Indonesian diners have lunch while fish nibble dead skin from their feet at a restaurant at Wedomartani village in Yogyakarta (AFP Photo/OKA HAMIED) |
Yogyakarta (Indonesia) (AFP) - As he scarfed down a traditional Indonesian meal, Adi Karyanov got himself the two-in-one special at a new restaurant offering pedicures by fish.
The tables
and chairs at Soto Cokro Kembang in Indonesia's cultural capital Yogyakarta sit
in ankle-deep water, home to thousands of little fish that nibble dead skin off
the feet of diners.
"I
felt the fish biting my feet -- it was ticklish but nice," Karyanov said.
"They
make it fun to eat here. It's kind of unique."
Many spas
across southeast Asia have for years touted a fishy pedicure as an unproven but
novel way of treating various skin conditions.
But
restaurant owner Imam Nur, who opened in June, has gone a step further by offering
it alongside his traditional Javanese "sole food".
Nur credits
his father for coming up with the idea for the open-air restaurant, which has
some 7,000 Red Nile Tilapia swimming around its patrons.
A diner
wades through a fish pond to her table to have a
lunch while fish nibble at her
feet at a restaurant in Indonesia
(AFP Photo/OKA HAMIED)
|
"We
initially opened this restaurant just for locals living nearby," he said.
"But
what's happening now is beyond what we had initially planned. It's become like
culinary tourism. Many people are coming here from different cities."
Pressing
fish into service to remove dead skin is not without controversy.
Some cities
in North America and Europe have banned it over concerns about bacterial
outbreaks, while People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has warned
over both the health risks and possible cruelty to animals.
Still,
visitors like Anna Widia were keen to give the fish treatment a whirl.
"I've
never seen any place like this," she said.
"And
it's big enough to bring the whole family."
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