One evening six years ago, while my eyes were trying to adapt to the light as I came out of two hours of complete darkness, I told myself that whatever happened in that pitch-black room was one of the most memorable meals in my life.
I was at the then newly-launched Dine in the Dark (DID) in Bangkok. The establishment has remained up until now among a very few restaurants in the world to offer an absolutely sight-free experience.
Interestingly, over the past years, as the world has been galvanised by how sophisticated and fancy a dish looks, the more I miss the dining affair that allowed me no visual thrill nor Instagram boast. Yet the level of gastronomic pleasure was as huge.
My return to DID, which in 2015 moved from the Ascott Sathorn building to Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, finally came last week.
Thanks to its new location and partnership with the 5-star hotel, the restaurant now goes full steam as a fine dining business where high-standard gourmet cuisine, pleasant ambience and efficient world-class service meet.
Our dinner journey here started with a welcoming check-in at the hotel's BarSu where a receptionist gave us a brief introduction of the distinctive concept.
Basically the idea of dining with a complete lack of vision originated in Switzerland by a blind clergyman who invited his sighted friends to a dinner at his house. To better understand his world, guests were asked to wear blindfolds.
That paved way for the first permanent "dark restaurant" in Zurich in 1999 where, in a well-lit room, blindfolded diners were served by visually-impaired staff. Today there are approximately a dozen dark-dining restaurants in big cities worldwide including Berlin, Budapest, California, London, Paris, Phnom Penh, Singapore, Tokyo and Vienna.
DID Bangkok was founded in 2012 by veteran restaurateur Julien Wallet-Houget with an aim to introduce something new to the city's fine dining scene while provide employment for visually-impaired people.
Thus, unlike most dark dining establishments that feature normal-sighted service staff wearing night-vision goggles, all hosts at DID are legally blind.
Before heading to the restaurant and being introduced to the host, each guest has to choose a set menu from options of Asian, Western, vegetarian and Surprise (basically a mix of Asian and Western), priced at 1,450 baht per person.
Our cheerful and prompt host, Khun Mee, introduced himself and later guided us through a thick velour curtained entrance into DID and finally to our table.
Obviously, diners arrive at DID with different perceptions and curiosities.
On my first visit six years back I was looking for an increase in my own compassion towards blind people. But it turned out that what I had more for them was admiration and solidarity.
This time proved the same. During the whole meal, Khun Mee was our great leader, entertainer and friend.
In a pitch-dark room enlivened by contemporary music and some naughty chit-chat from unseen nearby tables, our meal was served in four courses.
It began with an assortment of appetisers, then a soup, a main course and wrapped up with a platter of desserts.
Without seeing anything at all -- not even our own hands, we messed up our plates and faces simply trying to figure out what we were eating.
Putting scepticism aside, dishes tasted like they were prepared to fine recipes and with top-quality ingredients. For example, my sense of smell, taste and touch (yes, I used my fingers to feel the food!) told me that I had fish and chicken as a starter and lamb main course.
The evening proceeded impressively not only because all our senses, except for one, were at full function. But it's also very interesting to observe how our brain enjoys, or, for some people, copes with, an utterly unknown surrounding.
I was later told that the menu was deliberately designed to be mind-boggling but at the same time offer comprehensive satisfaction for your taste buds. Thus, every single bite proved tasty and fun.
Details of the menu were revealed at the end of the meal as guests returned to the bar area. And as a veteran food journalist with 18 glorious years of experience, I found myself dumbstruck by such discovery of truth.
