Dining in a completely dark room, unaware what’s on your
plate while sitting next to a complete stranger may not sound like an ideal
restaurant experience but it’s certainly an intriguing way to spend a rainy
night in London.
Dans le Noir close to London’s City financial district, is staffed by
blind waiters and waitresses who become your eyes according to the restaurant,
whose original Paris branch opened in 2004.
In the lit bar, you choose whether you want the fish, meat or vegetable menu
but the dishes themselves remain a secret, as do the ingredients of the
“surprise” cocktails.
Bags, coats and devices that light up, including watches and mobile phones,
are stowed away in lockers, making no distracting texts or emails one of the
perks in this restaurant.
Placing your hand on the shoulder of your guide, you are led to a table in a
pitch-black dining room that seats up to 60 people. And it is dark. Darkness of
a kind you never get to see in a modern world of light pollution.
The fun is identifying what is on your plate
The waiters tell you when the food is being placed down in front of you,
then the fun begins of first, trying to get food in your mouth, then identifying
just what it is that’s on your plate, and finally whether you missed any of it.
It’s also a great chance to break free of social convention and eat using
your fingers. Those same fingers are also the only way you can tell how much
wine you’re pouring into your glass.
You can’t really avoid talking to the person next to you at the long tables
and guessing what the dishes are certainly provides adequate fuel for the
conversations.
An eye-opener in terms of
preconceptions
Having no idea what your interlocutor looks like or their facial
expressions or whether they’re waving their hands about to get their point
across (until they poke you, that is) is a real eye-opener in terms of
preconceptions too.
All is revealed at the end of the meal, as you are led back out into the lit
bar, conga-style. Not only do you finally get to see what you’ve just been
eating but also who you’ve been talking to for the last 90 minutes.
An interesting place for a date?