Comments on: A good place for a blind date

A good place for a blind date

mr_crash_davis — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:28:04 -0800

At Dans Le Noir ? you can "experience the unique interaction between clientele and guides as your food and wine are served in total darkness". Is it really a pitch-black dining room? "Yes it is ! The room where the dinner takes place is completely dark! We aren't used to completely dark environment since you hardly find this level of darkness in daily life as, we are used to small rays of light from the streetlights or moonlight but in the Dans le Noir ? restaurant there is no light at all!" Worried about going to the loo? Don't be, because "the toilets are fully lit".

By: nola

nola — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:34:45 -0800

first let me say , nice post crash. then let me also say, this is the dumbest thing i have ever heard of.

By: nola

nola — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:36:51 -0800

after reading this , i'm thinking of opening a restaurant where the gimmick is, we starve the guests for a week before giving them their food.

By: Meaney

Meaney — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:38:55 -0800

Blind date, how about an ugly date.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:42:29 -0800

Sounds like an interesting experience! You'd get to focus on the taste, aroma and texture of the food, I bet. I'd try it once (if it weren't too expensive).

By: PinkStainlessTail

PinkStainlessTail — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:45:16 -0800

if it weren't too expensive Anything this gimmicky has to be wicked expensive (see also: that twat who invented the atomized shrimp cocktail).

By: breath

breath — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:45:18 -0800

....plus the feeling of food squshing between your fingers, dripping down your face, and dropping into your lap.

By: S.C.

S.C. — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:45:59 -0800

"It's twoo, it's twoo!"

By: bardic

bardic — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:48:55 -0800

But do they have ninjas?

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:49:09 -0800

This sounds like the perfect place to create a little mayhem. Do the waiters us IR goggles?

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:49:30 -0800

see, I guess how mind my works is a little different. I keep thinking it's a great place to have sex during dinner in a public place.

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:51:54 -0800

Is the dark room monitored by CCTV cameras? Yes, we do film the room with infrared cameras and keep records to ensure visitors' welfare and safety. Please be assured that we only watch the records in case of an incident or on customer request. Damn.

By: biffa

biffa — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:52:36 -0800

Hadn't this already been done with Berlin's Dunkel Restaurant? Or has the French one been there a while?

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:53:17 -0800

More evidence the French have too much time on their hands.

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:53:32 -0800

The waiters are all blind! Who on earth comes up with this crap?

By: shmegegge

shmegegge — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:53:37 -0800

In the dark It's just you and I Not a sound Ther's not one sigh Just the beet of my poor heart In the dark Now, in the dark, in the dark I get such a thrill When he presses his fingertips Upon my lips And he begs me to plase keep still In the dark But soon This dance will be endin' And you're gonna be missed Gee, I'm not pretendin' 'Cause I swear it's fun Fun to be kissed In the dark Now we will find What the rest Have left behind Just let them dance We're gonna find romance Lord, in the dark

By: zeoslap

zeoslap — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:53:55 -0800

It's in London... not France.

By: bardic

bardic — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:55:46 -0800

shmegegge, hand-jobs are available as either an apertif or a dessert.

By: IronLizard

IronLizard — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:56:09 -0800

It's in London... not France. There's two.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:57:06 -0800

There's one in London and one in Paris, I guess.

By: BitterOldPunk

BitterOldPunk — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 09:59:43 -0800

Do they serve cold spaghetti and then make you put your hand in it and say its some dead kid's guts? Oooo! Spooky! I like the fact that the waiters are all blind, though. That's actually very, very cool. I guess the drinks all come from the (lit) bar, as having a blind bartender would...well, I can't say that it can't be done, but it'd be a heck of a lot tougher than being a blind waiter. I mean, set one bottle down in the wrong place and you'd get some interestingly-flavored cocktails.

By: 2sheets

2sheets — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:05:01 -0800

Having eaten during a power blackout, and can say that putting food in my mouth without at least a cursory visual inspection does not interest me in the least.

By: empath

empath — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:09:19 -0800

Pictures?

By: breath

breath — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:14:36 -0800

Heh heh, they should have a gallery of completely black images, with different captions. That would be funny.

By: Lockjaw

Lockjaw — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:16:12 -0800

I think it would be enormously frustrating to go there. This seems to me to be a place maybe you'd go to only once. I wonder how they do on repeat business?

By: Smedleyman

Smedleyman — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:18:25 -0800

That'd be a nice swinger's club.

By: stirfry

stirfry — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:23:03 -0800

In the dark It's just you and I Not a sound Ther's not one sigh Just the ~~beet~~ rhubarb of my poor heart In the dark

By: Alvy Ampersand

Alvy Ampersand — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:28:31 -0800

On one hand, the customer in me thinks this is dumb. On the other, the former restaurant manager in me is thinking "Sweet! You'd never have to vacuum/polish glasses in there!".

By: freebird

freebird — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:43:09 -0800

Do the waiters us IR goggles? The waiters are blind. I have to admit my first reaction was like much of the above - what a silly gimmick. But it's kind of grown on me - the reversal with the blind, the focus on other senses - it's an interesting idea. Minor details of execution would make the boundary between "ridiculous gimmick" and "sublime experience" very narrow and fractal. It also seems like the kind of place that could be great the first few months, then decay.

By: mpk

mpk — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:50:04 -0800

Yes, but is the food any good?

By: Debaser626

Debaser626 — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:51:58 -0800

I think if you had a blind friend, SO, or family member, this would be an awesome shared experience. To walk a 1/10 of a mile in their shoes for one dinner. That said, for everyone else, I think this is the absolutely most ridiculous idea for a "dining" gimmick evar. Having eaten during a power blackout, and can say that putting food in my mouth without at least a cursory visual inspection does not interest me in the least. And, 2sheets, I completely agree with you. There's something that goes against every survival instinct in one's body to comsume that which you cannot see.

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:53:04 -0800

Now that's a brilliant idea

By: hazyjane

hazyjane — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:00:40 -0800

Well, what the hell, I'll bite. It's not expensive - the priciest menu they have is 37 euros. I just called to make a reservation and left a message. If they return my call in time, can take me for tomorrow night, and can accomodate a vegetarian, I'm there, and I'll report back here on how it was.

By: whir

whir — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:01:03 -0800

I'll have the chef's surprise.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:05:38 -0800

hazyjane, please do!

By: Ynoxas

Ynoxas — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:43:56 -0800

Stupid.

By: davejay

davejay — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:50:33 -0800

Halfway through, they turn on the lights and yell "Surprise!" -- and it turns out you're eating poo. I hang out with my kids too much

By: delmoi

delmoi — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:07:31 -0800

I read about something like that, billed as a "sensual experiance" happening in NYC in Salon once.

By: BobFrapples

BobFrapples — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:13:16 -0800

How about a restaurant where they serve you only pudding cups and apple slices and the servers all have Down's Syndrome? Makes about as much sense...

By: Debaser626

Debaser626 — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:18:34 -0800

How about a restaurant where they serve you only pudding cups and apple slices and the servers all have Down's Syndrome? Makes about as much sense... /wipes soda from screen HA! They could call it Dee Dee-Dees

By: spacewrench

spacewrench — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 12:38:07 -0800

How do we get the attention of our guide? You will call out their name.

I'd go if I could be assured of having a waiter named Marco. Marco! ... Polo! Marco! ... Polo!

By: tidecat

tidecat — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 13:02:04 -0800

great title, mr_crash_davis. Every once and a while it's fun and very stimulating to try to navigate your world sans vision. I've tested how handicapped-accessible different pedestrian environments are while wearing a blindfold. (with the assistance of sighted individuals, of course!) The experience was intense. It's one thing to walk around as a blindfolded individual in a role playing exercise, but something completely different to share a meal with others who are in the same boat. If such a restaurant were nearby I'd try it out in a flash.

By: tizzie

tizzie — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 13:02:16 -0800

A sexy review of one of these events.

By: darkstar

darkstar — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 13:52:49 -0800

tidecat, I've tried that. It makes for a very bizarre experience. A few years back, I wore a blindfold to bed so I could wake up and start my day without sight. Taking a shower, getting dressed, fixing breakfast was all a freaky experience. I hadn't planned what I'd do afterward, so I sat listening to the radio for a while until I realized there was just about nothing else of my regular saturday routine I could do without my vision (no reading, no watching tv, no driving anywhere, no cleaning). I was able to run a load of clothes, because I already knew what colors and fabrics my clothes were, by touch. After that, though, I was pretty much stymied for useful things I could do without either risking ruining something or getting myself hurt (I didn't cook anything for breakfast, for example). After 3 hours of this, I ended the experiment, realizing I'd be useless blind, until I made it through a pretty steep learning curve.

By: Keefa

Keefa — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:34:17 -0800

Going through my regular Web haunts, I was amazed to see this crop up on one of my most admired, and least updated, sites Michael Kelly's Page Of Misery.

By: Bugbread

Bugbread — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 15:45:52 -0800

I must be one of the only people who thinks this would be pretty cool.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 18:24:30 -0800

I did this last Halloween. There was a bistro in the west village that did a dark dinner - diners were given these really efficient blindfolds and led into the restaurant. The food was regular upscale bistro fare, very good actually, and they offered us aural treats between courses - a tapdancer, a recording of a thunderstorm, a reading, etc. It was completely fascinating. How you interact with dining companions when you can't see them (why was I still pointing?), how you react to food's tastes and textures (I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I was eating when served a cold shrimp app) - so much is dependent on sight. I have to say, it sounds goofy but it was really cool.

By: hazyjane

hazyjane — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 07:38:52 -0800

I called again and they're fully booked for tonight. I should be going in a week or so though - just need to coordinate with friends and call back to book a date further in advance. If anyone wants to read about the experience, email me and I'll write you back with a description of how it went.

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 17:39:37 -0800

I could have sworn there was someplace in Manhatten that was similiar. And of course, there's Candellas, which is only lit by candles. But there's still plenty of light to see what you're eating, and ordering, and whatnot. The concept of blind waiters is brilliant though. I love that. Were I in London, I would go and try it, I think it would be a fascinating experience. HazyJane, I'd love to hear a report. :)

By: dejah420

dejah420 — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 17:40:16 -0800

Manhattan, that is. Dur.

By: dd42

dd42 — Sat, 18 Mar 2006 21:04:59 -0800

Is there a photograph?

By: hazyjane

hazyjane — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 01:25:12 -0800

Ok, I finally went. It was really interesting. I figured it would be a bit silly, kind of fun, but that I wouldn't learn much. In fact, it was really interesting from a communication standpoint to have dinner with someone with no body language and no visual distractions to take away from the conversation and the food. Please excuse the self link, but here's my blog post: Dans le Noir

By: Misciel

Misciel — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 19:53:20 -0800

And what about safety? Evacuation in case of fire?? (Kinda hard to see the exits!) For that reason alone, I can't imagine Americans giving a pitch-dark restaurant the green light (as it were...) Sounds cool, though!