Dinner In The Dark

Kylie was adamant that we go to Dinner In The Dark during the week Katie was in Toronto. The idea of being taken into a restaurant in complete darkness, and trying to eat a meal, sounded a little wacky to me, but sure enough, we went along!

Upon arrival, we were seated in the foyer area which is decked out very much like something out of Cluedo. Here, we were shown the menu, and after time to decide, our orders were taken out here, including when we would like our beverages of choice brought to the table.

I'll admit I was a little anxious about how I would cope in total darkness, in a room I couldn't see, with presumably people moving all about and food and drinks being transported all around us. But it was actually totally fine.

Once our table was ready, our blind waitress came to collect us, lining us up behind each other, hands on shoulders. We were led to our table, and with very clear instructions, the layout was explained to us. Drinks to the right of our bread plate, which was in front of us.

As we sat, and felt around the table for our bread and a knife and the butter...ekk!..we could hear tables of other people around. The room is complete blackness, and so we had to rely on our hearing and imagination to construct the room layout for us.

Soon our meals arrived at the table, with no visual warning of course, and we started our three courses. Kylie was the braver of us, ordering the "surprise" entree and dessert, relying on her tastebuds to figure out what she was eating - she thought the first was a mushroom dish, and that sweets was a chocolate mousse (which our waitress later confirmed was also half raspberry!).

The concept of the restaurant is that without your sense of sight, all of your other senses such as smell and taste are enhanced, and thus, the food could be simple and yet amazing. I think the fact that we ate at the CN Tower then night before probably took away from this meal in the darkness, to be honest. But it was a good meal, and a very different experience.

I did learn that I very much enjoy food for the aesthetics, being that if it looks pretty, I am most likely going to be more excited about it. I also eat in a very segregated way, so not being able to see and direct different tastes to my fork one at a time took that away from me.

The eating experience was something so different, having to chase around beans or a portion of risotto around on a plate you could not see. I challenge anyone to do this without the aide of your hands!