Restaurant where the blind feed the blind is coming to London. They are hiring 10 blind people as waiters who will lead customers from the normally lit bar, where they make their menu choices, into the darkened dining room for dinner with a difference, dining in the dark. Sounds intriguing to me. Would you try it?
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Sleep - the most beautiful experience in life - except drink.--W.C. Fields
Definitely. I sometimes do this at home, close my eyes and walk around to see how I'd go if I was blind. I think the experience would be really interesting, especially if there was music being played and such.
The article said that the dining room will be in pitch black. Unfortunately I don't operate very well in absolute darkness considering my heavy reliance on vision. I have acute night vision but being in total darkness in a dining setting would make me feel extremely uncomfortable. So I won't be going to that restaurant any time soon if I'm in London.
I've closed my eyes and walked around to get a feel of how it'd feel to be blind. Sometimes it's oddly soothing...not having to deal with an overload of visual sensory inputs.
Gosh, that's a tough one. You couldn't see your food. It would totally tweak me out, but I could see it being a sensory wonderland for taste and smell, which are my strongest senses.
Ok. Onerous is exactly the right word to describe why I wouldn't want to go with someone else. It's not that I'd resent any particular sort of reaction from a companion (good or bad), but that I would resent if that companion would expect me to take their reaction on as my burden.
I don't know many people who would be capable of sharing an amazing mind altering experience without it being all about them. Most people I know and hang out with don't seem to imagine or leave room for me to have my own amazing experiences worthy of their attention.
I.e., I wasn't commenting on what types of reactions someone might have, but that I don't hang out with the sorts of people who are good at sharing equally in any sort of unusual experience.
My comment wasn't specific to this particular unusual experience, but simply reflected my personal preference to experience unusual things by myself.
Last edited by pescifish; 01-15-2006 at 04:34 AM.
Reason: edited after looking up the word "onerous" to find it implies burden
That makes sense, pesci. I would find having to play audience to someone else's mind-altering experience burdensome as well. It's pretty much the definition of the term "buzzkill".
Sorry about the word choice issues. I didn't mean to be obscure.
I would do it, but it would make me extremely uncomfortable. I'm paranoid enough when I can see everyone around me. I'd probably spend the whole time afraid that there was a killer with night vision goggles or something equally sinister afoot.
Since my first post was more a reaction to all the comments about walking around with eyes closed to try out sightlessness, I think I cheated the concept of this thread and the OP. I have since been thinking about my answer to the question regarding what sort of experience I might expect.
First, I would be very glad the waiters were, in fact, blind. In a pitch black room, I would really hate to deal with the waitstaff fucking up like normally sighted folks might in a pitch black room. The blindness of the waitstaff would be comforting to me, such that I could rely on them if I had problems. Or if other customers had problems.
Second, the first time I'd go I would make sure I knew what I was ordering so that I could then savor the tastes, smells and textures of familiar foodstuffs for which I have some expectation. Once I'd played out my experiences with familiar foods, I'd like to try the surprise menu.
Oh and: once I'd already tried it out myself, I would love to go with any of my friends and family to share their onerous experiences! That would be yet another level of 'unusual' that I think I would enjoy.
I would do it, but it would make me extremely uncomfortable. I'm paranoid enough when I can see everyone around me. I'd probably spend the whole time afraid that there was a killer with night vision goggles or something equally sinister afoot.
See now, that sort of thing didn't even occur to me. After I've gotten used to it, I'd really like to go with you, vm, to vicariously experience that with you.
I wouldn't order the spaghetti. At least not the first time.
Actually, I swear, they would kick my ass out of the restaurant, I'd bet, because I'd be laughing too much at whatever silly thing I ended up doing.
For some reason, I was imagining a very quiet place to go with the darkness, but I bet it's a buffet of sounds -- the sounds would be a great part of the experience, too, I think!
I would too, but I'd probably reach around and tap on vm's shoulder or say stuff like "Shhh! What was that?" just to mess with him.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pescifish
For some reason, I was imagining a very quiet place to go with the darkness, but I bet it's a buffet of sounds -- the sounds would be a great part of the experience, too, I think!
That's a good point. For some reason I was imagining it being really quiet too.
I would try it. I don't know about the surprise menu, tho. Are you allowed to at least give them some limitations? I'm a somewhat picky eater and I wouldn't like to be given herring as a surprise instead of say, beef.
I wonder what the patrons there usually wear. Do they wear nice clothing, or do they figure it won't matter? And if they do wear nice clothing, isn't that stupid since you're more likely to spill and stain your clothing?
I also wonder if a fair number of blind people go there.
I wonder what the patrons there usually wear. Do they wear nice clothing, or do they figure it won't matter? And if they do wear nice clothing, isn't that stupid since you're more likely to spill and stain your clothing?
I was thinking I'd bring a large garbage bag in my pocket, poke a hole in the end for my head and slip it over my clothes after getting into the pitch black area. Then I'd order the soup.
Dans Le Noir coming to London
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