Blind for one hour !

Have you ever imagined how it is to be blind and not be able to see anything? Sounds a bit scary and I was always a bit afraid of thinking about those kind of things, but a long time ago I heard about the restaurant with no lights served by blind people and I was curious to try. This experience is so different that its not easy to describe.

The restaurant “Dinner in the Dark” in KL is very spatial and with a modern, industrial design. When you arrive they explain to you the rules which are basically : full surprise with the menu, you follow all your senses except sight, no light and no cameras inside. At the beginning they prepare you for the main attraction with a little game. First you receive a complimentary drink and your task is to guess the ingredients, then you put the blindfold on and try to find pin clips in the bowl with rice inside. This is to practice manual activities before you won’t see anything. After passing the “test”, the blind waiter picks you up and leads you downstairs to the restaurant.

The first moment of entering the darkness is very uncomfortable and even following a person who knows the place I was scared of walking. You can see literally nothing. The waiter indicates the place to sit holding your hand and after that you need to trust only your intuition and the rest of senses. Every time the waiter comes to serve a dish he is giving the detailed description of the dish’s location and which dish you should start eating first.

The whole dinner contains a few small appetisers, a main course and few small deserts plus drinks. Each dish has a unique, intensive taste and I wonder if this intensity is caused by stronger taste sense (because of lack of sight) or they are just meant to be “sharp”. I was trying to guess the ingredients and imagine how the dishes look like. I am happy that nobody could see anything because my eating style probably looked very primitive (to make sure I didn’t miss any part of the dish or to put the stuff into my mouth many times I needed support of my fingers and… both hands). I am also sure I looked very clumsy and helpless…

The service was very professional, natural and I truly admire their skills and intuition. Their easiness in everything they do makes me feel touched and impressed. Although you can’t see anything and you worry about spilling wine and making your clothes dirty, the experience is amazing and thought – provoking.

The biggest surprise though, comes when you leave the dining part (with the help of the waiter of course) and outside (already with light) they give you the list of the dishes you have just eaten. I won’t let the menu out, so I keep the dishes for myself, but this is definitely the funniest part of the experience. I knew I can be wrong with ingredients, but with the texture ?!

For all people that love new experiences and are empathic I recommend the dinner in the dark to open the mind and appreciate all senses that make life easy, beautiful and colourful.