Noir. Dining in the dark. Ho Chi Minh City.
Who remembers playing that game as kids where you are blindfolded and a friend feeds random foods for you to guess? Oh yes, it was all fun until someone put vinegar on a spoon. Well, we experienced the grown-up version of that game when we dined at Noir in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
Noir-dining in the dark restaurant has only been open since September 2014, but it is rapidly becoming a must-do on any Saigon itinerary. The concept is that diners eat in total darkness.
The restaurant is located down the end of an alley off Hai Ba Trung Street (at no. 178) in a colonial style house. We were greeted on arrival, and seated in a (lighted) lounge area, where we were given an aperitif drink and the menu choices were explained.
There was a choice of two set menus – a From the East menu (480,000++ VND, about $36 AUD) or a From the West one (560,000++ VND, about $42 AUD). Each consisted of starters, main course and desserts, but as far as details of individual dishes go, we were (pardon the pun) kept in the dark.
We chose the West menu and then discussed a couple of dietary restrictions with our host Germ, which he was happy to accommodate.
Then we played a little introductory blindfolded game which was just a small taste of what was to come.
Once we were ready, all our phones, bags and any light-emitting devices (e.g. watches if they have a glowing display) were taken away from us and secured in a locker, then we were showed to the door of the dining room, where we were introduced to our waitperson for the evening, Duyen. Like all the wait staff at Noir, she is blind (or visually impaired). She instructed us to form a person train with our hands on each others’ shoulders and she guided us through the darkness to our table in the dining room.
It was dark in there. I mean, really dark. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
Duyen guided each of us in turn to our seats and orientated us to the table and our napkin, glasses and cutlery.
Initially we felt completely out of sorts. We were aware of other diners in the room (through hearing them) but had no idea where they were in relation to us, or how many of them there were.
For the next couple of hours, we were restricted to our senses of taste, hearing, touch and smell. And we had to talk to each other…there were no distractions, such as phones or anything or anyone else to look at.
I’m not going to say too much about the food itself, as I think it is best experienced with a degree of surprise. The handling of it, however, was extremely well organised and Duyen carefully guided us through each step of the meal…telling us exactly where to find our cutlery, where our glasses were etc. She expertly topped up our water and wine glasses without us even realising she had done so.
The food experience gave us a real insight into how much we rely on visual perception in our enjoyment of food…and how susceptible our sense of taste is to suggestion. If one of us said out loud what we thought something was, all of a sudden we’d all taste that flavour…whether it was correct or not.
After the meal, back out in the lounge area, our host Germ showed us photos of the menu items we had eaten. There were quite a few surprises.
In Ho Chi Minh City, there are about 4,000 visually impaired people, but unfortunately job opportunities are limited and it is estimated that less than 7 per cent of them are employed. Noir offers a new employment and training opportunity, and it also raises awareness among the diners of the challenges the visually impaired face in their day to day lives.
Duyen was never far away (we think!) and we were told if we needed her, we just had to say her name. Her skill in serving our meals, topping up our glasses, guiding us through the experience and talking us through exactly what was happening was truly amazing. We placed our trust in her, and she really delivered.
There were just a couple of small spillages en route to mouth…I dropped a crispy Parmesan cheesy thing onto my lap (but was able to retrieve it) and I think the others all did similar. We did hear one glass breakage from another table and wondered whether that is a daily occurrence. There’s no dumbing down of the cutlery and crockery, it’s all real stemmed glass wear, metal forks and spoons and China crockery – no plastic tumblers and melamine bowls at this establishment!
I didn’t find out until afterwards that the room is monitored via infra-red cameras. I may not have used my tongue to lick out some of the remnants of a bowl if I had known that earlier! It could make for a fascinating TV series…but apparently the footage is just archived and only reviewed in the event of security concerns or an incident.
This is a definite highlight of our stay in Saigon, and one I’d recommend to all visitors.
The details
Address: Lane 178 Hai Ba Trung . Dakao . District 1 . HCMC . Vietnam
Website: www.noirdininginthedark.com
Would you be game to dine in the dark?
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