A look inside a secret Alice in Wonderland-themed pop-up dinner in Singapore

While you don’t have to go down the rabbit hole to enjoy dinner in Wonderland, you will have to follow an elaborate set of instructions by local nomadic restaurant Andsoforth, for an evening with characters from Lewis Caroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.

Yes, we’re talking about the main character Alice, the Mad Hatter and even the caterpillar – sans the hookah – joining you for a four-course dinner at a secret location in Singapore.

Andsoforth is a pop-up restaurant that specialises in “using art and dining in non-linear experiences”. Its first themed dinner happened in 2014.

Their theatrical dinner events never fail to sell out, and at times they have even had to extend the availability of their events, which take place infrequently throughout the year.

“‘Dinner in Wonderland’ started in December and was extended three times … This concept is one of the higher-demand ones, but we’re confident that if we had extended previous concepts, people would have come, too,” said co-founder Stuart Wee, 30.

Influenced by the underground dining sub-culture in London, each of its theatrical dinners revolves around a specific theme. Past themes include “The Heist” and “The Karl Experience”. “Dinner in Wonderland” is Andsoforth’s 12th concept so far.

“We didn’t want to extend it more because we get quite bored of the concept after a while,” he continued. “We typically spend around two months setting up the space, and each show normally runs for about eight weeks before we tear it all down and start on a new concept,” said Wee.

“Dinner in Wonderland” ends its run on 15 April. Thereafter, the company will be holding a garage sale to sell off props in order to make way for their upcoming concept, which will be announced in August.

Fortunately, this reporter was able to sit in with Alice, the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, among others, for a “Dinner in Wonderland” on Friday, 7 April.

The experience

Diners are required to make bookings in advance via the website. Information on the exact location of the venue together with wacky instructions – you might be asked to arrive in mismatched socks, for example – will be sent you on the afternoon before the event date.

Upon arriving at the secret location, fluorescent blue lights and whimsical props led guests to the venue – in our case, a place named The Queen’s Bar.

The White Rabbit will greet you at the door, to check on your mismatched socks and make sure you have the secret entry password, while you’re served a complimentary cocktail by one of the Red Queen’s playing-card henchmen.

Once you’ve passed this stage, male and female diners will be required to enter through two separate doors. Male diners were asked to go through a really small door, more suited for toddlers than men.

Inside, the venue is decked with leaves hanging from chandelier-adorned ceilings and colourful murals. The space was able to accommodate at least 80 diners, consisting of young families, couples and small groups of friends, alongside main characters Alice, The March Hare, The Mad Hatter and the Red Queen’s fish and frog footmen.

Meanwhile, other signature characters such as the Red Queen herself, the Caterpillar and the Cheshire Cat made sporadic appearances throughout the three-hour experience, which was not only filled with scrumptious food and drink, but a slew of activities ranging from song and dance, games, skits and even tarot card reading.

Whenever diners needed to use the washroom, they were required to do a “toilet dance” – no matter how urgently they needed to go.

The four-course dinner was surprisingly good.

For the first course, we had “Mushroom Tea”, a light broth made with shiitake mushrooms, clams, mussels, spring onion and foie gras, served in delicate floral tea cups.

For the second course, we had the “Magical Garden” – salted potato, beetroot, thinly-sliced carrots, yogurt dressing and “edible soil” – was rich in flavour that many salads lack.

We had “Headless Chicken” for the main course, consisting of chicken breast with pumpkin puree, parmigiano and charred cabbage.

Finally for dessert, we had “Return to the Forest”, which consisted of tofu chocolate ganache and berry nitrogen sorbet sprinkled with popping candy, which added an element of childhood nostalgia for many of the diners.

What diners think

“We didn’t know what it [Andsoforth] was … We thought it was a musical at first,” said one of the diners, Samantha Kho.

She continued, “It’s quite fun and enjoyable. The interaction that the characters have with us is my favourite part; they are all quite interactive and my daughter liked it,” Kho said.

Amanda Cho, 33, said “It’s very unique, I think it’s the most interesting dining experience. The theater aspect, where they are singing and dancing and performing when you’re eating is my favourite part.

Jason Quek, who attended “The Heist” dinner in August 2016, said, “It was a very entertaining affair, especially when the cast performed while we enjoyed our food … The food was good, the performance was good. It’s not something that’s common in Singapore, so it’s definitely worth the money and the suspense.”

Yahoo Rating: 4.5/5

Watch a sneak glimpse into the Dinner in Wonderland:

Related story: 5 reasons why Alice would mistake Singapore for Wonderland

Follow Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore on Facebook.