Modern Toilet

Modern Toilet Restaurant is a Taiwan-based themed restaurant brand whose dining environment, tableware, furniture, and menu presentation imitate objects associated with bathrooms and toilets. Rather than treating the theme as a minor decorative detail, the concept makes it the central product experience: customers sit on non-functional toilet seats, eat from miniature toilet-shaped bowls, drink from miniature urinals, and encounter bathroom fixtures and sanitation-related imagery throughout the premises. The concept developed from an earlier ice-cream business. The owner, identified in reference material as Dao Ming Zi and elsewhere in descriptions of the business as Wang Tzi-Wei, was inspired by a character from the Japanese manga and anime series Dr. Slump. The character’s fascination with excrement reportedly prompted the sale of chocolate soft-serve presented on paper squat-toilet dishes. That novelty dessert concept became sufficiently successful to support expansion into a full restaurant format. The first Modern Toilet operations were established in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A reported three-story restaurant occupied approximately 260 square metres, or about 2,800 square feet. Its interior used checkered wall tiles, showerheads, plungers, feces-shaped lights, and toilet-related furniture to create a deliberately comic and unusual setting. Seating consisted of actual toilets modified for non-operational use, while tables were designed to resemble bathroom sinks and were covered with glass surfaces. Some chairs were decorated with motifs such as roses, seashells, or Renaissance-style imagery, adding a decorative contrast to the deliberately crude subject matter. Food and drinks extend the visual joke. Meals are served in miniature toilet bowls, beverages are presented in small urinal-shaped containers, and desserts, including ice cream, may be served in vessels modeled on squat toilets. Customers can reportedly keep some of the miniature containers as souvenirs, making the tableware part of the brand’s retail and memory-making experience. The offering is therefore positioned less as conventional dining than as novelty hospitality, themed entertainment, and a social-media-friendly destination. Modern Toilet emerged within Taiwan’s broader culture of highly distinctive themed restaurants, alongside concepts modeled on settings such as jails and hospitals. Its appeal depends on curiosity, humor, and willingness to participate in an intentionally taboo or childish visual language. The brand’s unusual concept also attracted attention outside Taiwan and previously operated locations in Hong Kong. Reference material describes a substantially larger historical footprint, including up to 19 locations, while later descriptions report a smaller Taiwan presence; the exact current store count is therefore not established here. The brand remains associated with Taiwan and with an experiential restaurant model in which atmosphere and novelty are as important as the food itself. Its principal differentiation is the complete integration of a bathroom motif across architecture, furniture, crockery, beverages, desserts, and souvenirs. The concept’s commercial identity is built around humor and memorability rather than premium cuisine, formal culinary positioning, or a standardized international fast-food format.

Modern Toilet Restaurant emerged from a novelty ice-cream concept in Taiwan. The earlier business sold chocolate or soft-serve desserts arranged on small paper squat-toilet dishes, establishing the central visual joke before the idea was developed into a full restaurant. The concept has been associated with inspiration from Dr. Slump, a Japanese cartoon whose characters include a strong comic fascination with excrement imagery. Available descriptions identify Dao Ming Zi, described as a former banker, as an important figure in the concept's development, while another account identifies Wang Tzi-Wei as the owner who opened Modern Toilet after the ice-cream business became successful. Because the supplied reference does not reconcile these accounts, the exact founder and ownership chronology remains uncertain. The first Modern Toilet restaurants were established in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The business expanded the original dessert joke into a complete environmental experience. Its premises were designed to resemble bathrooms, with tiled surfaces, showerheads, plungers, and waste-themed lighting. Seating used actual but non-operational toilet fixtures, and tables were modeled on bathroom sinks with glass tops. Decorative treatments reportedly included acrylic toilet seats decorated with roses, seashells, or Renaissance-style imagery. This combination of sanitation-related objects and ornate decoration made the restaurants recognizable as both dining venues and photographic attractions. Food and beverages were integrated into the same theme. Meals were placed in miniature toilet bowls, drinks were served in small urinal-like vessels, and ice cream continued to be presented in squat-toilet-shaped dishes. The vessels could function as souvenirs, giving customers a physical reminder of the visit. The concept therefore operated across three layers: restaurant service, interior spectacle, and novelty merchandise. Modern Toilet was principally a Taiwan chain but also operated outside Taiwan, including two locations in Hong Kong at one stage. The number of branches changed over time and is reported inconsistently in public descriptions. One account refers to two Taiwan branches, while another says that there were three Taiwan branches around 2020 and that the chain had once reached 19 locations in total, including Hong Kong. These figures should not be treated as a definitive historical store list without additional corporate or local reporting. The brand's best-known operational incident occurred in May 2018 at a southern Hong Kong location. A customer reportedly misunderstood the function of a toilet-shaped seat and defecated there. Since the fixtures were part of the restaurant's non-functional theme installation, the incident caused the premises to be evacuated and the location to close for two weeks. The episode demonstrated a distinctive risk of the concept: its realism was important to the customer experience, but could also produce confusion and sanitation problems. Modern Toilet's broader significance lies in its use of an intentionally taboo subject as a restaurant identity. Taiwan has been associated with other highly themed eating venues, including concepts styled after jails and hospitals. Within that landscape, Modern Toilet stands out for making bodily-waste humor the organizing principle of its design and service. The available material does not establish a current branch count, detailed ownership structure, financial performance, or a complete account of present operations.

• 2020

  Three Taiwan branches reported

  [1]Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org

  A public description reported three branches in Taiwan and noted that the chain had previously had 19 locations, including two in Hong Kong.

• 2018

  Hong Kong location closed after customer confusion

  [1]Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org

  A customer reportedly used non-functional toilet-themed seating as an actual toilet, prompting an evacuation and a two-week closure at the southern Hong Kong branch.

• Toilet-themed ice-cream concept developed

  [1]Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org

  An earlier ice-cream business reportedly sold soft-serve desserts in miniature squat-toilet dishes, providing the creative and commercial basis for the later restaurant.

• First Modern Toilet restaurant opened in Kaohsiung

  [1]Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org

  The toilet-themed concept expanded from dessert service into a full restaurant in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

An immersive novelty-dining brand that turns bathroom and toilet imagery into a humorous, highly visual restaurant experience.

• Restaurant services

  Themed restaurant meals

  Modern Toilet's core offering is casual restaurant dining delivered in a bathroom-themed environment. The meal itself is part of a staged novelty experience: customers sit on non-functional toilet fixtures, eat at sink-like tables, and receive food in miniature toilet-shaped vessels. The concept emphasizes visual humor and shareable presentation rather than a separately documented signature cuisine.

• Food presentation

  Toilet-bowl meals

  Meals are presented in small containers modeled on toilet bowls. This presentation makes the restaurant's central theme visible at the point of service and distinguishes the brand from conventional casual dining. The available sources do not provide a stable menu, recipe list, or evidence of a particular cuisine being standardized across branches.

• Beverages

  Urinal-style drinks

  Drinks are served in miniature plastic containers resembling urinals. These vessels reinforce the bathroom theme and may be retained by customers as souvenirs. Public descriptions do not specify the full beverage range or whether the same vessels remain in use at all locations.

• Desserts

  Toilet-shaped ice cream

  The concept grew out of an ice-cream business that served swirled desserts in miniature squat-toilet dishes. Dessert presentation remained a recognizable part of the restaurant format, with ice cream served in a toilet-shaped dish. The available material does not establish a current standardized dessert menu.

• Merchandising

  Novelty tableware and souvenir vessels

  Some miniature urinal-style drink containers and related presentation pieces can be taken home by customers. These objects extend the brand experience beyond the restaurant and function as novelty souvenirs, although the supplied sources do not document a separate retail merchandise program.

• 2018

  Temporarily close southern Hong Kong branch after seating incidentOther

  Background

  A customer reportedly mistook non-functional toilet-themed seating for an actual toilet and defecated there.

  Action taken

  The premises were evacuated and the affected restaurant was closed for two weeks.

  Aftermath

  The incident highlighted the operational and sanitation risks created by realistic toilet-themed furnishings.

  Source

• Expand from themed ice cream into a full restaurantStrategy

  Background

  The earlier ice-cream concept using miniature toilet dishes reportedly achieved enough success to support development of a broader dining venue.

  Action taken

  The business carried the toilet motif into restaurant architecture, seating, tableware, food presentation, and souvenirs.

  Aftermath

  The resulting chain became a recognizable novelty-dining concept in Taiwan and later operated locations in Hong Kong.

  Source

• 2020

  Modern Toilet reported with multiple Taiwan branches[1]Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org

  Other

  A public account described the chain as having three Taiwan branches and noted that it had previously operated 19 locations, including two in Hong Kong.

• 2018

  Customer mistakenly used non-functional toilet seating at Hong Kong location[1]Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org

  Other

  A customer reportedly defecated in toilet-themed seating at the southern Hong Kong branch. The restaurant was evacuated and closed for two weeks.

• 2018

  Customer incident led to temporary closure of southern Hong Kong location[1]Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org

  Other

  In May 2018, a customer reportedly mistook one of the non-functional toilet seats for a usable toilet and defecated there. The incident caused an evacuation and the southern Hong Kong restaurant was closed for two weeks.

1. 1Modern Toilet Restauranten.wikipedia.org
2. 2Modern Toilet Restaurant official websitemoderntoilet.com.tw