Initially, plans for the “HQ2” project called for Amazon to bring 25,000 jobs each to both northern Virginia and New York City. The grand opening of the Met Park office complex in Arlington’s Crystal City neighborhood near the nation’s capital marks the biggest milestone in the headquarters project since the company announced in 2018 that it would build a second headquarters complex in northern Virginia to complement its existing headquarters in Seattle. (AP) - Amazon unveiled the first phase of its new headquarters complex in Virginia Thursday, a pair of gleaming, amenity-packed office towers that its leaders hope will persuade employees accustomed to working from home during the pandemic to happily return to the office. Unable to resort to looking at our phones, we chat unreservedly about work, families and whether the female magazine journalists at the next table have also stripped down.ARLINGTON, Va. The darkness of the venue, the bamboo partitions and the strategically designed wooden furniture help maintain some dignity.īut what should be an awkward moment, getting unclothed with a complete stranger, proves to be anything but. It’s very warm inside Bunyadi and a thick toweling robe starts to become uncomfortable after a while. When the steak tartare with goji berry and cilantro arrives, my fellow diner and I gulp down the accompanying Argentinian Malbec and agree to get naked.Īnd it does turn out to be curiously liberating. The five-course menu costs about $100 without drinks but including the gown and slippers. There’s an English garden soup paired with pickled apple and salted cucumber for starters followed by salmon and seaweed salad. The food – mostly raw, natural and seasonal in keeping with the restaurant’s naked theme – is delivered in earthenware bowls and eaten using edible cutlery. I’m seated opposite another journalist, a man who I’ve never met before but who is in the same situation as me – nervously contemplating whether to disrobe. Why getting naked on holiday is a big thing in Germany: A German reveals all So it seems appropriate that we’re all wearing gowns, for now. It’s a dimly lit space scented by aromatic candles and soundtracked by soft music. People want it and we’re just providing a location and a service.”īlanco has created a restaurant interior that more closely resembles a spa than a restaurant. “I see it as a therapy, it’s very liberating. “I think people want to free themselves,” he says. There are plans to introduce a naked bar area for those who feel comfortable mingling in their birthday suits. It’s not a sexual thing.”īunyadi’s designer and manager, Ignacio Jimenez Blanco, says about 80% of diners have gotten naked during trial runs (it’s totally optional).Īs the employees feel more comfortable, so do the customers, he adds. “And it’s nice to help people feel that way. “It’s about being comfortable with nudity,” she adds. The restaurant has a strict no cameras or cellphones policy, partly to protect the privacy of those disrobing within, but also in line with its back-to-basics natural feel. She says that she feels safer at Bunyadi than at other restaurants since any customer acting inappropriately will be instantly ejected. Knight and her fellow employees wear only skimpy briefs adorned with a few strands of fake vine leaves as they deliver food and drink to the tables. “I wanted to be around people who shared the same thoughts as me,” says Eloise Knight, a 20-year-old student who says she approached the restaurant for work after reading stories about it. Then, once the eyes grow accustomed to the bare flesh of the young male and female waitstaff, things get (relatively) more normal.īefore that happened, we got to chat to some of the staff about how they came to be working in a naked restaurant, and what it’s like to work there.ĩ6 of the world's best chefs share their favorite food experiences It’s impossible not to surreptitiously double-take at the topless waitress leading the way through the candlelit maze of bamboo screens that almost shield diners from heavy scrutiny. When tables are ready and guests have had the requisite number of freshly mixed looseners, they’re then guided into the main dining area. The front door leads into a small bar area, which looks pretty standard until folks start emerging from the changing rooms wearing hotel-style bathrobes. It’s discreetly located in a converted street-corner pub with blacked-out windows a few quiet streets away from London’s highest skyscraper, The Shard. I was there for the press launch, alongside 25 or so other journalists dispatched to report from the front line of naked dining.įrom outside, the restaurant isn’t much to look at – which is probably the idea. Bunyadi has made headlines in recent weeks by attracting 46,000 people to its waiting list for a three-month pop-up run over the summer.
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