Dining in the Dark (Genießen im Dunkeln)

Genießen im Dunklen - Dining in the Dark - was developed by tegut-Bankett, a group of young chefs and hoteliers with a special approach to food, service and event gastronomy. After an aperitif the guests are led through a light sluice into a completely dark room (the staff have night vision gear) where they are served a four-course menu consisting of appetizer, soup, main course and desert; after each course there is a short explanation of its contents and preparation.

The event has two aims: For one, you experience the complete darkness of a blind person's world along with the mechanical challenge of drinking from a glass you have to grope for and picking up food you cannot see. For another, not seeing what you eat opens your eyes (*wink*) to how sensuous eating is, involving your senses of smell, taste and touch and sharpening your non-visual perception.

Part of the proceeds of such dinners go to projects for the blind and visually impaired. So check your local gastronomy guide for restaurants offering this very special event.

Last year's menu with recipes
Munich meet-up here

As far as I know Germany's first dark restaurant opened in Berlin in May 2001. It is called the unsicht-Bar - a German pun which can't really be translated into English. All of the staff at this restaurant are either visually handicapped or completely blind. There are now also branches of the unsicht-Bar in Cologne (Geschwister-Scholl-Str. 44) and Hamburg (Kleiner Schäferkamp 36).

Conti Bistro (Max-Joseph-Straße, Munich) used to do this as well. It was called Essen im Dunkeln. The event now appears to have moved to the City Hilton hotel.

See the TT article for some reviews by people who tried it: Dining in the Dark at Conti Bistro

One of the quotes:


And a photo of the restaurant:

Click to view attachment

I went to the Unsichtbar in Berlin and found it to be an amazing experience. I do prefer the idea of having blind people serving you than people with night vision goggles, though.

Great way to charge through the nose for cat/dog food!

Good place for a first date.

Blind date, you mean.

Occasionally, the Vinorant Alter Hof (near Dallmayr) offers dining in the dark also as a special event. It is also just a nice place to have a wine when one is in the Munich city center.

I don't want to take away anything from other people's possible future experiences of dining in the dark by describing everything in detail but at Nocti Vagus (http://www.noctivagus.de/) in Berlin , it was started by blind people and it was stated that the waitstaff was blind. No blind folds were used of course and they took great precautions on maintaining the darkness... of course no smoking, all mobile phones turned off and watches (digital and the like) should go into a pocket, no cameras or anything with a screen should be out... everyone entering was lead through a special room in which both doors couldn't be open at the same time and the lights went out before you entered the main part of the restaurant. Your waiter led you very slowly to your table in conga-line fashion.

Your waiter had to take you back through to the outside rooms if you wanted to use the restroom (apparently the dunkeltoilette turned out to not be a good idea).

Food and experience was excellent.

One tip was that because they were busy and we called at the last minute, we had to take a really early seating when they opened at 6pm; it turned out to be what we considered the best time to go because we were one of the first tables there and the restaurant was very quiet. When more people were there, it wasn't bad but the noise of all the people eating and talking (as is normal) probably would have taken away from the initial experience of discovering our surroundings.

It is also worth mentioning again that dark is dark...very dark... as in can't be darker. After awhile you think you can maybe see a little something but then realize what you are seeing appears the same even when you close your eyes.

PS: Thanks Dimmer... now I won't be able to sleep wondering if maybe by chance some of the waitstaff were not really blind and used goggles instead...

Went to the one in Berlin and it was a hilarious experience. The items on the menu (you order before you enter the dining room) are in riddles so you don't know exactly what you're getting. I had to touch my appetizer first to see if I should use a fork or spoon.

At one point while waiting for dessert, my husband quietly left his seat, snuck up behind me and - while I thought he was still in front of me - scared the bejezeez out of me!

OK, i am planning to do this in Berlin week after next with 2 friends. On this thread, two restaurants are mentioned: The unsicht-bar and the Nocti Vagus. Has anyone been to both?? We have time for only one, and I'm wondering which we should go to...The Nocti Vagus review is great - anyone have one for the un-sicht bar in Berlin?

Sounds interesting. Wonder how it will look on the plate? (I'd definitely be tempted to smuggle in a small torch.) At any rate, this sounds like a great antidote to food that has been prettified and fiddled with to such an extent that it no longer looks appetising and is more of a tribute to an ego-tripping chef than an invitation to enjoy what you eat.

I went to Vinorant in Munich a couple of weeks ago. It was a very fun experience - especially trying to pour water into our water glasses. Wine was poured by the staff who had the night vision goggles. It is really a test for your taste buds. Afterward, the staff brought candles out to the tables so you could see who you were actually dining with. At the bar (in the lighted area) they displayed what they had served to us. When I say it was dark, it was dark - like 'you-can-not-see-your- hand-in-front-of-your-face' dark.

I think I like the idea of blind waiters rather than ones with night vision goggles - it's hard to look dignified when eating food you can't see, so I'd rather no one be able to watch...

We went to the Blinde Kuh in Zurich, where the staff is indeed blind. Quite an interesting experience, and I'd definitely recommend it. Blog post about our experience there: http://www.zurika.com/2007/08/fondling-food-in-darkness.html

unsichtbar in berlin and cologne started both off as a project to integrate blind ppl into the society, and its absolutely awesome, if you never done it, its time to move your bum there. the 3 course menu will cost you about 50 quid but they are worth it!