I’ve been a long time fan of Andsoforth and their dining experiences. In fact, I was one of their first customers, having attended one of their earliest event in 2015! The latest one of their event I attended was Restaurant Absurdities in 2022, and it was one of the most memorable experience I had during the pandemic when we weren’t able to travel outside of Singapore.
So when I found out that Andsoforth have refreshed their dining experience and the new theme is Alice in Wonderland, one of my favorite stories of all time, I had to check it out!
About Wonderland Upside Down
Andsoforth specializes in fun immersive dining experience. Meaning, you’ll be enjoying a five course meal with one alcoholic drink (non-alcoholic version available too) while enjoying an engaging performance with real actors in an intricately built set.
The show runs for 120 minutes, and the location are kept secret – only disclosed to you on the day of your booking. However, I can tell you that the location is pretty convenient – close to city center and can be easily reached by public transportation.
The tickets cost $188 for a single person. However it gets cheaper depending how many people are in the group. It costs $150 per person for a group of 2 and $140 per person for a group of 4.
You can buy tickets at the official Wonderland Upside Down website.
This price includes the five course meal and one drink, however you can purchase an additional cocktail pairing at $98 for 5 alcoholic drinks or $44 for non-alcoholic drinks. If cocktails are not your thing, they also have a limited selection of wine by the bottle. Otherwise, water is available in each of the rooms as well.
Spoiler Ahead!
I will be describing the experience and food we had in detail, which WILL ruin the surprise for you. If you are planning to go, I highly suggest to refrain from reading the post beyond this point. You can instead scroll down to my conclusions to read what I thought of the whole experience.
However, if you don’t like surprises, then by all means – read on.
🚨 LAST WARNING: SPOILER AHEAD! 🚨
From this point on, this post contains very detailed spoilers for the entire dining experience at Wonderland Upside Down. Do not proceed if you don’t want to spoil the surprises! You can instead scroll down to my conclusions and see whether the experience is worth it or not.
First Room: Hat
I received the location on the day of my dinner. I was pleased to know that they’ve moved to the Farrer Park area this time, which is very close to where I live!
As per instruction, we turned up at the specified location 15 minutes early. If you know what you’re looking for, it’s not hard to spot the entrance in what otherwise look like a common back alley in Singapore.
In front of the door, a lady stood waiting for us and checked us in. We were assigned numbers after we checked in. I was assigned number 7, and my husband was number 8.
As we were early, we were told to wait in the staircase for the rest of the group to arrive. True to the theme, the staircase were decorated with pages from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, which kept us occupied for the next few minutes.
The rest of the group slowly trickled in. Right when 7:30PM hits, we were ushered into the first room.
The way Andsoforth’s dinners work is that you’ll be transported to different universe each time you enter a room. In Wonderland Upside Down, you’ll get to meet a character from the Alice in Wonderland book in each room. There were hats everywhere in the first room, which makes it… quite easy to guess what room this was if you’re familiar with the story.
Remember the numbers we were assigned during check in? Turns out, there are numbers for each seats. We simply have to remember the numbers assigned and look for seats labeled with that number. I suppose it makes it easier for the staff to remember your preferences and the drinks you’ve ordered.
Speaking of drinks, this is also the room where you can place your drinks order. As I mentioned earlier, you can add-on an alcoholic drink pairing for $98 for 5 drinks, or Non-alcoholic drinks for $44 for 3 drinks.
We went on a Friday night, and most people in my time slot ended up getting the alcoholic cocktail pairing. I was one of the minority who did not purchase additional drinks, because I don’t drink alcohol and didn’t feel like having non-alcoholic drinks as well.
Take note that you don’t HAVE to buy the entire pairing if you think it’s too much. You could get the drinks per room as well. My husband purchased only two drinks (Room 2 and Room 4), as he thought the drinks sounded interesting.
Soon after all of our drink orders were placed, we met our first character from the book. And if you had guessed the Mad Hatter, well, you’d be correct! I thought it was pretty obvious 😉
On the table in front of us, there are two tin boxes, and as the Mad Hatter started telling us his life story, we were asked to open the box and try our hands at…
… Felting! The box contained a felt pillow, cloth, felting needle and some fibers which you can manipulate into any shape you wanted by repeatedly stabbing and shaping the fiber using the felting needle provided. It was my first time felting and I had so much fun that I considered learning it properly.
And yes, we got to take home our creation as a souvenir.
We were also served the welcome drink included with the price of the ticket in this room. There were both alcoholic and non-alcoholic option.
Second Room: Time
Before long, the alarm sounded, signaling that it’s time to move on. The tax men has come for us for our alcohol consumption and we had to escape to the second room.
In the next room, we were greeted by a wooden room decorated with a lot of pocket watches. It was, afterall, a watchmaker’s workshop.
Before long, we were served our second course: an asian style mock turtle soup with mystery meat. We never found out what the mystery meat was, but I suspect it was duck (and not actually turtle!). I liked the soup, as it reminded me of my confinement meal from when I gave birth a few months ago.
My husband ordered an alcoholic drink for this room, and I love how it was served!
And if you can’t already guess, the watchmaker is inspired by the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, who was always late to some appointment.
Third Room: Caterpillar
In the third room, we were greeted with a surreal, dream-like vibe. The room changes color gradually every few seconds, and pieces of sheer cloth decorates the ceiling, which reminded us of smoke from a hookah… well yes, this room is where we met Ustad Absolem, a character inspired by the caterpillar.
We were served Chicken Korma, which was one of my favorite course in the entire dinner, served with basmati rice.
While enjoying our meal, we were each asked to draw a playing card. Absolem then told us our fortune based on the card that we drew.
Fourth Room: The Cat
When the time was up, we were ushered one by one to the next room via a rotating mirror door to a.. cabaret with mirrors, bright lights and bold colors! What a contrast from the calm vibe of the previous room.
No prizes for guessing which character we’re meeting this time though. There is literally a large cat statue at the center of the room, not-so-subtly indicating who we will be meeting – Yes, it’s Chesire cat, in the form of Dinah Dodgeson.
The fourth course is my favorite in terms of presentation. It’s served like a cat food! Or an “atas” cat food, as Miss Dinah says. In reality, it’s herbed salmon served with thick cut fries. You don’t have to eat through the can opening, you can simply lift it up which reveals a ceramic plate shaped like a can below.
The transition to the next room here is my favorite – you open a large door, which opens to a smaller door, and then an even smaller door, where you have to crouch down and enter the next room. Just like when Alice made her self shrink in wonderland!
Fifth Room: Mad King
In yet another stark contrast to the previous room, the next room is… visibly sterile. Everything is either black or white, with very few accents of red.
I could barely see the character in the next room as she was hidden behind the rows of clean white shelves adorned with neatly folded towels and cleaning supplies. No prizes on guessing who the character as well, because she introduced herself as the Queen of Hearts, who then told us the story of the king who has gone mad and became obsessed with cleaning. Ah, that explains the aesthetics of this room.
The fifth course is also one of my favorites in terms of presentation. We were served a tub of toothpaste with crackers. But obviously, it’s not toothpaste – it’s actually cream cheese!
In terms of taste, this course was the most bland despite it’s striking appearance. However, I really appreciate the level of details that went into the packaging!
Soon, the Queen of Hearts ushered us out by encouraging us to follow the rose petals to the next room.
Sixth Room: The Coronation
The next room is the sixth and final room. We were greeted with sights of red paint tins, paintings and a large portrait of… the red princess herself.
In this room, we were served dessert which was peaches and ice cream, with strawberry sauce which was “painted” over the ice cream – just like how the white roses were painted red in Alice in Wonderland! I loved that little detail.
In terms of interactivity, this last room is the best out of them all. It is the Red Princess’ coronation and we had to assist her. Guests were invited to actively participate, and it was all in good fun.
After the coronation is over, we were invited to exit through the gift shop, where some merchandise from the show is available for purchase. And then, back out into the real world we go.
Conclusion
I can honestly say I enjoyed my time at Wonderland Upside down. The food was great, the cast were engaging and the set was high quality. On par with I’ve come to expect from an Andsoforth production after attending so many of their shows. Each room was meticulously designed, and not one room was similar to another. For those two short hours, I can really forget that I was still in Singapore.
That said, I’d give this experience a 4 out of 5 star. The 1 star I docked was because I expected a little more magic from the whole experience. At Restaurant Absurdities for example, we were always kept guessing where the next entrance to the next room would be – sometimes even crawling on all fours to get to the next room. But with this Wonderland Upside down set, I felt we were just ushered along from one room to another. I think there could definitely be more creativity in that aspect.
For a first time Andsoforth guest, I have no doubt that you will be thoroughly impressed. However, if you’re a repeat visitor like myself, you might find that the same formula start to get a little repetitive and expected. It’s still the same mechanism as their every other show, but with different stories and location.
That said, the negatives were not a deal breaker and I will be recommending friends to check out the show for a special occassions. I know it will still delight your guests.
Note: I was invited as a guest of Andsoforth for the purposes of writing this review. As always, all thoughts and opinions are honest and remain my own.