A Kaohsiung restaurant famous for its garish bathroom decor has opened a branch in Shilin.
Marton -- the name sounds like "toilet" in Mandarin -- serves up pasta, rice curries and ice cream in miniature loos, bathtubs and Japanese-style squat toilets. Customers sit on real commodes decorated with fanciful ocean themes and are encouraged to stir up their meals so they look like, well ...
"It's delicious," giggled Violet, 15, as she and three classmates dug into a pile of brown mush they swore was ice cream. "It's special and funny," friend Ivy added.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MARTON
If a recent visit was any indication, the gimmick works. A score of happy teenagers and office workers slurped hot pot from purple toilets and picked at appetizers in plastic turd-shaped swirls. The tables -- real porcelain sinks with glass covers -- each contained piles of notes penned by satisfied customers, many of the scatological variety. "Our turds are really thick," read one.
Marton is all about the atmosphere. Set meals consisting of soup, a main course and ice cream offer plenty of potential for play. Served in a light blue bathtub, a main course of seafood casserole nearly floated in its soggy, gray stew. All the better to stir up, but not very filling. Clever presentation aside, little distinguished this dish from similar fare that can be obtained at cheaper prices from Taipei's legion of coffee shops. The melted cheese tasted artificial and the portion was on the small side. There were, however, two mussels buried along with their shells in the muck.
The ice cream, a small vanilla and chocolate swirl resembling a cartoon turd, came in a tiny squat toilet and tasted like the convenience store variety. This was disappointing, since Marton's founder tested the bathroom concept with a roadside ice cream stand before opening his first full-blown restaurant in Kaohsiung. Perhaps these were bad choices. Branch manager Jessica Huang recommended the current favorite, creamy hot pot (日式濃牛奶鍋). The Marton No. 2 ice cream (馬桶2號) also looked intriguing. It features a scoop of strawberry ice cream, a chocolate-vanilla ice cream swirl and passion fruit sauce.
Those planning on becoming repeat customers should pick up a card and get it stamped after each meal. Five stamps earn a free ice cream sundae. Thirty are good for a commode like the one customers sit on. These can also be purchased directly, as can whimsical turds and other sculptures. Customers can also order the toilet seats, which are decorated with seashells and starfish.
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