Restaurants

I was surprised to find myself a little nervous before my visit to Dans Le Noir, perhaps due to the inevitability of making a dining faux pas. On arrival my fears were vanquished by the friendly welcome of the staff in the bar and the explanation of the dining experience. Looking around at the faces of the other guests waiting to be led to the dining room I gathered that I wasn't the only one who was apprehensive! Our guide, D, was a bit of a dude and with a smile a mile wide he led myself, my boyfriend and another couple through the curtains and into 'le noir'. After a bit of fumbling around to position myself correctly at the table and some slightly nervous chatter with the couple seated next to us on our table, we were handed our wine and the meal began. I became a bit of a pro at pouring wine into the tumblers provided, using my finger as a measure, and jokes and banter were soon flying around our table. As we were on of the first tables seated, it was quite disorientating not being able to figure out how large a room we were in. I thankfully was next to a wall which steadied my wildly flailing special awareness and as the room filled you began to get a sense of the surroundings.
The food arrived and was better than expected – I had previously read some pretty scathing reviews about the standard of it – and we tucked into it with aplomb. I abandoned my knife in preference of a fork-in-right-hand-left-hand-finds-food-on-plate approach which served me well. I neglected to mention to my boyfriend that my left hand was also my ‘wine measure’ hand but he didn’t seem to notice any bits of food in his wine. Phew.
The main course was a little on the lukewarm side but was perfectly edible if a little difficult to identify! (As it happened there were three kinds of meat on my plate which I blame for throwing me off a little) By this time your eyes had stopped attempting to adjust and you felt almost normal at the table. A trip to the toilet soon put paid to my new found comfort as the lights out in the corridor, dim as they were, were quite painful after the utter darkness of the dining room and my return to my chair, with D’s help (despite my head-butting him – sorry D) was a relief.
Dessert was delicious and when our wine was empty we headed back up to the bar with D leading the way in the now familiar conga style.
We were shown what we had eaten in a little picture book. Some of the dishes came as a complete surprise, some were met with comments of ‘I knew it!’ or ‘Yes I was right, you were wrong’ but all with a realisation of how much the sighted rely on the aesthetics of food to add to their enjoyment and how when this is removed, your other senses get more of a look-in.
All in all an evening to remember!

The experience was unique and the comfort of being in the company of someone (our waiter) who could look after us if we needed it was special. The long tables unfortunately mean that there are many voices surrounding your own conversation with your friends/loved ones. Final note is that I felt the dinner went by quickly even though it was 3 course meal. However, the total rate stands at a perfect 10.