The Blind Cafe - fascinating dining experience

[bae]

I had a fascinating dining experience the other day - if these folks ever pop up in your area, it's worth an evening of your time:

http://theblindcafe.com/

The environment created for the event had absolutely no light. Not just "dark". I mean dark as in deep in a cave dark, not a stray photon to be found. The night I went, there were 8 tables of 12 people, plus servers, plus a 4-piece band, and 2-3 supervisory types, to the environment was quite acoustically busy.

Imagine the challenge of sitting down in front of a full dinner setting, and not being able to see the plates, silverware, glasses, contents of the plates, and so on... "Pass the bread please" is a bit of a team effort.

It was a pleasant change from being in such environments wearing protective gear doing heavy work, and the food and conversation were better as well.

Very good learning experience if you are claustrophobic or whatnot, as I am :-)

[iris lilies]

That sounds very interesting indeed!

We have pop ups around here, but have not had a blind event that I know of.

Our local wine bar has pop-up "dorm room" dinner events where the well known chefs in the city make food that can be prepared with very cimple equipment, like that found in a dorm room.

[catherine]

Wow.. that sounds awesome--from a standpoint of a social experience and a sensory experience.

They say the food is not just taste, but all five senses. I love the part of one of Gordon Ramsey's shows where he makes the chefs wear blindfolds and tell him what the food is--the success rate is ridiculously low! Even for food professionals. Just goes to show you how important your other senses are in terms of the total experience.

I've also read studies where they put different labels on a wine bottle and it's the same wine and people score the wine completely differently.

I would love to go to the Blind Cafe.

[razz]

DD1 attended a restaurant noted for the blind dining with a group of friends and they were told that the waiters are legally blind and try to help the diners understand the experience of being blind.
She didn't think that she would do this again as the food was so-so but would you do this again, Bae, and why?

[IshbelRobertson]

I went to a similar restaurant in Germany, about 10 years ago. I can't say I enjoyed it.

[bae]

She didn't think that she would do this again as the food was so-so but would you do this again, Bae, and why?

I would absolutely do it again. The food was decent enough, but to be fair, the reason I went was professional - as I mentioned above, I'm a bit claustrophobic, and often have to operate in an confusing and immediately hazardous to life environment which is completely dark, or nearly-so, while carrying heavy equipment and doing dangerous work. This was great desensitizing and training for me, and allowed me to focus on the darkness/sensory issues without also risking killing myself or team mates :-)

[Weston]

Not for me. I have come to accept that I can't be monitoring the kitchen staff for cleanliness and hygiene. I would at least like to be able to keep an eye on the wait staff.