This Restaurant is Bringing People Closer to the Visually Impaired

This unique restaurant which urges you to ‘dine in the dark’ will throw light on the world of the visually impaired.

I’ve recently had what can be described as one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life.

I just dined in the dark and it opened my eyes...

What is dining in the dark, you ask? The basic concept is that the removal of vision enhances the other senses and increases gastronomic pleasure.

I experienced this in Bangkok at a restaurant called Dine in the Dark at the Sheraton Grande Sukumvit. Here’s how it works.

The hostess meets you to explain the concept and ask you your food preferences, allergies if any, etc. Once that’s done a visually impaired server – in our case the warm and friendly New – led us into the dark dining room.

You put your hands on his shoulder and you enter his world.... Where it’s pitch dark and can be rather unnerving. Don’t panic though, because it will turn out to be an experience of a lifetime!

Of Meals Without Visuals

You can’t see a thing, and as you walk “blindly” you kind of understand what it might mean to be blind...

Once we were seated, New told us to feel our crockery and cutlery in front of us. As you start getting an idea of the things on your table, the appetiser arrives.

Looking down (so to speak), you realise that you are going to be eating only with your sense of touch, smell and taste. There is no visual that will accompany this meal! So we touched, smelled and savoured our food – all the while trying to guess what it was.

The guesswork gets over post dinner when you’re shown photos of your meal and it’s rather funny to figure that the squishy thing you thought was seafood was actually a mushroom.

By the time the soup came we were comfortable enough to chat with New. He told us how he enjoyed his job because he met new people everyday and learned something new from each one. I was just amazed at his positivity and enthusiasm for the job.

While we dined we could hear the murmurs of our fellow diners but not see them – which is a strange experience in a restaurant. All one needed to do here was to focus on one’s companion, one’s food and oneself. Which, of course, means no #foodporn pictures for Instagram or surreptitiously checking your messages while you eat (because you’re asked to switch off your phones and remove any luminous watches when you enter).

One table celebrated a birthday where a cake was cut without candles. We all sang Happy Birthday to that stranger in the dark.

A Brief Glimpse Into the World of the Visually Impaired

Once the meal was over and we came out into the light again, I was suddenly overwhelmed by what I’d just experienced.

We stood outside in the brightness taking pictures with New, thanking him for taking care of us so well. As he turned to go back into the darkness, I looked towards my 13-year-old daughter – and found her in tears. I sat down next to her, my eyes brimming as well, knowing exactly how she was feeling.

She turned to me and said, “Mumma, we were in the darkness for an hour maybe, but that’s his life and he’ll never know what it’s like otherwise!” I merely nodded in agreement, not wanting to give her any life lessons about how we should count our blessings or feel inexplicably glad for the fact that she was such an empathetic soul... It all seemed rather irrelevant when we were having a moment that was going to stay in our minds for a long time.

So I urge you to go Dine in the Dark.

Not only because it’s something “different” to try out in a hedonistic world where we’re constantly seeking newness – but also because you’ll be part of an experience where you’ll witness the dignity with which a visually impaired person is earning a living for himself.

It will impact you in a profound manner.

(Essentially actor. Full time mom. Part time dreamer. Sporadic blogger at This, That & the Other. Regular foodie who loves to travel.)