Some restaurants require diners to sport a jacket and tie. At a new pop-up in London, clothing is forbidden altogether.
The Bunyadi is the city's first nude pop-up restaurant. And it's taking London by storm: Since it was announced in April, 46,000 people have applied for tickets, which cost £69 ($98) each.
Business Insider UK's Chloe Pantazi had lunch at The Bunyadi on opening weekend, and was surprised to find that "being without my phone and clothes [felt] rather liberating."
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At London's naked restaurant, patrons are handed robes and slippers before stepping into the dining room.
Phones (and photos) are banned inside the dining room, and the location is secret.
About 80% of customers choose to de-robe, restaurant creator Seb Lyall told Business Insider UK.
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"I made a conscious effort to sit up straight and hold my shoulders back (It turns out, eating in front of people naked does wonders to one's posture.)" Business Insider UK's Chloe Pantazi (not pictured) wrote of the experience.
"Bunyadi" means "fundamental, base, natural" in Hindi.
The Bunyadi doesn't use electricity, and the dining room is illuminated by candles. The tables and stools are made of wood and set with clay tableware.
The restaurant offers both vegan and non-vegan menus.
The appetizer course, a garden salad with pickled apple, salted cucumber, radish, and a "forbidden fruit," along with a cold soup, is "designed to evoke the Garden of Eden."
The menu features a dish with asparagus, salted almonds, pickled red onion, and watermelon; Pantazi called it "deliciously sweet yet savory."
There's also a goji-berry, coriander steak tartare with basil and wild nettle oil.
And a cured salmon and seaweed salad with whipped spirulina mayonnaise.
For Pantazi (not pictured), de-robing during the meal came as a relief; the lack of air conditioning made the dining room "stifling hot."
In the end, the food played a supporting role to the nudist "social experiment," Pantazi said. "Although I'm not going to become a nudist — or a vegan — anytime soon, the experience has made me more comfortable in my skin."
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