I love the style and appearance of this restaurant and I enjoyed walking inside during my visit to Pairi Daiza in 2019. It's weird that some zoo nerds still criticize the theming of this Belgian zoo, when many other zoos do something similar...although almost never to the same extent. What would people rather eat in? A grandiose, Russian-themed restaurant or a brand-new, but basic one at the Edmonton Valley Zoo in Canada? Who wouldn't choose the Russian one?
@snowleopard To be honest, currently my main concern for zoo restaurants is generally what they offer and whether they have something on offer I can eat, given some medical issues and food intolerances that have become a much more prevalent problem for me in the past year. These days, aside from multi-day visits, I usually only buy some drinks at zoos and bring my own food to be sure.
I personally have absolutely no problem with theming and in fact really like it, however, it should not come at the expense of animal welfare or visitor comfort/safety, and sadly at Pairi Daiza the theming is in some cases certainly counter-productive and over the top (especially the Asian temples), and that is what at least I have in the past criticized much more so than the theming in itself. The Russian restaurant however is I think very effective theming and definitely something I enjoyed seeing the interior of for the first time.
That said, I do kind of like the look of the Edmonton building with the wood paneling.
@Osedax They have some exhibits, most notably the white tiger, Javan leopard exhibits, the Sumatran orangutan indoor exhibit in the flower temple and the elephant indoor exhibits in the elephant temple, that in large part because of their extensively themed environments have substantial shortcomings in terms of size and structure, and are not exactly top-class or exemplary exhibits. There are photos of all of these exhibits in the gallery here at ZooChat.
@snowleopard I mean, its just all food to me. I dont really care how does the restaurant look when im eating in a zoo. Just give me the calories I need and move on.
@PossumRoach As far as I'm aware the Izba is mostly used for resort guests and far more rarely for regular day visitors.
Maintenance of theming and decorations is certainly a bit of an issue at Pairi Daiza. Not all of these "authentic" elements fare very well or last very long in the Belgian climate.
funny that i just got a notif of someone liking my comment, and i went to pairi two days ago. The restaurant is serving all you can eat buffet for like 40 euros. needless to say i choose the cheaper option of eating the numerous biscuits i got and moved on.
