Paris’ first ever nudist restaurant, O’naturel, is closing its doors just 13 months after they opened, because apparently not enough people want to risk spilling hot food on their junk.
The restaurant opened in the 12th arrondissement, which is apparently “heart of the naturist center of Paris”, to great fanfare back in November 2017.
Since nudist beaches are only open in summer, O’Naturel was designed to deliver “the pleasure of dining naked all year in the capital in the respect of naturist values”, according to the twins behind the restaurant, who aren’t actually nudists themselves.
According to The Independent, the O’Naturel experience involved being shown into changing rooms on arrival, where you could store your clothes, phones, and cameras, which were banned in the restaurant. Guests were also given slippers to wear, although women could leave heels on if they wanted to.
While the diners were nude, employees were not. Apparently, some diners “complained that the presence of clothed waiters was not in the spirit of a nudist restaurant.” I feel like making someone serve you in the nude introduces a weird power element that would make working there pretty uncomfortable, though.
The menu consisted of classic French cuisine with a twist, such as lobster salad with preserved gizzards, and ‘crème brûlée revisited’.
It’s a shame they didn’t think to serve sushi on a naked woman’s body (also known as ‘nyotaimori’ in Japan, where it originated). But that didn’t work for Samantha, so maybe it wouldn’t have worked for them, either.
I think the moral of this story is that some things just aren’t meant to be done naked.
Seinfeld taught us that in the 90s. If only we’d listened.