Reviewing Dark Table: Experience food in a whole new way with blind dining in Vancouver.
Most restaurants spend hours painstakingly mulling over just the perfect lighting, wallpaper, and color schemes for their space to impress their patrons. Dark dining turns the concept of meticulous curating a space on its head and laughs. The notion of eating in the dark is the very antithesis of a restaurant parading their Art Deco-style lounge for all to admire. However, the restaurant is enveloped in darkness in order for diners to enjoy a heightened sensory meal. Using taste and smell only, guests eat in the dark and have an extraordinary culinary experience. Dark Table is one of those restaurants.
Before you make your way into the dark seating area at Dark Table, the restaurant has an outside lounge where a hostess provides a menu. My friend and I elected to choose the surprise three-course menu, so we had no idea what we were getting until we started tasting it in the darkness. Might as well fully immerse ourselves in the dining in the dark experience!
Once our choices were selected and our phones were turned off, our visually impaired server, Joe, guided us to our seats in the pitch-black restaurant. The dark was surreal, and I wasn’t prepared for how disconcerting it would make me feel. Immediately upon entry, the aromas of the restaurant’s fish of the day filled the space. Billie Holiday’s voice crooned overhead while we took our seats. Was music always this loud in restaurants? As I became more adjusted and comfortable in my surroundings, the music seemed to slowly fade away.
The first course that arrived was a cranberry salad, which tasted fresh, leafy, and delicious. The dish was light but packed with what I think were apples, pecans, and balsamic dressing. It took some time to get used to utilizing cutlery in the dark, but it was a fun experience attempting to eat everything off my plate. There were countless times I forgot that I had finished my drink and kept fumbling around the table for my glass to have yet another sip!
The main entrée was stuffed chicken risotto with asparagus and zucchini. The dish was extremely flavorful and took my tastebuds to overdrive. Every bite was an experience heightened by the lack of any visual expectations. The fragrant smells of the dish and the different textures made for an exceptionally great tasting.
The dessert was chocolate fudge cake, simple and rich in taste. I do admit that most of it ended up falling onto my table and created a mess, but I guess that’s par for the course when you are eating in the dark for the first time!
Two separate tables nearby were celebrating birthdays. Normally, I may faintly hear the birthday song being sung, but at Dark Table, it sounded like the partygoers were right at my table. My friend and I couldn’t help but gleefully join in, with our server Joe prompting the entire restaurant to sing happy birthday in unison. That was quite a special experience!
The beautiful thing about dining in the dark is not just about undivided attention to the food, but it’s also about the company you are with. You cannot help but become completely engrossed in conversation and focus on the discussion at hand. While dining in the dark, you lose all concept of time. When we left the table, I had no idea how long my friend and I had been sitting there. It felt like forever and no time had passed all at once.
At Dark Table, a meal’s presentation means nothing. Patrons can’t see their meal and therefore can’t judge the dish before even taking a bite. It’s interesting once you realize just how much a restaurant’s design and food plating impacts overall taste and impression. With Dark Table, you need to relinquish control and let your working senses be your guide. When you give in to the experience, it sure is a unique and joyous one!