A floating restaurant is a kind of vessel which is usually a type of steel barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

 used as a restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

 on water. For example, the Jumbo Palace at Aberdeen in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 is one such restaurant. Sometimes retired ships are given a second lease on life as floating restaurants. The former car ferry New York, built 1941, serves as DiMillo's

DiMillo's Floating Restaurant

DiMillo's Floating Restaurant is a floating restaurant in Portland, Maine. Located in the Old Port, DiMillo's is one of Maine's most famous restaurants. It was founded in 1954 on Fore Street as Anthony's and moved to its present location on Portland's Long Wharf in 1978....

 in Portland, Maine

Portland, Maine

Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...

. Another example was the railroad car ferry Lansdowne

SS Lansdowne

The SS Lansdowne was a railroad car ferry built in 1884 by the Wyandotte Shipyard of the Detroit Dry Dock Company. It was used from 1884 until 1956 between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario across the Detroit River, although there are reports of its sporadic use until the early 1970s. At the...

which served as a restaurant in Detroit. Unfortunately plans for the Lansdowne to continue in this capacity on the Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

 waterfront came to naught and she was scrapped in the summer of 2008. A third example of a ship's hull converted for this purpose is Captain John's in Toronto, a former Eastern European ship. The Normac, the first Captain John's restaurant, was moved to Port Dahousie as the floating cocktail lounge Big Kahuna.

See also

• Houseboat
  Houseboat
  A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a human dwelling. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities...
  
  
• Kettuvallam
  Kettuvallam
  Kettuvallam is a house boat widely used in the Indian state of Kerala. These have thatched roof covers over wooden hulls. The traditional kettuvallam is mainly used for promoting Kerala tourism.-Etymology:...
  
   - a houseboat type in Kerala, India many of which serve as hotels for tourists with cooking on board

Examples:

• Captain John's Harbour Boat Restaurant
  Captain John's Harbour Boat Restaurant
  Captain John's Harbour Boat Restaurant is a noted restaurant and banquet hall in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the MS Jadran a former Adriatic passenger ship now permanently docked at Yonge Street and Queen's Quay on Toronto's waterfront...
  
  
• Jumbo Kingdom
  Jumbo Kingdom
  Jumbo Kingdom consists of the Jumbo Floating Restaurant and the adjacent Tai Pak Floating Restaurant , renowned tourist attractions in Aberdeen South Typhoon Shelter, within Hong Kong's Aberdeen Harbour. Over 30 million visitors have visited Jumbo Kingdom, including Queen Elizabeth II, John...
  
  
• Moshulu
  Moshulu
  Moshulu is a four-masted steel barque built by William Hamilton on the River Clyde in Scotland in 1904, and currently a floating restaurant docked in Penn's Landing, Philadelphia. -History:...
  
  
• MS Normac
• Rustar dhow
  Rustar dhow
  The Rustar dhow located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates is a royal boat that can accommodate 400 passengers. At it has set the world record for the largest floating restaurant....
  
  
• Sherman
• Star Seafood Floating Restaurant
  Star Seafood Floating Restaurant
  Star Seafood Restaurant , formerly called Treasure Floating Restaurant , is a restaurant in Sha Tin, Hong Kong. The restaurant is built with granite taking on the shape of a ship berthing along the shore. It is situated at the eastern shore of Shing Mun River, near the junction of Siu Lek Yuen Road...
  
  
• SS South Steyne
  SS South Steyne
  SS South Steyne is the world's largest operational steam ferry. For 36 years, a Manly ferry in Sydney, she is now a floating restaurant in Darling Harbour, New South Wales.-History:...
  
  

External links

• The Petit Verdot, Vaal River
  Vaal River
  The Vaal River is the largest tributary of the Orange River in South Africa. The river has its source in the Drakensberg mountains in Mpumalanga, east of Johannesburg and about 30 km north of Ermelo and only about 240 km from the Indian Ocean. It then flows westwards to its conjunction...
  
  , South Africa
  South Africa
  The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...