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Stir: Dinner service by zipline

Treepod dining takes travelers to new heights at a Thailand resort

Joanna Fantozzi, Senior Editor

April 5, 2019

1 Min Read
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Soneva Kiri

The treehouse of your childhood gets a fine-dining makeover at Soneva Kiri in Koh Kood, Thailand.

The luxury resort offers two, three or four-person meals atop a “treepod” platform that is hoisted 16 feet in the air to tree-top level. Diners feel like they’re eating dinner or high tea in a jungle canopy while getting a private, bird’s-eye view of the native massang trees and the adjacent beach off the coast of the Gulf of Thailand.

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“Guests board the rattan bird’s nest at ground level and are then leveraged to new heights,” a representative from Soneva resorts said. “As the pod slowly climbs into the trees, and the rocky shores slowly descend, their waiter expertly flies through the air on a zipline from a small platform perched halfway down the hill.”

Of course, navigating a treetop restaurant is not easy. Servers train for six weeks learning how to serve food via zipline without spilling a drop of wine or toppling any course’s carefully plated Thai food feast. In between courses, servers wait discreetly on a platform a few feet away in case guests want to order more food.

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Treepod dining is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and high tea and can only accommodate one party of two or four people at a time. The menu features Thai/continental offerings like pepper chicken with cucumbers, tomatoes, and pesto, and roasted spiced lamb chop for 5,000 in Thai baht, or THB, per person ($157.59) for dinner or high tea, $5,666 THB per person ($178.60 per person) for lunch, or 7,000 THB per person ($220) for breakfast.

Contact Joanna Fantozzi at [email protected]

Follow her on Twitter: @JoannaFantozzi

About the Author

Joanna Fantozzi

Senior Editor

Joanna Fantozzi is a Senior Editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality. She has more than seven years of experience writing about the restaurant and hospitality industry. Her editorial coverage ranges from profiles of independent restaurants around the country to breaking news and insights into some of the biggest brands in food and beverage, including Starbucks, Domino’s, and Papa John’s.  

Joanna holds a bachelor’s degree in English literature and creative writing from The College of New Jersey and a master’s degree in arts and culture journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Prior to joining Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group in 2018, she was a freelance food, culture, and lifestyle writer, and has previously held editorial positions at Insider (formerly known as Business Insider) and The Daily Meal. Joanna’s work can also be found in The New York Times, Forbes, Vice, The New York Daily News, and Parents Magazine. 

Her areas of expertise include restaurant industry news, restaurant operator solutions and innovations, and political/cultural issues.

Joanna Fantozzi has been a moderator and event facilitator at both Informa’s MUFSO and Restaurants Rise industry events. 

Joanna Fantozzi’s experience:

Senior Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (August 2021-present)

Associate Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (July 2019-August 2021)

Assistant Editor, Informa Restaurant & Food Group (Oct. 2018-July 2019)

Freelance Food & Lifestyle Reporter (Feb. 2018-Oct. 2018)

Food & Lifestyle Reporter, Insider (June 2017-Feb. 2018)

News Editor, The Daily Meal (Jan. 2014- June 2017)

Staff Reporter, Straus News (Jan. 2013-Dec. 2013)

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