The Blue Lotus Opium Den at Carousel ★★★★★

The Blue Lotus Opium Den, brainchild of Shuttlecock Inc, is the latest immersive dining experience to take place downstairs at Carousel, Marylebone.
Enter via the car park behind Carousel and you'll travel back in time at one of our favourite, innovative foodie hotspots with their latest creation inspired by 1870's San Francisco. You'll be whisked back to 19th Century Chinatown where gambling, prostitution and slavery fuelled a network of opium dens across the neighbourhood. The most notorious of all was 'The Blue Lotus', located at the back of a Chinese laundry. For four nights, Shuttlecock are reviving it in central London.
Shuttlecock's Blue Lotus Opium Den plays host to smoking cocktails and dim sum served from rickety stalls on mock street corners. Expect to queue for food, there's plenty to choose from but the organisation is a little chaotic. In fact, the feel of the event is a little makeshift in comparison to renowned, immersive counterparts like Gingerline. For something pegged to the Carousel brand we know and love, we were expecting something a little more stand-out.
Be ready for sultry songstresses and playful drunkards who will guide you through their Chinese laundry and hidden rooms, bringing your experience of the notorious opium den to life with their irreverent entertainment. As immersive experiences go, the decor was beautifully done, but we couldn't help feeling a little underwhelmed where food was concerned and though the entertainment was fun it didn't quite stand up to the £38 price tag.