Dinner in the Sky

BRUSSELS, Belgium, Aug. 16, 2007 — -- Eating out can pose its share of problems -- shoddy service, rude waiters, dodgy food, noisy neighbors and so on.

But what about this for a change of scene? Waiters catering only to you, a menu chosen well in advance of your visit, total privacy and a spectacular view of city or countryside, based on your preference.

There's just one niggling little detail -- location.

This "floating restaurant" is some way away from, well, anywhere -- 150 feet off the ground to be exact.

And there are no doors or windows, or even a floor -- just a 6.6-ton table piled high with food and champagne, with 22 chairs to seat patrons, while a crane holds the entire structure aloft, 150 feet above the ground.

Ranked among the world's Top 10 most unusual restaurants by Forbes magazine, Dinner in the Sky is coming soon to a town near you, or so its owners hope.

The brainchild of David Ghysels and Stefan Kerkhofs, this venture is definitely not for the faint-hearted.

As I and other journalists were strapped into our chairs for a floating meal in Brussels, Belgium, while our feet dangled in the breeze, the thought of possibly plummeting to my death or at the very least, to a broken bone or two, did cross my mind.

It was enough to make some of my dinner companions reconsider their choice of venue while we waited to be served.

Even the presence of a violinist and pianist on a neighboring platform did little to soothe the frazzled nerves of one woman, who found the multiple seat belts too complicated and restrictive to handle.That nervousness was shared by the musicians as they prepared to perform for us on an adjacent platform, also perched 150 feet above the ground.

Before getting ready to take to the skies, pianist Bernard Vancraeynest of the Fortissimo group told ABC News that he "expected a more secure environment" in which to practice his art. Then again, he recalled, "this is not my strangest job to date. Ten years ago, I played underwater for two minutes."

"It was for a Chanel perfume ad," he said. "The whole orchestra came out of the water."

On this summer day though, water was far from his mind as he contemplated the possibility of "playing in the sky for the first, and maybe the last time."