Gather a pile of napkins, wear clothes that won’t show a dribble or miss-hit, and let go of lurking childhood fears. These are all necessary preparations for an elegant, three-course meal—in the dark.
Dining in the dark is not a romantic dinner by candlelight. It is eating in pitch dark—as in you can’t see your fork or your companion’s face. In 1999, the trend migrated from Zurich, Switzerland, where the concept began as a way to create jobs for blind and handicapped people. Since then it has surfaced in at least twenty European cities, four U.S. cities, and in Canada, Australia, and China.
Turn Out the Lights, Turn Up the Flavor
Depriving one’s eyesight, the theory goes, will heighten other senses. The Web site for the Unsicht-Bar, a small chain of restaurants in Germany, describes dining in the dark as “abandoning your visual impulses … to experience what wonderful work your other senses are capable of. Feel a gentle breeze. Feel the things on your table. Let your nose explore unknown horizons and experience pure taste without any visual pretence. A genuine sensory rush!” The Unsicht-Bar takes the dark seriously, banning flashlights, watches, and mobile phones.
Like the German restaurants, Opaque, a chain in San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles, maintains the authenticity of the idea and hires all blind servers who guide diners to their table in the inky blackness.
Dark Dining Projects in New York is held at rotating restaurants, most frequently at Camaje, and is not staffed by blind waiters. Instead the diners wear blindfolds, lowering the fear factor but also increasing the chance of peeking. At Whale Inside Dark Restaurant in Beijing, the servers wear military-grade night vision goggles. There, the dark serves another purpose for Chinese who tend to be shy, according to the proprietor. It not only intensifies patrons’ senses, but also acts as a social stimulant, lowering their inhibitions. The restaurant is a hot spot for Internet daters.
The restaurants that rely on goggles and blindfolds are likely to inhibit frisky customers. But at least one reviewer of a Canadian truly dark restaurant suggested that the couple next to hers was enjoying more than just their food.
