|
I’M SEATED COMFORTABLY IN
DANS LE NOIR, one of the scores of
restaurants littering the Centre
Pompidou side of Paris’ fourth
arrondissement. Across from me, I
can hear my dinner companions’ empty fork
scratch his plate. I can feel the woman beside me
giggle like a six year old with a secret. I have no
idea what I’ve ordered and when it arrives, the
texture and smell stick out in my mind more than
the actual taste of the food. In Paris, this is just
like dining in any other place, except for one small
difference. We’re eating in complete, liquid pitch
darkness, literally dans le noir, in the black . Dans
Le Noir is Paris’ social and culinary experiment: a
restaurant designed to emulate the dining experience
of the blind, manned entirely by a blind waitstaff.
Here, cell phones, watches, lighters, and
anything else that can produce light is checked at
the door and patrons experience a two to three
course meal without the benefit of knowing
where, and in some cases, what, they’re eating.
Welcome to one of the most surreal educational
experiences Europe has to offer.
Dans Le Noir is divided into three parts, a lit
bar/lobby where overpriced cocktails are bought,
dinner orders are placed, and patrons catch a last
fleeting glimpse of their company before entry, a
lit lounge occasionally hosting a guest speaker
and featuring all too metaphoric photos of people
covering their eyes (so much for French subtlety),
and the 60-seater restaurant, the likes of which
patrons never actually see. The menu also comes
in one of two varieties, the visible Menu au Choix
which gives you a choice between four appetizers,
four entrees, and four desserts (33 Euros for three
courses, 27 for two) or the Menu Surprise which,
just like it sounds, is a complete gastronomic surprise
(33 Euros for the full meal, 25 for two
rounds). We placed our orders, three of the four
of us opting for the Menu Surprise, and waited by
the door until our dinner guide straightened us
into single-file, hand-holding lines, and led us
through curtains to our table.
The experience of suddenly walking into a place
that is darker than anything you’ve ever seen
before is jarring in and of itself. The experience of
spending a two and a half hour meal immersed in
what I would imagine a space void feels like is terrifying,
disorienting, exotic, and tranquil all at the
same time. Our dinner party summed it up well,
“It’s not so much dark as it is just nothing.” Being
without the ability to visually judge or be judged
gives way to a sort of childish liberation where
you can freely make faces at your dinnermates or
scratch yourself anywhere you choose without
anyone being the wiser. We giggled at people
who dropped their utensils. We announced in
overcompensatingly loud voices that we were
flicking each other off. We talked about the seedy
deeds that could be going on in the restaurant
that very moment. For a split second, the restaurant
felt like a clandestine tree house only we
knew the password for, that is, until food arrived.
Armed with little more than our fingertips, we
shoveled empty forks into our mouths time after
time after time, we tried in vain to cut meat with
the dull side of our knives, we dropped food on
the floor, we dropped food on the table, we
dropped food on each other.
At no point in my adult life have I ever felt so unexpectedly
dependent for the most simplistic of
needs. How can I pour a glass of water without
spilling? Where is the meat actually located on this
plate? Are my eyes open or closed? Are other people
even here or is this just someone’s TV set in the
background? Why do I feel so alone? Can you
imagine life like this? These questions are the overriding
mission of Dans Le Noir and the silliness, the
helplessness, the quiet contemplation are all as
much a part of your meal as the dishes themselves.
Dans Le Noir isn’t just a restaurant, it’s an experiential
lesson using food as a medium. Dishes
came and went, phantom people passed by, life
somewhere out in the shapeless black continued
without our awareness as to who or what was conducting
it. We fumbled through dessert and we
listened with newfound appreciation as our blind
escort gracefully guided dishes back to the
kitchen, then shuffled us out of the restaurant.
We stood in the dimly lit antechamber, letting our
eyes slowly get used to the light once again.
LOWDOWN: |