Dining In The Dark

One highlight of our dining experiences in Siagon was the restaurant Noir, which we visited on the last evening before flying to Koh Samui, Thailand. Noir is an experience which they call "dining in the dark," and it is exactly that. Upon finding the restaurant at the end of an otherwise nameless alley, we were greeted and taken to a room where they explained that we would be eating in complete blackness and served by blind people (we knew this ahead of time but had kept this detail from the kids). They took our drink order, brought us some bread and also brought each of us a simple wooden puzzle with 9 different shapes that one might present to a two year old. We were blindfold and told to complete the puzzle. Doing it purely by touch is more challenging than one might expect. After we all completed this exercise they brought out a bowl filled with rice and some paper clips and explained that we were to remove the 4 paperclips in the rice - while blindfolded. We all thought this would be super easy and we were all super wrong. It proved to be incredibly challenging and we asked why. Our host explained that sight makes up more than 50% of our senses with the other four senses making up a combined 50%. When vision is taken away, our brains struggle to do other tasks. 

Family puzzle time - blind-folded!

Who's surprised that he's still the fastest puzzler with a blindfold?

G testing Dad to make sure he truly can't see

After these exercises we were taken to a different room where we were instructed to put our hands on each other's shoulders and follow our blind waiter to our table. We were lead through a seashell like chamber that opened to a room that was pitch black with tables of other guests dining in the dark also. We couldn't see our own hands! Our waiter seated us at our table and gave us some instructions about our beverage glasses and silverware location. At the beginning this was all very disorienting and we were concerned about having actual glass cups and the mess that we were going to make of ourselves and possibly the evening. Our eyes were trying to work, but without the slightest light available, they served no purpose. 

The meal consisted of three courses.  Our first course was served to each of us on a plate consisting of four small bowls, each with its own soup.  The chef was creatively amazing and combined ingredients in unique ways, so we struggled to figure out all of the ingredients of what we were eating, but had fun guessing!  Our second course was another plate with four bowls each containing a different food item.  One bowl consisted of a thick duck stew, another pork belly with chocolate mashed potatoes and bananas, the third bowl contained vegetables and the final bowl was filled with a roast and potatoes.  Our final course was a dessert plate with 3 different bowls, one containing a bacon crumbled sea salt caramel ice cream, another bowl held a pear and cream tart, and finally there was a fried chocolate and nut dough ball.

When we were done eating, we were led out of the dark room and to another area where the owner came and showed us pictures on an iPad of the foods we had eaten as he explained each of the courses and talked to us about our experience.  This was an interesting personal touch to complete the evening. As we reflected on the night, we were relieved that no one had to go to the bathroom during our dinner.  We all agreed that this had truly been an experience in understanding life from a different perspective, not only in our struggles through dinner, but in the way that we were served and how things were ordered and placed "just so" for our blind server to be able to do his job well.  We observed that time felt different when we couldn't see - it felt like our meal lasted several hours when in reality it was maybe an hour and a half at most.  We were encouraged that the kids had good attitudes about this, even our picky eater, who was willing to try most foods.  Dad had the extra adventure of not only feeding himself but helping our daughter who was a trooper to play along.  And we had some laughs when a child would burp or do or say something inappropriate, and mom realized how much she gives a "knowing" facial expression, which in this case, made absolutely no difference!  It was also funny when our daughter dropped her fork somewhere, and there was no way we were going to find it!  We all moved much slower and more intentionally as we weren't sure if we were going to set something out of place or knock over a glass of water - the results being much more severe in this setting.  We were grateful for this unique restaurant which provides work for blind people in the Saigon area, who often are unable to find jobs.  This restaurant is teaching them a trade, helping them to learn English, and giving them confidence as they do their jobs well, all while providing an educational and enjoyable dinner experience for guests.