[category]
[title]
If you thought simply trying to bust your way out of a locked room was hard enough, what about combining that with a three-course meal where the puzzles are integrated in the food and drink?
Enter Frida Crouton's Final Course, one of the world’s first interactive dining escape rooms. Designed over three years by a designer-psychologist, video game designer, architect and chef, this brand-new experience extends far beyond the usual known realm of the escape room.
At Frida Crouton's, you're plunged straight into the heart of a gripping story. The very rich chef Frida Crouton has died – and you're one of her heirs. You have been invited to her wake, but this is one funeral situation where the ‘fun’ bit is the operative word, with the aim of the dinner to compete for your share of what promises to be quite the hefty inheritance.
To get to the final prize, you'll have to solve a series of complex, integrated puzzles that will be obscured and hidden in the food, drinks and environment around you. Plus, you'll have to earn each dish to help unlock new clues, before you're able to see what amount of (alas, hypothetical) cash you're set to win at the end. After all, there's no such thing as a free lunch, or in this case, very intense wake dinner.
Importantly, the food looks pretty damn good. There's a cheese and charcuterie platter to start, options of a smashed beef patty burger, fish tacos, shoyu grilled chicken or a mushroom souvlaki for a main, and six different flavours of housemade ice cream available for dessert. If you've got dietaries the menu is all customisable, and there are three non-alcoholic drinks included (with alcoholic options available for purchase).
The experience is best done with groups of two to six people, but larger groups are also able to book in. If you're game to eat, drink and work out a series of interactive puzzles all at the same time, join the action at Poke the Bear in Northcote. Tickets cost $129 per person, and you can book right here. May the best heir win.
Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Melbourne newsletter for the best of the city, straight to your inbox.