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Naked restaurant to open in Paris after success in London

Founder Seb Lyall says the French would be 'too scared' to open one themselves

Kate Nelson
Thursday 04 August 2016 14:17 BST
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The Bunyadi plans to open a Paris venture in the autumn
The Bunyadi plans to open a Paris venture in the autumn

A restaurant where diners bare all while tucking into dinner is set to open in Paris.

Following its London success, The Bunyadi, which first opened in a disused pub in the south of the capital in June, is now launching a pop-up in the French capital.

Its founder, Seb Lyall, told The Independent: "It's early stages but we are aiming for September or October. We've learnt a lot from London - mostly positive.

"I've met so many fascinating people, so many liberal people. I've even met people from the North who voted for Brexit.

"The French expressed a lot of interest in the London restuarant so I thought I was onto something. They told me, 'This is a great idea but only you can do it.'"

Asked why, he said: "They don't have the mojo. Experimentation is not a big thing in France. Entrepreneurship is still growing.

"France has been stubborn. They are scared because of the history of their gastronomical success."

The Bunyadi’s menu consists of mostly raw food – vegetables, flowers and pickled and smoked meat and fish.

The London pop-up opened with a waiting list of 30,000 people.

It is due to close on August 13 but Mr Lyall hopes to open a permanent venue in the city - "perhaps a members' club".

France is renowned for its laissez-faire attitude to nudity – with toplessness popular on many of its beaches.

But London is has its fair share of nudist events and venues.

NKD Training is the city’s only all-nude fitness training session and Naturist London host a weekly Sunday swim at University of London Union’s pool.

Its website reads: “It is just like going to any other public swimming pool except that costumes are banished. Unlike many traditional naturist events, there is no booking, no membership and no commitment. You are welcome to just turn up whether or not you consider yourself a committed naturist.”

Naked dining is on trend – with bare-all counterparts opening in Australia and Japan.

The Amrita, a nudist restaurant due to open in Tokyo this month, controversially imposed weight and age limits – originally stating nobody more than 15kgs heavier than the average weight for height would be allowed to dine there.

It relented following a public backlash and has reportedly dropped all restrictions.

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