By now you may have realised that I am more than a little obsessed with themed restaurants.
There was the hospital and Hello Kitty themed restaurants in Taipei, the dog cafe and cat cafe in Seoul and the Obama and hobbit themed restaurants in the Philippines.
It’s safe to say that themed restaurants have now become my “thing” and upon arriving at a new destination the first thing I do is scout out a list of crazy and unique things to do.
Bangkok was no exception.
After checking into my hostel, I grabbed my bag and headed out to what was about to be my craziest themed restaurant experience by far.
Cabbages and Condoms.
Yes, a condom themed restaurant.
So, why the bizarre name? Simply put, the founder believes that “birth control should be as accessible and as easy to buy as vegetables in the market!” The restaurant uses jokes and fun visuals to overcome reluctance to discuss issues such as sex, family planning, and HIV/AIDS.
It was amazing.
The restaurant is set in a beautiful courtyard filled with trees and low-hanging vines that were adorned with hundreds of fairy lights. Everywhere I looked I spotted more and more condoms – the lights hanging from the trees, the lamp on our table, the flowers in the bathroom – they were all covered in condoms!
With an extensive menu of over fifty pages of Thai food, my friend and I opted to try the green curry, papaya salad and chicken wings (my safety option).
According to my friend the food was much less spicier than the versions you would normally find elsewhere in Thailand. However, as I find anything that contains even the slightest bit of flavour too much to handle, I hyperventilated silently at the table and stuck to the chicken wings.
After paying for the meal, we were given a free condom in place of an after dinner mint.
I didn’t want to leave so I grabbed my camera and spent the next half an hour strolling around the restaurant taking photos of the ingenious statues and decorations.
I even found my future wedding dress.
The level of detail used to create the statues was astounding – the small studs that can be seen on the costumes were actually birth control pills!
As well as the restaurant, there was a bar called The Captain Condom, which featured condom lamps, condom flowers, a condom ship and amazing condom flower decorations on the walls.
I visited close to Christmas and the restaurant was decorated accordingly with lots of Santa statues and even a condom Christmas tree!
My favourite statue had to be the one of Tiger Woods. It came complete with a condom golf club and sign saying “Did you use them Tiger?” Genius.
Every single statue was incredible and I can’t even begin to imagine how long it would take to plan and create one of them.
As I ran out of statues to take photos of it was sadly time for me to leave, but not without taking a free condom from the box by the exit, available in Republican and Democrat size.
Cabbages and Condoms was without a doubt the best themed restaurant I’ve ever visited.
Whilst not the cheapest food option in Bangkok by far, Cabbages and Condoms is a fun and unique way of getting people talking about development, birth control and safe sex – something that not many restaurants can claim to do!
I’ve found most themed restaurants to be gimmicky with terrible food, but Cabbages and Condoms didn’t fit this stereotype. I’d definitely return whenever I next find myself in Bangkok.
Cabbages and Condoms is located at 10 Sukhumvit Soi 12, Bangkok and is open daily from 11am to 10pm.
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