The Owls Are Not What They Seem Pop-Up Restaurant
London’s Twin Peaks-themed eatery for fans of Special Agent Dale Cooper
It’s been 25 years since the question of who killed Laura Palmer transfixed TV viewers and BOB became part of our collective nightmares. Since then, David Lynch’s remarkable Twin Peaks has gone on to become the ultimate cult show, and has inspired countless art exhibitions, Americana noir-events and more. One of the most ambitious Twin Peaks-related endeavors we’ve seen thus far is a pop-up restaurant called The Owls Are Not What They Seem, taking place in London right now.
In a central London location—which, at first, seems like a regular theme-restaurant space and later reveals an abundance of rooms and nooks to explore—Lemonade and Laughing Gas and Blanch & Shock have created an immersive Twin Peaks drinking and dining experience. And the no-photography-allowed space is just as strange and creepy as any Lynchian fan could expect, with themed food and actors playing some of your favorite (and least favorite) Twin Peaks characters.
Dinner is served in the Double Pineview Diner, a riff on the show’s Double R Diner, and includes many nods to cups of coffee black as midnight on a moonless night. The food is more innovative than gourmet, but the experience itself is fun and you get to hang out with a lot of familiar faces from the show. Discovering all the different areas is hands-down the best bit, and you really can make the experience as immersive or casual as you want. Lose yourself in the character assigned to you upon entrance and try to find the clues/complete your mission (which vary in difficulty), or just hang out and have a chat with Special Agent Cooper.
As well as the dining room, there’s a bar space like the Twin Peaks Bang Bang Bar, which lies next to one of the show’s most recognizable rooms, a cocktail lounge that fans will definitely find familiar (there are masks aplenty) and plenty of other meticulously thought-out and well-realized spaces. The Owls also manages to capture the very sinister undertones of Twin Peaks pretty well. In the run-up to next year’s third Twin Peaks series, this is a damn fine option for any fan that wants to relive some of the show’s magic.
The Owls Are Not What They Seem is on until 17 October 2015 and features two ticket options: a diner ticket at £66.50 for the full experience, and an Owl’s Nest ticket that gives you entry to the bar and a number of the installation rooms for £6.
Images courtesy of The Owls Are Not What They Seem
