Eating outside THE BOX

When the mighty boredom strikes, there are two things which almost never fail in defeating it: friends and food. Thus, to cure ourselves of the worst of days we always seek comfort in dashing out to the closest eatery with our friends. However, even hanging out with friends can seem mundane on repeated visits to the same old setup, where your only way to wait out the time till the food arrives is talking.

 

If you're familiar with the scenario that was just described, needless to say you're one of the many on the lookout for a place which comes with a serving of fun with every serving of food. Fortunately enough, Dhaka possesses a few such restaurants and cafés which serve food alright, but with a themed twist!

 

Crise Cardiac Grill
Crise Cardiac Grill is a clinic/ hospital themed restaurant at Jamuna Future Park, ornate with everything medical -- starting from the eating utensils being forceps instead of forks to the dishes being served on actual surgical instrument trays! While servers dressed as nurses take your order, a menu is provided which reads of medical conditions and the orders are treated as “prescriptions”. Next you'll find a paper “medical bracelet” on your wrist which acts as an order label and later as a memorabilia. While treating yourself on doses of continuously running episodes of Grey's Anatomy, spurting out ketchup from a syringe on your food and sipping drinks from conical flasks and beakers, you can actually indulge in food considerably better than any hospital food.

 

Club Wheels
To all the car fanatics who think, breathe and dream automobiles, Club Wheels is a dream come true. Club Wheels, located in Banani, has gone beyond the realms of possibility and achieved the unthinkable when it comes to setting the atmosphere with its interiors: you can actually sit in a real life-size car parked inside a restaurant and enjoy your meal! Adding to the theme are genuine car engines placed as a décor pieces under tables, piston ash trays in the smoking zone and car parts strewn across the walls. What more do you need when you can enjoy tantalising Mexican and Italian delicacies in a fuel-pumped atmosphere?

 

VOOT
Have a soft spot in your heart for the supernatural? Make your way down to VOOT in Uttara or ULTA VOOT in Dhanmondi. VOOT gives you the thrill of dining in an eerie atmosphere while holding on to the anticipation of being suddenly spooked by shadowy figures in the dark. Don't worry, no Ouija boards or spirit calling chants are at work here, rather human beings in costumes sneaking up on you. That combined with the rustic interiors and peculiar doodles on the walls create quite the dining experience. Voot offers Thai, Chinese and Indian food. But remember, the ghosts only come out after 7pm.

 

The Stage
Nothing sets the mood meter to festive better than the aroma of delectable food and the sound of tasteful music -- live! The Stage, with branches both in Dhanmondi and Uttara, is exactly what its name suggests. It's a stage featuring talented upcoming artists performing live while you treat yourself to scrumptious food from a menu that covers American, Italian, Mexican, Japanese dishes and more. However, what tops it all off is the open mic Friday nights when the stage of this music café welcomes the audience to sing their hearts out. So if you feel like swaying to soulful music with family and friends this week, you know where to go!

 

Themed restaurants are difficult to come across in our wonderful little city, which is extremely unfortunate. A little more oomph, a clever theme and voila! It would be a revolution for the local food industry.