GOK Wan has opened a table-less restaurant where diners are served their food from the floor.
Foodies are invited to step outside their comfort zone by the TV star and chef for a unique experience.
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FLOORS has opened in London’s Angel, Islington, where guests will have their meals served to them on an immaculate vinyl surface.
Diners will be able to book for just one night only on Friday May 9.
They can expect multi-course fine dining, inspired by modern Asian cuisine with no tables, plates or conventional seating in sight.
Meals will be served inside protective casings made from natural materials, some of which are also edible, laid down directly on the floor.
All the dishes on the tasting menu have been carefully curated for the floor-focused dining format.
Example dishes include a lychee ceviche, served in a chilled oyster shell.
Lotus leaf steamed meats will also be on offer, featuring black bean peppered beef, duck, and oyster mushroom.
Miso salt dough baked vegetables served with charcoal pre-ferment flatbread and a trio of butters as well as black sesame mochi cake with fuyu sour cream and an edible rice paper receipt will also be available.
Fronting the restaurant, Gok Wan said: “I have loved being the host today, everyone is sat on the floor and I’m stood up so I feel really powerful.
“I’d eat most things off the floor – in five seconds – if I knew how clean the floor was, unless it was soup.
“Many of us would not eat food if its fallen on the floor, especially in a restaurant – but personally I’m not that fussy.”
A survey of 2,000 adults by Bosch revealed 75% of people would never eat food that had fallen on the floor in a restaurant.
But 23% said they would consider dining somewhere where food is served off the floor if they could see proof of hygiene.
Following the results, the company commissioned FLOORS in a bid to entice the 58% who weren’t so keen on floor dining.
The study also found that more than one in 10 say it’s acceptable to eat food that’s been dropped on the floor as long as it is retrieved within five seconds.
But three quarters rejected the “five second rule” outright, saying its unacceptable to eat any food that’s been dropped.
However, one in 10 said they would swipe a morsel if it had fallen to the ground as long as it wasn’t in a posh restaurant.
But food flying off the table left many unphased, even when dining for two, as over a quarter said they would make a joke at their date’s expense if their dinner ended up on the floor.
Nearly a quarter said they would help clean it up, 21% said they would continue eating while 18% said they’d pretend they hadn’t seen the dropped dish at all.
Attitudes were different when it came to the respondents’ own homes with 42% reckoning their floors were clean enough to eat their dinner on.
Finally, when given the option to book a ‘Floor Dining Experience’, 64% thought it “weird” even if it was sparkling clean.
A Bosch spokesperson said: “This dining experience is all about pushing boundaries and reimagining what’s possible.
“With the right tools, even the floor can become the star of the dining experience.
“We’re excited to challenge perceptions and bring a new level of cleanliness to unexpected places.”
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