Paris:
51 rue Quincampoix
London:
30 Clerkenwell Green EC1R
Barcelona:
10 Paseo Picasso
(coming also to New York City in September)
Friends invited me for a weekend in Paris to celebrate birthday in a distinctly different way this year. The trip on the Eurostar aside - without any problems or delays! - the all-inclusive weekend included 2 nights in great location, 2 fabulous meals and lots of entertainment (and a beautiful cake).
On Friday evening we checked into DANS LE NOIR? in the 4th Arrondissement at 7PM, with a table for our group (consisting variably between five and nine people) reserved until 2AM. And good golly, did time fly.
The peculiarity of DANS LE NOIR? restaurants (to my knowledge they are also in London, Barcelona, Brussels, New York and Berlin) is that the dining area is in complete darkness, and the staff legally blind (not the kitchen staff!). That puts the waiters more on equal footing with the blinded-by-the-darkness patrons, if not even at a more advantageous position. After all, they know the interior of the locale and can negotiate their way around much more confidently and by causing far less collateral damage than any of us.
Image on the left:
Our group of six being served dinner by 2 waitresses.
What helped was that we were a group; bumping into one another or accidental touching during dining did not cause a ruckus or stern looks (or maybe it did, I just couldn't see). I did not know in advance where the dinner was to take place, and even during the (great) cocktails, mainly Jasmine Mojitos and Gin Canellas, it didn't 'dawn' on me that dinner will be in complete darkness.
What an experience it was, however! Your senses play havoc, sounds become louder, smells and taste more subtle yet stronger. The food is ordered by picking the right colour of the menu: white for the chef's surprise (in the end, because of the invisibility of the meal, pretty much everything was a surprise); blue for seafood, green for vegetarian (none in our group chose that one) and red for meat eaters.
At times our evening was totally hilarious. The initial tentativeness gave way to utter amusement and entertainment, as for hours we not only talked about and to each other at the table, but mysterious voices from around joined in or we replied to complete strangers sitting nearby, mistakenly assuming we're chatting with one of "us." As I habitually order seafood in 7 out of 10 cases, I was also served a bottle of white wine. A blessing, because how do you figure out in darkness when the glass is full? As it turned out I dipped a finger into the glass and sensed how far the chilled wine poured into the glass. Others had red wine, at room temperature, and "fingering" did not work all the time, leading to some spills on the table.
We gave up guessing what we actually ate, but revelled over the great taste. The idea to let someone taste from your plate and reciprocate was quickly abandoned: to look for, and to find another plate (without knocking over glasses) and to 'dig around' to lift the other's meal proved from the start an insurmountable obstacles course. I felt sorry later on for the wife of one of my friends, however: her complaint that the portion of her meal had been rather small considering the price was not shared by anyone else. She might read here today the 'innocent' explanation: I had helped myself generously to what I believe was a moussaka dish on her plate... LOL
All in all, it was an incredibly fun evening, with some senses sharpened to an extent one wouldn't think to possess. Laughter and light conversation went on throughout the time we had spent there, and continued into the early morning at another venue in the City of Lights.
Even though there is a DANS LE NOIR? restaurant in London I feel no temptation to try that one (OK, I would, with the One...). British food tastes mysteriously enough already when visible, and to try out something English without first scrutinizing it by visual inspection constitutes an act of too much bravery than I can muster.
Current Music: NAJOUA BELYZEL - - Gabriel [Cliquez sur "Gabriel" pour écouter la chanson]
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