Asian-themed luxury at the Buddha-bar

Theme bar and restaurants are usually very interesting places to go to for a fun experience. They’re a smorgasbord for all the senses: taste, sight, touch, sound. The famous Buddha-bar is one such place. The original one is in Paris, France, but Buddha-bars are now located in many vibrant cities in various countries.

As you can probably infer from the name, the Buddha-bar has an Asian theme. French-influenced Asian dishes are the establishment’s specialty. The theme, as is to be expected, is reflected in the furniture: from the warm, earthy colors of the contract bistro tables and stools, to chairs with intricate upholstery design, to the big statue of Buddha looking down benignly across the length and breadth of the room. You won’t find generic or nondescript furniture here: no run-of-the-mill plastic chairs or featureless dining tables.

The Buddha-bar, the Paris location at least, features warm mahogany furniture, Portuguese mosaics, Chinese and Japanese objets d’art, richly decorated wood panels, and Khmer figurines. Wrought-iron balustrades reminiscent of 18^th-century architecture adorn the bar mezzanine. It’s a two-floor establishment that accomplishes everything on a grand scale.

The exotic atmosphere, the cool music, and the foreign-inspired cuisine all come together to create a luxurious setting. According to the Buddha-bar web site, dining there is meant to be a soothing, rejuvenating experience. Enlightenment through calm and peace does sound like a Buddhist principle. I’m not too sure when it comes to the restaurant’s opulence though, since material luxury isn’t something that the Buddha advocated.

Nevertheless, when it comes to fine dining, the Buddha-bar seems to have come up with a winning formula. It’s been so much of a success that they have taken the experience to another level: by creating the Buddha-bar Hotel, the first of which will be opening next year in Prague. It certainly looks much better than what Buddhist monks are probably used to. But then, it wasn’t designed for Buddhist monks anyway.