Giger Bar, Switzerland

Theme restaurants are ten-a-penny, but the Giger Bar, designed by the surrealist H.R. Giger to bring the world of Alien to his home nation, is genuinely a work of art. Slick and elegant, it’s like dining inside the belly of the Alien Queen – although the menu’s limited to standard cafe fare.
Giger Bar Museum, Chateau Saint Germain, Gruyères, Switzerland

Snake House, Cambodia

Founded by Russian veterinarian Nikolai, this establishment in Cambodia’s party town, Sihanoukville, pays tribute to his love of dangerous snakes – and it’s quite the Bond villain lair. There’s a crocodile farm, plus a chained crocodile in the midst of things, aquariums full of snakes adorn the walls, while you eat off glass-topped tables with serpents writhing underneath.
Snake House, Krong Preah Sihanouk, Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Dinner in the Sky, Worldwide

Not one for the acrophobic, Dinner in the Sky does exactly what it says on the tin: lift up a dining table, complete with chairs, guests and central chefs, 50m (165 ft) above the location of your choice, for dining sessions of up to eight hours. Need the loo? The whole table descends with you. Want entertainment? A second platform with musicians or live bands can be arranged. And, yes, you are strapped in your seat.
www.dinnerinthesky.com

More Than Toilet, China

Taiwan’s legendary Modern Toilet has shed a load of imitators, most notably in mainland China, a nation whose public lavatories are not to be sniffed at. At this Shanghai emporium of lavatory humour, guests sit on padded toilets, and dine on scatological dishes: turd-shaped coils of chocolate ice-cream in basins, miniature squat toilets full of brown stuff, not to mention drinks served in urinals.
No. 5, Lane 274, Taikang Lu, near Ruijin Er Lu, Tianzifang, Shanghai

Heart Attack Grill, US

‘Murica is the land of the super-sized portion, and Vegas is the spiritual home of all forms of excess. Which makes the Heart Attack Grill, with its nurse-waitresses theme, giant burgers and fries with extra lard, a true Sin City temple. Guests over 350lb (160kg) eat free, while the menu includes not only maple bacon shakes but “Coronary Dogs” and the Octuple Bypass Burger, to which you can add an impressive 40 slices of bacon, should you wish.
Heart Attack Grill, 450 Fremont Street, Las Vegas

Dans Le Noir, France

Ever wondered what food tasted like when you couldn’t see it? Discover at the Dans le Noir chain, where blind waiters serve up food to guests in absolute pitch blackness – enabling guests to experience, briefly, life as it would be without vision. You’ll need assistance from waiters for everything from finding your seat to navigating the bathroom, but leave with a new idea of what life’s like where you can’t see.
Dans Le Noir 51, rue Quincampoix, Paris

Ithaa, Maldives

Jacques Cousteau spent months living under the sea, but Ithaa, in the Maldives, brings the experience to anyone with money to burn. At the world’s first undersea restaurant, a 14-seater affair set 5 metres (16 feet) below the surface of the Indian Ocean, diners can feast on tuna, kingfish and langoustine – while watching their dinner swimming above the curved glass ceiling.
Conrad Rangali, Rangali Island, Maldives

Hobbit House, Philippines

Owned by little people, who also work at front of house – although people of normal stature man the bar and kitchen – this Manila restaurant and bar has a Tolkien theme that extends from the circular front door to the memorabilia and artworks around the walls. There’s an impressive selection of imported beers, and a menu of Pinoy and Western classics – not to mention a second venue on Boracay.
Hobbit House, 1212 Arquiza Trade Center, Ermita, Manila

Alcatraz ER, Japan

Tokyo is, of course, the spiritual home of the disturbing theme restaurant, but Alcatraz, one of the city’s veterans, takes the biscuit with its prison hospital theme. Guests enjoy cocktails in low-roofed prison cells; headless nurses threaten tied-down guests with anal syringes; and, at a certain point during dinner, the lights go down and axe-wielding maniacs appear.
Alcatraz ER, 2F Harvest Building, 2-13-5 Dogenzaka, Shibaya-ku,Tokyo

Twin Stars, Russia

Do YOUR Moscow fantasies extend to hot twin action? Twin Stars Diner, which markets itself with the line “Burgers, cocktails and twins”, employs pairs of identically-dressed identical twins to work at the bar and wait tables. Inspired by Soviet-era classic The Kingdom of Crooked Mirrors, you can insert your own “seeing double” joke here. New York’s Twins World, sadly, is currently closed for business.
Twinstars, 3/4 Pyatnitskaya Ulitsa, bldg. 1, m. Novokuznetskaya, Moscow

Image credits: Ithaa and Modern Toilet Restaurant on Wikimedia Commons; Sihanoukville – Snake House Restaurant by spotter_nl, Tokyo, Japan – Alcatraz ER Bar – a display at the entrance by Adam Fletcher, DansLeNoir_0007 by Julien Haler and Over 350 Lbs Eat Free Heart Attack Grill sign, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA by Cory Doctorow on Flickr’s Creative Commons.