What’s even better than drinking while reading? Eating while reading, of course (hint: you can have a drink, too). With the news that Biblio, a book-themed eatery, was popping up in Williamsburg, Flavorwire took to the Internet to put together a guide to a few amazing-looking literary-themed restaurants from around the world. Indulge your eyes (and, if you’re close enough, your stomachs) at these bookish establishments.
Onegin, New York City
The sumptuous design of this Russian Fusion restaurant is based on Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, from which it also takes its name. Bittersweet 19th-century Russian opulence, here we come.
Gogol, St. Petersburg
In St. Petersburg’s Gogol, decked out like a 19th-century apartment, a large black overcoat hangs in the entryway and the menus are spattered with Gogol’s writing on food and divided into chapters like novels. It seems like a rather bold move to name a restaurant after a writer who starved himself to death, but that’s neither here nor there.
Alice in Magic World, Tokyo
Be careful about the labels on the food you eat at Alice in Magic World, an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland-themed restaurant created by Fantastic Design Works Co., where each room recalls a different scene from the book. [Photos via]
Les Éditeurs, Paris
Restau-bibliothèque ou biblio-restaurant? So asks the website of Paris’s Les Éditeurs, a book-lined library/restaurant nestled in the Quartier Latin. But it doesn’t matter what you call it — it’s filled with good food and good books donated by the publishers who frequent it.
Club Verne, Budapest
You don’t have to go 20,000 leagues under the sea to find a restaurant dedicated to Jules Verne — but you do have to go to Hungary. Also consider Le Jules Verne, halfway up the Eiffel Tower. [Photos via]
Biblio, Brooklyn
Where else are you more likely to find a bookish restaurant than in Brooklyn? Williamsburg’s brand-new eatery, Biblio, charms with a menu billed as a “Table of Contents” and rife with literary allusions.
Bookbar, Denver
Sure, sure, it’s called “Bookbar” — but any eatery/drinkery with a kids’ menu falls into the restaurant category at least some of the time. A bookstore, bar, and café all in one, if you stop inside, you’ll probably never leave (why would you need to?). [Photos via]
Café Kafka, Barcelona
This bookish, bohemian Barcelona café is named after one of the greatest writers of all time. It is worrisome, however, to hear the bathrooms, of all things, described as Kafkaesque. [Photos via]
Hugo Café, Dubai
The French-Vietnamese Hugo Café channels its namesake with Parisian café chairs and gorgeous French façades, along with a spattering of visual references to Victor Hugo himself. Supposedly, there are also some literary “audio-visual materials.” Fun! [Photos via]
Café du Livre, Marrakesh
The owners of this restaurant-cum-bookstore say they “set out to create a place where international friends could come together for pleasure, talk… and the exchange of ideas.” They’re off to a good start — Café du Livre is stocked with plush armchairs, yummy food, and some 2,000 multilingual volumes for perusal or purchase. What better to stimulate conversation? [Photos via]
The Winding Stair, Dublin
This establishment, another bookstore/café/restaurant, was named for its winding staircase, and after the famous Yeats poem. While the bookstore half stocks hard-to-find titles, the restaurant serves basic, heartwarming fare — all the better fuel for tackling a complex novel.