[bookshare-discuss] OT: Fwd: Fw: An interesting dining experience.
- From: Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, bookshare-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 12:02:44 -0800 (PST)
I found this a wonderful concept and an knteresting
article and thought I'd foward it.
Cindy
--- Louise <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: "Louise" <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "Louise Gourdoux" <bookscanner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Fw: An interesting dining experience.
> Date: Thu, 2 Mar 2006 09:19:01 -0600
>
> We need a place like this in Wisconsin, maybe in Eau
> Claire?? Chippewa
> Falls?? Cornell??? Ladysmith?? Maybe even
> Holcombe?? Sheldon??
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/restaurants/story/0,,1721065,00.html?gusrc=rss
>
>
> Dining in the dark
>
> Dans Le Noir has all the attributes you'd expect
> from a good restaurant:
> great service and delicious mains finished off with
> a tasty dessert. Except
> you'll be eating in pitch darkness. Liane Katz
> reports
>
> Wednesday March 1, 2006
>
> Dans Le Noir restaurant
> Hold on: diners are led into the blacked out dining
> room at Dans Le Noir.
> Photograph: Dans Le Noir
>
> As the early spring sunshine warmed my cheeks, it
> felt even more unnatural
> to want to closet myself away in the culinary
> equivalent of a photographic
> dark room to indulge in London's latest gastro
> experience. But this
> lunchtime I had the privilege of being the first
> customer at Dans Le Noir, a
> new and challenging eaterie in Farringdon.
>
> Diners eat (or attempt to) in absolute darkness -
> mobile phones and even
> digital watches must be left outside - and are
> physically guided around and
> served by visually impaired staff. The idea is to
> raise awareness about
> blindness and turn the tables on society's attitudes
> to disability. Fully
> sighted visitors must put all their faith in the
> staff, who are seen as
> disadvantaged in the outside world, but have the
> upper hand here by knowing
> their way around every inch of the restaurant.
>
> I wondered if not seeing the food or its
> presentation would affect my
> appetite and my enjoyment of the meal. And would it
> really be possible to
> have a proper catch-up with a friend over lunch when
> I couldn't even see her
> face? As my dining companion is heavily pregnant,
> the waiters would be
> presented with the additional challenges of more
> frequent (escorted) visits
> to the Ladies, a ban on raw eggs, goats' cheese and
> the like, and the
> imperative not to bump us into anything en route
> around the dining room.
>
> After placing our order and locking up our coats,
> bags and phones in the
> fully lit bar area, we were led, clutching each
> other's shoulders, down a
> dimly lit corridor. The occasional red ceiling
> lights were designed to
> prepare our eyes for the total blackout of the
> dining room. Now I'm not
> claustrophobic, but I admit to having felt slightly
> sick as we were led
> through the thick black curtains and encouraged to
> grope for our chairs. All
> the table-top apparel was right in front of us -
> somewhere. But which was
> the wine glass and where on earth was the bread?
>
> Much awkward giggling and self-conscious
> conversation followed and I
> wondered what on earth it would be like to hold a
> true blind date here. As
> we fumbled around attempting to pour out the water
> and tuck into the bread
> we gradually got our bearings, but we did constantly
> pick up each other's
> glasses. One colleague had suggested I bring a bib
> along and I was beginning
> to think he might have a point.
>
> We had opted for the ultimate challenge of the
> surprise menu, so would have
> to guess what each dish was, lurking somewhere
> straight ahead. The starters
> were easy - lovely crunchy asparagus, which could be
> picked up and shovelled
> in with a bit of wiping of hands to remove the slimy
> hollandaise sauce. I
> briefly flirted with a fork, but kept getting it
> upside down, so I downed
> tools. There is a childlike fun to be had in jabbing
> your fingers all over
> the plate, feeling the different temperatures and
> textures.
>
> The main course was trickier, though just as
> delicious: I guessed cod (it
> was bream) and identified a great big sloppy chunk
> as a slice of aubergine.
> Braving
> cutlery, much to my friend's disgust, I found a
> combined scooping action of
> fork from the left and knife from the right was best
> when attacking a pile
> of potatoes dauphinoise. I was beginning to relax
> and lose the apprehensive
> rollercoaster feeling, but it still felt strange to
> be talking about the
> usual gossip in such unfamiliar surroundings and in
> the heightened hearing
> of fellow diners.
>
> Staff say that one phenomenon in their sister
> restaurant in Paris, which has
> been open for 18 months, is that diners lose their
> preconceptions and
> inhibitions and strike up conversation with
> neighbours further down the long
> bench tables. Luckily for them, the other diners in
> attendance today were
> not within range of our awkward wine-pouring or fish
> flicking, but I can see
> that having picked up and swilled from a neighbour's
> wine glass in error I
> would be more ready to introduce myself and
> apologise.
>
> Dessert was a lovely apple tarte tatin accompanied
> by a mysteriously
> fragrant ice cream. Could it be mint or eucalyptus?
> I couldn't place it and
> would never have guessed lavender, but was happy
> enough using a pincer
> technique of spoon and fingers to get it to my
> mouth.
>
> We had survived without too much spillage and it was
> time to go - but how
> would we get out? The answer was to call one of the
> waiters for a
> shoulder-led exit. Happily back in the daylight, I
> reflected on the overall
> experience.
> Was this just another gimmick?
>
> Undoubtedly Dans Le Noir (French for "In the dark")
> provides a novelty
> dining experience but I was glad I had submitted to
> the challenge. I had a
> far greater appreciation of lives led permanently in
> the dark, but had also
> had a delicious meal.
>
> The concept of dinner in the dark dates back to the
> 18th century, according
> to founder of the chain Edouard de Broglie, when
> charitable foundations
> organised them in France and Switzerland to promote
> awareness about
> blindness. In the last 18 months, some 60,000 diners
> have passed through his
> Paris restaurant's heavy curtains, ranging from
> students to the French prime
> minister. Many blind people have also visited with
> their families, he says,
> to share their experience of life in darkness.
>
> But De Broglie stresses that though his restaurants
> will donate 10% of their
> annual profits to charity, his aim is to prove that
> conventional businesses
> can actually make money by employing disabled staff
> rather than providing
> charity. "This is not a charity and we're proud of
> that," he told me. "Blind
> people come don't come here for charity they come
> for proper work."
>
> Further information
> Dans Le Noir Restaurant, Bar & Lounge is at 30-31
> Clerkenwell Green, London.
> 020 7253 1100
> danslenoir.com
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
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