What, pitch black? Complete darkness? How can you see what you're eating? It's unavoidable: these are the first things you'll be asked when you tell someone you've eaten at Dans Le Noir. But with a dining experience as intense and unique as this, you'll be more than happy to describe it, over and over, as often as you're asked.

The Venue

Dans Le Noir is a restaurant and bar where you eat your food in total, utter and complete darkness. Not dimly lit; not just with the lights out; but in a blackout. You might as well close your eyes for all the use they are.

Upon arrival you can stow your belongings in a locker and have a drink in the bar area. You are assigned a table number, and wait to be called. When your table is ready you join a group of other people and stand in a crocodile, hands on each other's shoulders, before being led into the restaurant area by a guide, all of whom are blind, and totally at home - in stark contrast to your growing discombobulation.

You're seated with a group of other people, and told where your napkin, cutlery and glasses are, and left to get on with it.

The Atmosphere
At first, the overriding sensation is actually one of fear. It's utterly disorientating; not only can you not see the people around you, or the table, or the room itself, but neither do you have an existing mental picture of your surroundings to orient yourself with. Quickly, though, you begin to talk to the people around you and to build a picture of your immediate environment.

After a couple of hours you're not exactly at home with it, but you do miss your mouth less often; and, brought together by a Blitz-style camaraderie, you will have had conversations with strangers you'd never normally have.

The Food
Dans Le Noir offers two dining experiences; you can choose your own dishes from a set menu, or you can opt, as 80% of diners do, to eat blind. This is by far the most fun; it's remarkable how different things taste when you can't see them. For instance, a sliver of sashimi-style barracuda is not unlike a cold, sauteed slice of Cep mushroom.

Once the initial disorientation has worn off and you're a little more at home you start to notice how intense flavours become; strawberries, for instance, become the most strawberryish things you could possibly imagine - strawberries in stereo, as one fellow-diner had it. The main difficulty lies in knowing when you've finished everything on your plate.

The Last Word
There is something utterly remarkable about Dans Le Noir. It's not just eating in the dark; it's the closest you can come to a total brain reboot without taking some serious Class A drugs. It's exhilarating, exhausting, and everybody should do it once.

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