THE RISE OF NUDE FOOD I

T seems the most fashionable thing for globetrotters to wear out to dinner these days is nothing at all. Hot on the (bare) heels of the pop-up London restaurant, Bunyadi, which made headlines recently by raising a 46 000-strong waiting list of people who wanted to eat in the buff before it even opened, the Japanese are weighing in with their own version.

The Amrita, in Tokyo, however, plans to weigh and measure hopefuls at the door — and will bar those deemed more than 15kg over the average for their height from entering — so, sorry sumo wrestlers.

The restaurant is taking bookings from late next month but will also limit diners’ ages to between 18 and 60. No one with tattoos will be allowed in either.

In keeping with the country’s reputation for modesty, diners will not go totally nude but will keep their nether regions covered, with “paper underpants”, to be provided by the restaurant.

That’s not the case at London’s Bunyadi, where things are by now in full swing following the opening this month. Several writers have bravely ventured forth to disrobe, dine and send back reports from the front.

They all seem to agree that it’s quite bland on the outside. In fact, the address is secret and the location is sent by Google Maps to guests the day before their visit.

A lot of them also worry quite a lot about splinters — the “natural spirit” of the place having been extended not only to the food (lots of raw and vegan) but to the furniture too — diners sit butt-naked on tree stumps.

Here’s what else some of them had to say.

When the naked waitress arrives, we concentrate very intently on making eye contact and talking about the food. It’s all rather exciting … I suddenly feel like I’ve been granted entry into a secret, exhilarating new world. — Barry Neild for CNN

It was a good-looking crowd: I was the only one who would have fallen afoul of any overweight, overage rules here. — Richard Vines, Bloomberg

My boyfriend becomes rather amorous, loyally informing me that I have the “best breasts” in the place, which he can say with authority because “everybody else’s are at eye level”. — Hannah Betts, The Telegraph

When her boyfriend complains of having crumbs on his nether regions mid bread-basket, Glamour’s sex editor Gemma Askham says, “I wonder what state his crown jewels will be in by dessert. I quickly understand why there’s only cold food and no cutlery here. Imagine the peril of dropping your knife.”

While there’s naturally been lots of tittering, Christopher Hooton of The Independent has clearly drunk the Kool-Aid.

“There really is an interplay between nude bodies and nude food, it is almost subconsciously making you more aware of your food having come from the soil and how you essentially have too.”

We’re guessing the splinters were not a problem, then.