It’s unclear if anyone walking into a theme restaurant that takes its design inspiration from bathrooms expects a great meal. At the Modern Toilet Restaurant, an eatery-gone-viral in Taipei, food is served from commode-shaped vessels while guests sit on non-functioning toilets to eat. And it’s still on many tourists’ must-visit lists even though the theme restaurant — now a chain of three across the island — has been around since 2006.
We hit up the Shilin potty spot, at the edge of the city’s famous night market, at lunchtime on a weekday. We had the place almost to ourselves.
They’ve done their part with the decor here. The seats are toilets, each one with a unique lid. The napkins are toilet paper dispensed by toilet paper holders on the wall. The bench seats feature poop emoji-shaped pillows and similar decor sits beneath the glass-topped tables. Even the windows are shaped like excrement.
Inspiring wall art, possibly conceived by someone without a great grasp of English, encourages guests to “Idea Poo Poo” and “Love Poo Poo.”
Purely due to the name, we skipped the Fragrant Pile Fried Rice (NTD280/US$9) and opted for the Vegetarian Hot Pot (NTD280/US$9), which arrived in a large green toilet-shaped bowl. It tasted like, well, hot water with some vegetables in it. No seasonings at all. But, vegetarian hot pot is rarely a mind-blowing experience anyway. After taking several photos of it, we left it pretty much intact.
We upgraded the hot pot into a combo meal (NTD80/US$2.6), which meant it came with Poo Poo Bread and Shit Ice Cream.
Next up was Seafood & Pesto Sauce Gratin (NTD310/US$10), which came to the table in a mini bathtub and went over slightly better. It still had almost no taste but cheese, seafood, pasta, and pesto are pretty good even when they’re not.
The Poo Poo Bread was endlessly fun to play with and photograph, but it was also rock hard and inedible. On the other hand, the French Fries (NTD180/US$5.8), which were actually a combo of french fries, potato wedges, and tater tots, were lovely.
The Fruit Tea (NTD220/US$7), served in a mini urinal with bits of cherry and orange floating in it, was also pleasant.
We finished by sharing the Shit Ice Cream. It was just a normal swirled soft serve served in what looked like a bathroom slipper with a marshmallow on top. While it was nothing to write home about, it wasn’t shit, either.
Other dessert items included Snow Shit (NTD190) and Poo Poo Waffle (NTD250).
The third floor of the restaurant affords more photo opportunities and props, including an entire bathroom setup where guests can pose on the toilet, don a bathrobe, or jump into a bathtub filled with balls.
All in all: Our meal was under NTD1,000 (US$33), the staff was sweet, and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly even though the food wasn’t any good. We didn’t go for the meal — and with that in mind, it didn’t disappoint.
FIND IT:
Modern Toilet Restaurant
173 Wenlin Rd, Shilin, Taipei
Open daily, 12-10pm
MRT Shilin
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