The Toilet Restaurant

by Jamie Rhein on

I once heard that you shouldn’t eat in the bathroom. I don’t know if that’s true, but here’s a twist. How about eating out of a bowl that looks like a toilet while you sit on seat that looks like a toilet? If that’s not enough toilet for you, dishes are also shaped like urinals and bathtubs. My friend Tom Barlow over at Blogging Stocks gave me the heads up on this one.

Leave it to someone in Taiwan to think of this and open a chain of them. The restaurants named Marton–Chinese for toilet–are popular with families with kids and young people. I can see the attraction. Novelty is key. Apparently, the food is also worth going back for. And if you like the idea of toilet dinnerware, you can pick up a ceramic toilet bowl on the way out. Unfortunately, the chain opened after I moved so I’ve never had the pleasure. I have some friends who still live in Taiwan who have probably eaten there. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hsinchu, the city I lived in, doesn’t have a Marton in a couple locations.

Here’s another post with wonderful photographs I found at 2dayBlog.

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Bragging about Gran Via on its centennial

by Abha Malpani on


Around August last year, I was living in Valencia and went to Madrid for the weekend. As I was aimlessly walking down Gran Via — the main commercial street in Madrid’s city center — I distinctly remember thinking “I could live here”. A few months later I moved and it was one of the best decisions I made.

Being someone who lately has been repelling anything big and mercantile, it’s funny I had that thought on Gran Via, of all other places in the city.

There’s this inanely rare charm that street eludes.
It’s high-street-big-city-for-tourists bustling, but it also radiates something that pins it down as being traditionally Spanish.

Often referred to as the ‘Spanish Broadway’, perhaps it’s early 20th century buildings, no skyscrapers, and nonchalant nature dampens it’s commercial side, making it an unexpected representation of Madrid as Spain’s traditional capital.

I can’t put my finger on what exactly allures me about this street, but it’s the reason I moved here.

On the 100th anniversary of Gran Via’s conception, the newspapers splattered the history and development of the street over the last century.

Haven’t seen it in the international press, but for those interested who don’t speak Spanish, you can check out this “Madrid in Black and White” gallery of the Gran Via that takes you through its historical significance.

[Via El Mundo]

Tamarack: One-of-a-kind-center offers top-notch handmade arts and crafts

by Jamie Rhein on

A couple years ago, when I was writing a magazine article on best fall foliage places in West Virginia, a person working at a visitors and convention bureau told me that Tamarack Art Gallery is a place to shop. Actually, not a place, but the place. If you’re looking for anything artsy, Appalachian and West Virginian, this is it. (Not all art is Appalachian in subject matter, but it does showcase Appalachia’s finest work.) I was interested to see a feature article about the place in The Columbus Dispatch.

Part of the success of this gallery, I think, is that the crafts and art for sale are juried pieces. This means that artisans have to apply to get their work accepted–it’sa more formal and strict process for selecting what will pass muster. The result is a collection of high quality pieces that represent more than 2,800 artists. Therefore, if you shop here, you can’t go wrong. West Virginia’s art bounty is huge and Tamarack reflects this. Usually for less expensive pieces the gallery also pays the artists upfront instead of the artists selling their work on consignment. I like that. It seems fair. The reason behind the gesture is so artists have a shot at making a decent living from their work and have the support to practice their craft at a higher level.

Tamarack also has a restaurant that serves up traditional Appalachian fare. I wonder if there are soup beans and cornbread on the menu–or is this a Kentucky specialty? There are also changing exhibits and demonstrations. Here’s an audio slide show designed to bring you there. I love listening to the accents. They remind me of where my mom is from. By the way, you can also shop on-line if driving to this spot in West Virginia is too far.

UFO art-exhibition to travel the world

by Abha Malpani on


When I lived in Dubai I worked in PR so I have been witness to many a crazy publicity stunts — but this one takes the cake.

Designer brand Chanel will put a huge gleaming white “Mobile Art Container” in the sky to fly the world from 2008-2010, displaying work of 20 international artists. Brainchild of Chanel’s creative head Karl Lagerfeld, the container has been designed by Iraq-born artist Zaha Hadid and will be made of collapsible fiber glass.

The artists were given a brief to create art in connection to Chanel’s handbags and curious participants include Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono, celebrity yoga guru Subodh Gupta, and offbeat modern artist Arakinbuyoshi.

They’ve tagged the mad idea a “noble research investment”. Urrrm — no I don’t understand either, but I’d go check it out just to walk into an absurd container like that.

Not sure how it’s going to fly — but over a two year period the thing will travel form Hong Kong to Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, London, Moscow and Paris.

[Via Wallpaper]

The stigma of vegetarianism in Moscow and a few restaurant suggestions to help you survive

by Neil Woodburn on

I’m not a vegetarian, but I considering becoming one after traveling for three months through Eastern Europe and Russia and eating nothing but meat.

The Slavs love their meat and during the early 90s as they were coming out of communism, that was pretty much the only thing one could find in Warsaw Pact restaurants. In fact, a few years later when I move to Prague to live, the only place I could find affordable vegetables was at the local Hari Krishna restaurant.

Although the culinary scene has changed drastically in the last 20 years, it’s still difficult to find good vegetarian food in this part of the world. In fact, according to an article by Stas Shectman, the mere concept of being a vegetarian is actually met with considerable animosity in Russia. There is even an anti-vegetarian website that “devotes itself to exposing the ‘evils of vegetarianism.'”

So, with this in mind, Shectman has compiled a rather detailed article revealing the very best places in Moscow to oblige your vegetarian fetish without necessarily revealing your unmanly habit.

If you have similar dietary restraints and are planning to visit Moscow any time soon, this is one article you need to print out and take with you. Otherwise, good luck explaining your meatless diet to your next Russian waiter.