Eating & Drinking

Hamburg’s Man-dergarten

Did you really learn all your really need to know in kindergarten? If not, you can try learning it at a Maennergarten.

At least you can if you are an adult male in Northern Germany

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5 Delicious Foods
(That Can Kill You)

Sticking your nose in a portion of hakarl feels like being whacked in the face with the putrid carcass of a musk ox.

When you think of dangerous adventure travel you probably think of activities like bungee jumping, shark diving or sneaking into North Korea. But occasionally simply eating an exotic dish is death defying. That’s the case with the five foods featured below. Each of them can be tasty when eaten properly and fatal when not.

You are reading on — and trying any of these foods — at your own risk.

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The Orlando ICEBAR

You may before have ordered a vodka on the rocks. Well, how about a vodka in the rocks? That’s on offer at what’s literally the coolest drinking establishment in Orlando: the ICEBAR.

Long time readers of the Spot Cool Stuff travel blog already know of the Orlando ICEBAR—we reviewed this bar with the overly-capitalized name in our article about ice bars located in warm places. Inside the ICEBAR 50 tons of ice are carved into counters, lounge chairs and, yes, even the glasses patrons drink out of.

Before and since our visit there we’ve heard mixed reports about it from readers. And so here’s some advice to those considering knocking back a cold one at the ICEBAR when in Orlando.

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A Salad and a Straight Jacket, Please

Come prepared to eat your meal with syringes, scalpels and other surgical utensils

Most people do not associate hospitals with great food, fun or festivities. The owners of Hospitalis, an unusual restaurant in the Latvian capital of Riga, are hoping to change that.

At Hospitalis patrons eat amongst skeletons, hospital gurneys and video screens playing medical clips from various popular movies. The two story restaurant is decorated mostly in an E.R. operating room theme. But if the thought of undergoing surgery isn’t unpleasant enough for you request a table in the restaurant’s faux dental office. There you can enjoy your meal while sitting in a dentist’s chair. (Fortunately, the dental dining area does not include round sinks of swirling water for patrons to spit their food into).

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Pop-Tarts Store Pops Up in NYC

Facebook has inspired family reunions, renewed friendships, much Scrabble playing—and now a restaurant. Or, a restaurant of sorts.

Almost immediately after Kellogg launched a Facebook fan page dedicated to Pop-Tarts—those thin, frosting-topped, super-sweet, preservative-filled, pasty-like concoctions sold in grocery stores since 1964—company executives became amazed at Pop-Tart Facebook popularity (currently two million fans and counting). So, they decided to open a store dedicated to said pastry-like concoctions.

And where else in the world has enough dignity and class to accommodate the Pop-Tarts brand? New York’s Time Square, of course.

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The Return of the Soup Nazi

No soup for you! At least there wasn’t for the last six years at 259A West 55th Street in Manhattan. That was once the location of Soup Nazi restaurant of Seinfeld fame. And, as of yesterday, it is again.

Even the most casual of Seinfeld fans probably know of the Soup Nazi, the surly proprietor of a delicious soup takeout joint featured in an episode in the sitcom’s seventh season. Said surly proprietor was based on a real character, Al Yeganeh, who was not at all fond of Seinfeld’s “Soup Nazi” nickname. (Although prior to the Seinfeld Soup Nazi episode Yaganeh’s regulars referred to him as “The Terrorist,” which doesn’t strike us as any better a moniker.)

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The NYC Bar Where Prices Fluctuate Like Stocks

As politicians and international monetary officials work on reforms of financial institutions there’s a key commodities market they are failing to address—beer.

Case in point: The Exchange Bar & Grill, in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of New York City. At the Exchange Bar the price of beer constantly fluctuates depending on market forces within the bar.

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The Restaurant (and Cooking School) Above Paris

Location, location, location is the repetitive mantra of many a real estate agents. And the Palais de Tokyo has one of the best in Paris. Not only does is this museum of contemporary art located in the heart of the city, its rooftop boasts some of the best views from anywhere in the French capital.

Until May 2009 the roof of the Palais de Tokyo was the home to the Hotel Everland. Spot Cool Stuff regulars might remember our review of the Everland, the improbable, portable, pod-like hotel that was as well traveled as some of its guests.

When the Hotel Everland moved away from its museum perch it seemed only a matter of time until another tenant moved in. That time has come. Today a hip and cool restaurant—the Art Home—sits atop the Palais de Tokyo.

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