The shuffles of chairs, choruses of clinks and overlapping chit-chats…while completely blind?! Imagine being led into a room, seated surrounded by strangers you can’t see– that was my birthday night in Paris, France. There were different course and drink options when reserving. The order of the evening? 3 courses of mystery meals with wines (including classic champagne). My dinner table view? None! This bold, incomparable experience happened at Dans Le Noir ? Paris restaurant.

Dans Le Noir Paris Restaurant

This is definitely one place people don’t feast with their eyes. Dans Le Noir translates to ‘In the Dark’ because that’s exactly where diners eat here. The restaurant’s concept was first of its kind when it opened over 20 years ago. Dans Le Noir Paris restaurant is the flagship location and 1 of 7 in France. Today this unusual franchise is located within 11 cities around the world, largely in Europe. The Paris restaurant is the one of few standalone locations while others share spaces with hotels.

The welcome area of the street-level building looked like a small bar or pub with a counter stocked with drinks. That was the final view and pretty much the only photo op of the gastronomic experience. Outerwear, bags and electronics are stored in individual assigned lockers to keep clutter, distractions and lighting away from the sensory adventure. A visually-impaired guide-server is introduced to each group before leading diners into the darkness. The appointed table guide will also be the contact person for any necessary assistance while dining.

Dans Le Noir Menu

Dans Le Noir ? restaurants serve seasonal farm-to-table dishes. A surprise menu in darkness is the ultimate blind taste test! The multi-course culinary adventure fuses contrasting textures and temperatures to create gourmet dishes. Patrons’ senses are guided solely by food flavours, feel and aromas. We spent the entire dinner time trying to recognise each dish and finding where food was on our plates.

There were familiar flavours– though some unidentified once deprived of sight– plus unknown ones. My palate enjoyed most of the dishes; they were all unique and not overly filling (at least not to us Jamaicans). The full-course meal is only revealed on a screen after eating. The reveal was very enlightening; seeing what flavours you guessed right, wrong and not at all can help reshape a relationship with taste. Dans Le Noir restaurant rotates menus to maintain mystery for returning diners. Here’s what we had…

Appetizer: Melon gazpacho, isigny cream with orange blossom, old-fashioned tomatoes, Orleans dressing with shallots, quinoa crackers with paprika origan and salt crystals

Entree: Marinate swordfish loin with Sichuan pepper, yellow wine, crispy polenta stick with Piment D’Espelette, eggplant caviar, green peas, chard

Dessert: Vaucluse peach carpaccio, verveine syrup, Madagascar vanilla, white vermouth Espuma, caramalized hazelnut, roasted pistachio powder, Breton shortbread

Dans Le Noir Restaurant Locations

The restaurants are open for dinner time and weekend lunches. If you can’t make it to this Paris restaurant, the unique sensory immersion is also located in:

Dans Le Noir ? Experiences

A real representation of inclusion for all. Dans Le Noir ? experiences practise raising disability awareness and employment. At the restaurants, diners are guided by blind/visually-impaired servers. I also noticed the Paris location is accessible to people with limited mobility. 

Blind conversations and shared tables of up to 10 people are encouraged. I’m not sure whether or not my companion and I were at a shared table. If we were, it must’ve been a sizable one! There were definitely other diners in the room but it didn’t sound as if they were right next to us. Maybe proximity of the voices was also a perception skewed by lack of sight.

I can see how Dans Le Noir ?’s original concept could be overstimulating for some people. The first few minutes in the dark felt the most uneasy but adaptation soon followed. Removing the masks of appearances could make people feel more confident and less hesitant to connect– which is the idea. At the end of the night, in the light I noticed a blind diner and felt greater compassion in that moment after relating to his daily life for a couple hours.

In addition to international restaurants, the Dans Le Noir ? brand offers other sense-centered experiences like perfume workshops, sensory spas and escape games…also in the dark.

Dans Le Noir Restaurant Conclusion
This was an interesting experience to say the least! It’s a gastronomic adventure that may not be everyone’s cup of tea. The flavour profile differences gave me a better appreciation for authentic French-Jamaican fusion cuisine  as well as French-inspired restaurants in my city. Gourmet French food left a whole new impression on my palate that night.

Apprehensive diners here may include:

• People afraid of the dark
• Picky eaters
• Paranoid people
• Young children (under 6 years)

After experiencing it, I’d book another gourmet pitch-black meal again– it was a tasty thrill!

Why would/n’t you eat mystery meals in complete darkness???