Restaurant Serves Diners Melted Chocolate To Lick off Fingers in Wild Video

A video showing two diners being served melted chocolate directly into their hands before being instructed to lick the sweet goo from their fingers as part of a fine dining experience has gone viral.

The footage first came to light after being shared to Twitter by photographer Flávio Costa. At the time of writing, it has been viewed 8.9 million times. The video can be watched here.

In the clip, a man and a woman can be seen seated at a table in an unnamed restaurant. The clip begins with the pair holding their hands out over a bowl while a server pours a jug containing melted chocolate directly into them.

One of the members of staff is heard, in Spanish, telling the woman it is "100% Colombian chocolate." He advises her "it's a bit warm" before adding: "you can massage your hands and we invite you to taste it."

The male diner is also told to soak his hands and "taste the chocolate directly." A member of staff then informs them he will be back shortly to "remove" the chocolate with warm water but invites them to "keep enjoying" until his return.

During the clip, the woman is heard describing the taste of the chocolate as both "divine" and "delicious." However, those watching along on Twitter were less enthused by what Costa mockingly branded a "gastronomic experience."

"What's happening?" an astonished Ashish Sharma asked. Bigrafael76, meanwhile, envisioned the restaurant laughing at "seeing people do this mess and paying for it."

Bob Lynch said the video served as further proof "the world is on an irreversible trajectory to get dumber by the minute" while Ian Hamerton branded the footage a personal "chocolate eating nightmare."

"I can't stand having wet or sticky food on my hands," he explained. Danny Higgins, meanwhile, wondered: "Wtf have I just watched?" The wisest comment, however, came from beklenmeyenali, who simply wrote: "Don't try at home."

The pair filmed in the video have been identified as writer and filmmaker Leonardo Padrón along with actress and singer Mariaca Semprún. According to Padrón's Twitter account, he is based in Caracas, Venezuela.

The restaurant featured in the video has not been identified. A similar dining experience was showcased in a clip uploaded to TikTok by island_gurl007 on November 30, 2021.

In the footage, two women are also shown having melted chocolate poured into their hands by a server before being invited to taste the mixture. The video can be viewed here.

"Lick your fingers, enjoy," the server tells them and promises to return with water for them to wash their hands with.

The video was posted with the hashtags #miami and #elcielo. This could be a reference to El Cielo, a chain of modernist Latin restaurants operated by Colombian chef Juan Manuel "Juanma" Barrientos.

According to local D.C. magazine Washingtonian, El Cielo first started as a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia, but now has "sister locations in Miami and Bogotá" and recently opened a new restaurant in Washington D.C.

The news outlet notes that the menu includes a special "choco-therapy" in which guests are invited to "wash" their hands in liquid chocolate to "awaken their senses."

An optional experience in these pandemic times, all guests are required to sanitize their hands before and after with water. Barrientos also clarified to the publication: "They don't have to put their hands in their mouths."

Newsweek has contacted El Cielo for comment.