classes and mingle while sipping wine. Try the rooftop restaurant Birreria where you can eat and drink high quality brews. The retractable roof lets you dine year round in rain, shine or snow right in the heart of Eataly.

Chillout Ice Restaurant, Dubai

via Chillout

There is definitely a reason to get closer at this intimate dining location. The Chillout Ice Restaurant in Dubai is the first Middle Eastern ice lounge. Decked out with ice sculptures and illuminated interiors, the venue also boasts chandeliers, curtains and paintings all in a chilling temperature of 21 degrees Fahrenheit. Tables, chairs, plates and cups are all made of ice. When you arrive you will be given thermal clothing, including a parka, shoes and gloves, and a complimentary mocktail or hot chocolate. Chillout is the first ice restaurant to offer hot food and beverages of kabobs, soups, sandwiches, sushi and cheeseboards. Cuddle up, relax, dine and chill out!

Da Kas Greenhouse Restaurant, Netherlands

via Da Kas

In 2001, an old and almost thirty-foot greenhouse that belonged to Amsterdam’s Municipal Nursery was converted into a restaurant. The De Kas Restaurant in the Netherlands is a beautiful setting because of the spectacular views, night lights and green gardens. Whichever setting you pick to dine, your experience will be heightened by the superb food and lovely foliage. Based on the current harvest, De Kas creates a daily menu comprised of food from its own nursery and herb garden.