Dans Le Noir

• Review
• Tuesday, September 16, 2008

In 2004 Edouard de Broglie and Etienne Boisrond opened up a restaurant in Paris where they served up a three course meal in a pitch-black dining room. Within months, it was a dining sensation.

So it came to London.

I had read about this concept a while back and when I first got to London, I really wanted to try it. My culinary partner in crime shot down the idea immediately. However, when her brother-in-law booked the place for her sister’s birthday, she had no choice in but to go.

In a nutshell, the concept is that by dining in the dark your sense of taste is heightened and should allow you to experience the food in a different way. You get a choice of menus (anything goes, no seafood or vegetarian) and a choice of courses ( 2 or 3). Apart from that, you don’t really know what you’re eating until it’s over.

So here are some highlights from our night at Dans Le Noir:

•    Of our party of four, one us had a really bad claustrophobic reaction and had to leave immediately. I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to stay. She came back after calming her nerves with one more drink at the bar. She kept her eyes closed the entire time.
•    Pouring wine in the dark is damn hard.
•    Using a knife and fork in the dark is hard. No surprise that I ate most of my meal with my hands.
•    Despite the fact that your sense of taste is supposed to be sharpened, the folks at Dans Le Noir didn’t seem to put much emphasis on the food. It was not horrible, but not really worth the £40 for a 3 course meal.
•    After the first course, I was so disoriented that I got really nauseous and almost threw up.
•    We’d all had enough after the second course and left.
•    I threw up when I got home.

While it was certainly a really interesting experience, I don’t reckon I’ll go again. I do recommend it for those of you who are looking for a different experience and have about 50 quid to burn.