Long gone are the days when restaurants were used as just places to eat. Nowadays people are willing to put the nourishment aspect on the back burner in exchange for a truly unique experience. And if our previous list of strange restaurants wasn’t enough to convince you of that, here are five more weird but successful restaurants from around the Globe:

Ninja Restaurant – New York, USA

Ninjas have fascinated the world with their stealth and deadly arts for centuries, so it really shouldn’t come as a big surprise someone thought of cashing in on their popularity, by opening a ninja themed restaurant. Still, being greeted by a ninja that just dropped down from the ceiling, right in front of you, will surprise you every time.

The first Ninja Restaurant was opened in Tokyo, and because of its massive success, the owners decided to expand in the Big Apple. Now, New Yorkers can experience secret ninja recipes, in a setting inspired by the famous Ninja Bible. The menu is creative and most of the ingredients are brought in from Japan. The TriBeCa hot-spot is close to some of the best hotels in New York.

Cabbages and Condoms – Bangkok, Thailand

If you’re looking to enjoy a delicious meal and receive a free vasectomy as a bonus, than Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant is the perfect place for you. You might find its name a bit strange, but there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for it: the founder, former Thai senator Mechai Viravaidya believes “birth control should be as cheap as vegetables”.

Decorated with over 40,000 condoms from all over the world and featuring foods like Spicy Condom Salad, Cabbages and Condoms is totally dedicated to promoting birth control in Thailand. While other restaurants may offer mints after a meal, at this wacky establishment clients receive free condoms.

Hitler’s Cross – Mumbai, India

Most of us think of Hitler as a symbol of terror and death, but for young Puneet Sabhlok, a daring entrepreneur from Mumbai, it was just a catchy name that would surely make his café an instant hit. And he was right, the word spread quickly and Hitler’s Cross became one of the most popular hangouts in the city.

Unfortunately, the swastika in the logo and the café’s artwork quickly drew the attention of Jews and German diplomats that asked the place be shut down immediately. Puneet said he never wanted to promote Hitler, just his restaurant, but he ultimately had to remove all swastikas and change the café’s name from “Hitler’s Cross” to “The Cross”.

Fortezza Medices – Volterra, Italy

If you thought booking a reservation at a fancy restaurant on a Saturday night was difficult, getting into 500 year old Fortezza Medices will seem like an impossible task. For a chance to dine inside the old detention facility and be served by thieves and murderers, people have to go through a background check and receive a security clearance from the Italian Justice Department.

Fortezza medices prison restaurant is a modern criminal rehab project, designed to help convicts learn cooking and serving skills that will help them land a job upon release. If you can get past the murderous waiters, plastic cutlery and simple wooden tables, you’ll enjoy some rather delicious dishes.

Hobbit House – Manilla, Philippines

Long before The Lord of the Rings movies became blockbuster hits, J.R.R Tolkien’s hobbits were already famous all the way in the Philippines. The restaurant takes pride in having the “smallest waiters in the world”. And they’re not kidding, all the staff at the Hobbit House is made up of dwarfish people.

It was founded 30 years ago, by a fan of Tolkien’s fantasy world and is now the only restaurant in the world managed and staffed entirely by real hobbits. The Hobbit House serves over 100 kinds of beer from all over the world and is mostly appreciated for the live music.

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