Dining In The Dark: Restaurant review

Trust El Cerdo’s Werner Kuhn to come up with two of Changkat Bukit Bintang’s most eccentric experiments: a restaurant where customers eat while cloaked in total darkness and another where more than 100 tapas and cocktails are sold for only RM10++ each.

First, Dining In The Dark: thoughtfully crafted, multi-course mystery menus are served nightly (except Mondays) in a completely blackened hall by visually impaired wait staff whose calm, humor and concentration can put their sighted counterparts to shame.

The belief that visual deprivation instantly heightens other senses, including taste, is debatable, though customers will probably pay more attention to their food here, devoid of distractions like cellphones and cameras (those will be placed in personal lockers outside the dining chamber).

This nearly two-hour experience begins on a first-floor lounge with a friendly briefing. Customers then place their hands on a smooth-moving guide’s shoulders or on those of their friends ahead of them, carefully walking single-file into a curtain-shrouded maze of amazement.

Pre-dinner sensory games: figure out which containers contain rice, beans and barley (shake ’em!) and fish out paperclips from a grain-filled package. Sip sangria and cranberry cocktails before braving the ultimate eclipse and taking stabs in the dark about what we’re eating.

Spoiler alert: Potential customers who want to preserve the element of surprise, skip these next four paragraphs. Once seated, everyone is progressively presented with plates of unknown recipes. Forks and spoons are supplied, but we recommend using fingers to feel through the food, while music from The Corrs floats through the background.

Sure, it’s not an original idea: there are dining-in-the-dark outlets in London, Paris, Hong Kong and elsewhere. But folks who suppress their cynicism will have fun eating in a room where they can’t see their hands in front of them, much less their neighbors. Patrons with exhibitionist proclivities could disrobe and devour their entire meal au naturel.

Major spoiler alert: While the menu is expected to evolve, the current one features recipes whose basic components might be easy to deduce, from a prawn cocktail to a watermelon salad, chicken roulade with spinach to linguine with smoked duck, vanilla ice cream to panna cotta. But it’s still mighty fun to sniff out the subtleties: who knew the salad contained feta cheese?

Final spoiler alert: After exiting, customers are shown photos of the food. Gimmicky or genius? Well, we paid RM88++ per person and enjoyed both the satisfyingly tasty, terrifically textured, hugely portioned food – 11 items altogether – and the overall experience. Recommended, though we hope the menu will eventually take more risks and become more challenging for customers.

Post-dinner coffee and tea are provided. Wine can be ordered for RM20++ per glass.

Location & Details

Dining In The Dark
44A and 46A, Changkat Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur
Open daily for dinner, except Mondays(dinners daily except Mondays),
Tel: 03-2110-0431
Find: View Dining In The Dark’s directory here.