It all began with an email from Paperney Entertainment with a question-”would I like to interview Bob Blumer about his upcoming new Food Network show World’s Weirdest Restaurants?”, I squealed out loud and quickly replied YES!, I love Bob Blumers shows and have watched him since the start of the Food Network here in Canada when he launched Surreal Gourmet.  I posted about my interview and the show a couple of weeks ago and you can read it by clicking here.  It was an amazing experience and something that I will never forget so imagine to my surprise when I got an invite to check out the sold out pop up restaurant event at the Waldorf Hotel Tiki Lounge hosted by Bob himself-AWESOME!.

We all were greeted to table settings that looked like this-a clown nose, a blindfold and a toll of TP, definitely one of the most unusual table settings I have ever had!

Bob took to the room and gave us an idea of what we were in for this evening, we were going to be seeing 4 different segments that happened to be Bob’s favorites and then we would be served an inspired course of food-let the fun begin!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

The monkey service gave us all a laugh that’s for sure and when the lights came back up we were treated to this lovely sight:

Bob Blumer in a monkey suit with beer for us! and he even served some of the room, we also got our 1st course of the night:

Chicken Thigh Karaage with a sweet soy dipping ponzu sauce, the chicken was beautifully favored and the breading was super crunchy without being greasy.  The dipping sauce was a nice acidic/sweet/salty hit of deliciousness.  This was one of my favorites of the night and it went well with the beer.

The Blind Feeding The Blind

We all put on our blindfolds after watching Bob eat at a restaurant that specializes in this, it was an interesting experience for a lot of us that’s for sure.

Our 2nd course was a traditional Spanish gazpacho made with almonds and garnished with EVOO and grapes and it was chilled and topped with a crustini.  Nest to that there were 2 croquettes that were completely different, the one closest to the soup was  a black cod coquette that was really soft and light but you could tell right away it was some kind of fish, there was also a bit of a vanilla and something else that I can’t remember in the bottom of the spoon.  Next to this was a Serrano ham coquette that I really enjoyed, in the bottom of that spoon was a bit of pomegranate molasses that added some sweetness.  This was my other favorite course of the night but the chicken is my most favorite!

Ling Cod a la John

Bob ate at a restaurant in Taiwan where potty humor is taken to the next level, I actually say this full segment before and it was a case of great food-curry in this case and a unique serving vessel.  The lights came back up and we were all wondering if we would get the same treatment-that wouldn’t be Bob’s surreal style, this was instead rolled out to the crowds shock, amazement and every emotion in between:

A brand new toilet filled with a Basque style curry, Bob posed for tons of pictures while serving up this 3rd course, I know some people who still didn’t eat it but I did.

It was topped with salt cod, the curry had traditional basque flavors like green olives and peppers, I personally felt it could have been seasoned more and I liked the cod a lot more than the curry.

Next up we saw Bob visit a nudist dinner in New York and were thinking-is Bob gonna get naked?-nope, he stopped the clip and then had a bit of fun with us eventually showing us a visit to a Portland institution-Voodoo Donuts!

We saw a couple actually get married on Bob’s visit to the shop and it was basically a mad house-but in the best possible way!

We donned our red clown noses and were served up some fried deliciousness!

Maple syrup glazed beignets with a caramelized bacon crunch on top, they were sweet and yummy, the maple really came thru but I did find the bacon to be subtle and more sweet than savory.

And that ‘s a wrap on the World’s Weirdest Restaurants pop up restaurant event!, I had a great time and got to see some fellow food bloggers and friends and thank Paperny Entertainment for inviting me.  The show is going to be awesome and premiers Wednesday, April 4th at 6:00 PM Pacific and 6:30 PM Pacific on Food Network Canada.