Over the summer, I visited a restaurant that changed my perspective on the way we experience food and the world. It was called Dans le Noir?, which means “in the night” in French. The restaurant describes itself as a “unique sensory experience,” as your meal is served in pitch black. You truly can’t see anything around you, giving you a deeper understanding of how the visually impaired experience the world.
The waiters are all visually impaired, and they lead the team. You place your hand on their shoulder, and they guide you through curtains to and from your seat and table. Our awe-inspiring waiters made moving around and understanding the space seem effortless, though surely it was not. Personally, surrounded by complete darkness, I struggled to wrap my head around the space around me, feeling to find a wall, my utensils, the shape of the chair. I felt clunky and awkward. I’ll never truly know what everything looked like, but the point wasn’t to figure out what the environment visually looked like. The point was to discover the strengths of your other senses: touch, hearing, smell and taste.
Through hearing, I was able to converse with others at my table and figure out who was sitting next to me and across from me. The room was constantly filled with laughter and conversations were lively. Through touch, I made sense of the table setting in front of me and learned a technique for pouring water from our waiters. Smell and taste worked hand-in-hand. You don’t know before the experience what the foods will be; the dishes are a surprise. As food was placed in front of me, I had to figure out what I was eating, which was harder than I thought it would be. Another unexpectedly difficult task was figuring out how to put the food on the fork without seeing where it was on the plate.
There were three dishes: an appetizer, a main and a dessert. My dishes were all vegetarian, however, I know others at the table opted to have fish and meat too. Each dish also had unique combinations of flavors, so there were many ingredients that you wouldn’t expect. I remember guessing I tasted raspberry and jicama when they were actually blackberry and mustard seed pickles. Our dessert, a basil strawberry pequillo, was filled with multiple textures and layers. My main dish was a risotto, and I guessed rice. The flavors used were exceptionally refined and especially interesting when your taste sense is sharpened.
Dans le Noir? is located in 13 different locations in Europe, Oceania and Africa. I went to the one in Geneva. I loved that not only was I practicing how to use my other senses, but it was an opportunity to practice my French. While making your way around the room, the waiters would speak to you in French, saying à gauche and à droite (to the left and to the right).
As I am not visually impaired, I could never fully understand the experience of those who are. However, this experience helps you to put yourself in other people’s shoes. We were there only for a couple hours, and it was such a different way to experience the world than I have known. Our visually impaired waiters had so many impressive abilities that I do not have. Their disability is a superpower too.
If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend going to Dans le Noir?. The question mark in the restaurant’s name speaks to the curiosity element that is a part of understanding others’ ways of living while exploring your other senses and the unique flavors in front of you.
