Want To Dine In The Dark? Dialogue In The Dark Will Make It Happen

Dialogue In The Dark is more than just a concept restaurant, and invites you to re-examine the everyday experience of dining out like you’ve never done before.

Before entering the restaurant, I placed all my belongings in a storage locker — absolutely no cellphones allowed! Once I was inside, the doors were shut, enveloping me in total darkness. I was then greeted by my server, Radha, who led me down a long hallway. Perhaps the most unnerving thing about not being able to see the ground was the constant fear that I would fall.

After I was seated, the realisation of how dark it truly was set in — I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or shut without reaching up and feeling them.

The menu changes on a daily basis and is kept secret from diners. You can choose from a selection of three appetisers, or a three-course meal, both available in vegetarian and non-vegetarain options. My three appetiser meal consisted of nine pieces of kebabs {or so my bumbling fingers told me}, which I half-managed to guess were chicken lasooni, chicken tikka and chicken 65. The kebabs were tender, and surprisingly very filling. Since sight plays an integral role in any meal, being deprived of this sense only served to heighten my smell and taste, forcing me to experience the food like I never had before.

An international concept, Dialogue In The Dark’s main aim is to raise awareness about visual impairment. The waitstaff is made up exclusively of blind men and women, as the restaurant provides them a safe space to work in an everyday type of job — something which is otherwise inaccessible. If you’re looking to learn more, check out their exhibition right next door.

Probably the most fun aspect of this experience was that no one in the restaurant knew what I was doing! I decided to eat with my hands rather than cutlery, and licked my fingers without a care in the world! While the food was nothing to write home about, definitely go for the learning experience. It’s so rare to encounter someone else’s lived experience that it’s something that’ll stay with you long after you’ve left.