Melania Trump may be used to strange bedfellows, but this is a new one: A dictator-themed eatery in Tunisia features a mural depicting Joseph Stalin, Kim Jong-Un, Adolf Hitler — and the first lady.
At Restaurant Le Dictateur in Tunisia, dishes called “Anarchy,” “Fascism” and “Grilled Freedom” are served. Pictures of dictators hang on the walls of metal grid and exposed brick, giving the place a cozy prison-esque feel. “We had to make ourselves known, to come up with a name and concept that attracted attention because good cuisine alone is often not enough,” said enterprising owner Seif Ben Hammouda in an interview with Star 2.
The restaurant opened last March with a sign featuring an illustration of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un in a Hitler mustache. Tunisian authorities didn’t love it, asking the owner to change the restaurant’s name and logo. He kept the name and erased the mustache.
How Melania Trump figures in is unclear. The owner hasn’t spoken about the first lady’s inclusion, if she’s standing in for her husband, whose T-shirt she’s wearing or who did her hair.
The White House hasn’t commented.
Le Dictateur opened for business in a world away from 2011, when Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled by the Arab Spring. “I wanted to take full advantage of the freedom of expression that’s been the main achievement of the revolution,” said Ben Hammouda. Before the revolution, Tunisians couldn’t even talk about politics. “Dictatorship was a taboo subject for decades, and it’s still very relevant here as efforts continue to bring about freedom and democracy,” he says.
And cash. “I’m enormously thankful to the authorities for all the free publicity,” said Ben Hammouda.
