Diners feast on five totally natural courses - and even cutlery is

London's first naked restaurant - which boasts 46,000 people on its waiting list - opened its doors last night in a secret location in south east London. The head chef of London's newest out-there dining experience said he hoped that being nude will help diners concentrate on their food and encourage them to 'try new cuisines'. Only open for three months, Bunyadi claims it offers 'pure liberation', offering the experience of eating in its 'purest' form. But will the £69 tasting menu be the sole thing on everyone's mind?Two MailOnline journalists meet for the first time - naked - and share their experiences at Bunyadi from a male and Femail perspective.

Mail Online journalists Emily Hodgkin, 24, and James Dunn, 31, visited Bunyadi in south east London for the high-concept restaurant's opening night

Emily, above, felt nervous on the way to the restaurant even though she is proud of her body

Guests are greeted by the staff, who are equally as naked as the diners, and serve up the totally natural cuisine in an experience that is supposed to help people concentrate on the food

All of the diners are given a white robe to wear in the bar area and when they are shown into the restaurant, they can choose if they want to take it off or not

Emily's experience

On the way to the restaurant I realise I'm feeling pretty intense nerves, like first date nerves, which is weird because I never get naked on first dates.

Being nude doesn't bother me at all - I'm more than happy with my body - and I'm feeling a sort of thrill knowing I'll soon be swanning around as naked as the day I was born.

I picture myself as an ethereal creature, casting off my clothes and prancing around like one of Joseph Tomanek's Nymphs Dancing to Pan's Flute.

There are certainly some Dionysian vibes in The Bunyadi. The waiters and waitresses are naked despite some leaves and flesh coloured underwear covering their most intimate parts. It's all very Ancient Grecian.

There are some Dionysian vibes in The Bunyadi, according to Emily, who found the experience thrilling

Emily was hit by a wave of humid heat (perhaps designed to encourage diners to strip) in the restaurant

However, my lofty ideals of bohemian public nudity didn't quite come true.

Walking into The Bunyadi - a dingy-looking, unmarked pub decipherable thanks only to the body guard at the entrance - I'm hit by a wave of humid heat (perhaps to encourage me to strip).

Immediately my head begins to bead with sweat and I'm torn between a refreshing cocktail and hearing to the changing rooms - where I'm given a locker, a fluffy dressing gown and white slippers.

It's unbearably warm I think, as a whip off my skirt, so much so that I don't think I've ever been so excited to get my clothes off - sorry ex-boyfriends.

Emily found that the experience felt a lot like relaxed spa experiences that she is usually used to with her female friends

Once in my robe I slink into the dark, labyrinth like restaurant. While I - the exhibitionist - am expecting an open and lit space, the layout of the restaurant evokes a cocooning and soothing atmosphere thanks to the private dining booths, encircled by bamboo.

I dined with a female companion (trust me, there is nothing more depressing than failing to get a date when a precursor of the night is that you will be naked) and the experience felt a lot like the relaxed spa experiences I'm used to with my female friends.

While I can't imagine two blokes, however much the best of friends they may be, stripping off to enjoy Tartare together, nudity among female friends feels natural.

We go to toilet in front of one another in nightclubs - topless dining is nothing.

One diner suggests that the place would be a hit with hen and stag dos. While I can maybe picture the former, I imagine a group of men shrugging of their robes and being served by a waitress wearing more clothes than them is unlikely, considering that - sadly - the dynamic is usually very much the other way around.

Eventually I get used to the heat and enjoy the low-key lounging feel. It's not so much that we are making a point of nibbling in the nude, it's that now we've left the high heels and tight dresses at the door the mood of the experience has totally changed.

I could be at a chilled out sleepover, rather than one of London's most exciting dining experiences.

Emily found dining with a female companion at the nudist eatery completely comfortable

Emily asked thew friendly waitress if she felt strange working with no top on, but she says it is not awkward and helps other guest relax too

The crowd seems very mixed. My companion was shocked to come face to face with an elderly couple wandering in the space between the private pods proudly displaying their bodies.

While some are very earnest about the concept - 'Do you have vegan wine?' we hear one woman enquire - others flout the rules.

A couple who are on quite a flirty date in the booth next door are happily Snapchatting away. Halfway through the meal their booth suddenly goes dark.

At first I think they have pulled a curtain across the thin spaces between the bamboo before I see some movement

Immediately we quieten in the hopes of catching the couple in a clandestine clinch.

Unfortunately they are caught by the waitress before anything can get fruity over the already fruit-dense menu.

'Oh no, our candle seems to have blown out,' the male exclaims - not at all convincingly.

I ask the incredibly friendly topless waitress if it feels strange to her to be (not) wearing this unusual uniform.

Emily said she felt more naked not having my phone permanently strapped to her hip than being undressed

Emily felt she could be at a chilled out sleepover, rather than one of London's most exciting dining experiences

'Oh no, not at all!' she cries, in her Spanish accent, 'I've been a naturist for four years. My dad runs a naturist movement in Portugal.'

'On the first day I think the other staff felt awkward but by the third day it was fine. I think us being naked and relaxed really helps visitors too.'

I honestly felt more naked not having my phone permanently strapped to my hip than being undressed.

I'm feeling a sort of thrill knowing I'll soon be swanning around as naked as the day I was born

I could only image how awkward an awkward silence would be on a date as you both sit naked and dumb on tree trunks surrounded by bamboo.

Without a phone or even the view of other diners to inspire conversation, how are you supposed to cope?

Naked cringe.

James's experience

'No indecency or nuisance or any sexual activity of any kind is allowed. Guests who don't follow this rule will be escorted out immediately'.

The rules are set out in no uncertain terms in a 'rules of engagement' document handed to all diners upon arrival, or a 'Welcome' note, as they call it.

You may think it would be enough to deter most diners with more than dinner on their minds. But not for the couple who took more than ten minutes to emerge from the bathroom after a polite knock from my partner.

If the explanation is anything other than one that would see them hurled out on the street 'immediately' then they have an odd relationship indeed.

James was handed a set of rules on arrival which explicitly forbids sexual activity of any kind, however, both he and Emily noticed fellow diners trying to get intimate

The first rule of Bunyadi states: 'No indecency or nuisance or any sexual activity of any kind is allowed. Guests who don't follow this rule will be escorted out immediately'

When I informed people I would be eating at a naked restaurant - which has 46,000 people on the waiting list - the universal response was 'why?'

But they have clearly underestimated the indomitable power of fad in London. It's a place where the creator of Bunyadi - which essentially means natural - built such a hype around his Owl Cafe that 80,000 people signed up to drink hipster coffee blends in a warehouse in the presence of predatory birds.

On entering Bunyadi, which looks from the outside like a derelict pub with boarded up windows, it feels as though you have walked into the illicit layer of a Bond villain.

After passing the bouncer at the door of the secret London venue, you are greeted by beautiful male staff in white robes, Lyall's PR army of young men who made me immediately realise I was not 'summer ready'.

Then there are the glamorous bar staff - also all male - who serve up cocktails with basil, egg and avocado, which set the premise for the evening. Because gorging on a five-course menu with your stomach - and a lot more - hanging out suddenly seems much more appealing after cocktails and clay chalices filled with organic wine.

After de-robing in a tiny, seedy room full of lockers next to the bar, my partner and I walked out out feeling like Roman aristocrats - everyone in white robes and sandals, sipping natural beverages from clay cups.

Emily had not been told that James was coming and they met for the first time while naked for photographs

We were met by a young waitress wearing nothing but shrubbery, proudly baring her chest and willing to meet our every demand.

After hearing about the restaurant, she sought them out for work. And yes, it pays better than the average student bar job, she said. There was also a young waiter, serving other tables, who wore nothing but tattoos and a fig leaf.

The space is lit only by a few dim candles and music plays quietly in the background. Through the cracks in the bamboo you can see the silhouettes of other dining parties.

People stroll around the dark corridors baring all unashamedly but you don't dare glance for more than a moment for fear of breaking etiquette in an atmosphere that breaks convention.

Stripping off to eat your dinner seems like an odd thing to do, but when sat on a wooden log in the private booth, surrounded by bamboo and being served by semi-naked waitresses, suddenly it seems almost impolite not to - even if it is optional.

If you're male and go with your partner, you can certainly enjoy a certain nakedness inequality, with the table protecting your privacy. Although you will feel an understandable twinge of awkwardness when in an an enclosed space with two naked women, one of which is not your partner.

I found myself maniacally focusing on the waitress's eyes, yet desperately trying not to look too engaged in the conversation.

It's an impossible balance to strike that I may have pulled off, until I smashed a glass and found the waitress sweeping up inches away from my naked...feet, my girlfriend staring at me intensely and shaking her head.

Some where more comfortable with the experience than others - and James's partner found waited more than ten minutes for a couple to come out of the bathroom after a polite knock

Creator of Bunyadi, Seb Lyall (pictured, in the bar area), said that the high-concept restaurant was based on its USP - nakedness

It was a moment of awkwardness only rivaled by the moment I met Emily earlier in the evening, who had not been told I was coming to gatecrash her naked photoshoot.

However fun a concept Bunyadi is, I think most people would agree it is not the sort of place you would want to meet a colleague, and will not be a favourite for staff parties. But I may be wrong.

After the glass incident - and I will no doubt be reminded of 'glassgate' for weeks to come - the food arrived, and in total honesty it was less memorable than the cocktails.

The sushi-grade salmon to start was a highlight, and the beef carpaccio which followed was good, but it is far from man-dining and had I not had a healthy dose of body-shaming, I might have stopped off for a take-away on the way home.

There was a lot of pickles and salt, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Even the chef admitted it had been difficult to come up with a menu that fitted with the concept.

MENU NAKED NON-VEGAN English garden, pickled apple, salted cucumber Cured salmon, seaweed salad with whipped spirulina mayo Goji-berry coriander Steak Tartare, basil and wild nettle oil Sweet and salt seasonal foliage Black berries, coconut and chia mousse, raw crumble Floral tea NAKED VEGAN English garden, pickled apple, salted cucumber Asparagus, salted almonds, pickled red onion and melon Sun-dried tom stuffed courgette flowers, cauliflower couscous and seaweed flakes Sweet and salt seasonal foliage Black berries, coconut and chia mousse, raw crumble Floral tea Advertisement

Having said that, it was the first time - and maybe the last - I have ever eaten a spoon, so I'm unlikely to forget that. And the starter, 'based on the Garden of Eden' the waitress informed me, was like nothing I have ever eaten before, sharp with its pickled apple and salted cucumber.

But the food is, as you would imagine, a side order with the evening. It was, as promised, a 'liberating' experience - particularly for the couple we met coming out of the bathroom earlier.

The key, it seems, is plenty of cocktails and going with people you feel comfortable with - I'm quite certain Emily and I would not have enjoyed it had we dined together during the same sitting, naked. And there would definitely have been some more head-shaking from my girlfriend.

Creator Seb Lyall is passionate about his concept, but is clearly savvy and admitted over drinks - while remaining fully clothed, I might add - that he created it around the USP which would clearly grab headlines