There's a new fine-dining restaurant in Norway that's only accessible by boat, and TikTokers are comparing it to 'The Menu'

31.07.2023 - 20:15 / insider.com

A new restaurant in the middle of the Hardangerfjord in Norway is wowing — and scaring — TikTok. 

Norwegian opera singer Mari Eriksmoen captured her experience at Iris, which is located in a floating art installation known as the Salmon Eye. 

In her TikTok, Eriksmoen details how she was picked up by the restaurant's "100% electric boat" and whisked away to the location — which she said "felt like entering a spaceship." 

Eriksmoen told Insider that her heart jumped when she first arrived at the restaurant. 

"It was so extraordinary," she said. "I felt like I was going to the moon. I had this funny feeling that I was a part of something secret that soon would be a huge thing."

Iris is a fine-dining concept created and helmed by Danish chef Anika Madsen, who told Food and Wine Gazette that she wanted to "lift the less-known sustainable ingredients into the spotlight." 

According to its website, the experience at Iris is "quite literally a journey." The dinner — which costs 3,200 kroner, or about $315, per person and only seats 24 guests each night — begins with a boat trip from the town of Rosendal, with a pit stop at Madsen's boathouse. Diners are then taken to the Salmon Eye for a "multisensory underwater experience" complete with an 18-course set tasting menu. 

"The menu at Iris reads like a story," according to the website. "A story about the challenges and threats to the global food system, but also with ideas and suggestions for future innovations, that can help bring us closer to solving them."

Eriksmoen told Insider that "all the dishes were composed in such an innovative way," and there was "not one dull or uninteresting serving."

"Most gourmet restaurants I've been to have some forgettable dishes, but I loved every part of Anika Madsen's 18 courses," she said. 

Eriksmoen's video of Iris has captivated TikTok, racking up more than 8 million views since it was posted on July 21. Due to its extensive tasting menu, exclusive nature, and the fact that it's only accessible by boat, many in the comments have compared it to the fictional restaurant from "The Menu" — a 2022 comedy-horror film about a fine-dining experience gone wrong. 

The setting of "The Menu" was actually based on a real restaurant located on a private island in Norway that co-writer Will Tracy once visited while on his honeymoon. Tracy told Seth Meyers in a November 2022 interview that he began to panic before his five-hour meal at Cornelius Sjømatrestaurant when he saw the boat pull away from the island. 

"I'm a sort of world-class claustrophobe," Tracy said. "I felt like, what if something goes wrong? We were kind of putting our lives in their hands, right? I mean, what if someone has a heart condition? We're miles from the