'Dans le Noir'
Hi everyone,
Well, I promised to tell you about ‘Dans le Noir’, the pitch-black restaurant, and so I shall. When we arrived in the well-lit foyer the restaurant, the first thing we had to do was take all our valuables out of our pockets and put them into lockers. If we dropped our wallets or our house-keys in the darkness of the dining-room, the waitress explained, it would be very difficult to find them. Then she explained the menu; in this restaurant, you don’t order the particular dishes you feel like eating; instead, you just choose between four ‘surprise menus’ (one with meat, one with fish, one with both, and one with neither). When we had chosen our menus and also ordered ‘surprise cocktails’, the hostess introduced us to our waiter (who was, I think, blind). The waiter told us all to stand in a line and put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of us. Then he lead us, very slowly, into the darkness.
At first, as we shuffled through the dark restaurant towards our table, I felt disorientated and slightly panicky. However, this soon passed, and within a few minutes we were all laughing and joking about how cheap it must be to decorate a restaurant like that.
It was really very, very dark in there; you could close your eyes and open them again, and you wouldn’t notice any difference at all. Most of us found it impossible to use knives and forks in the darkness, so we ate with our fingers, and one of my friends took great delight in describing, in disgusting detail, how she was holding a big slab of meat in both hands and gnawing it like a hungry cavewoman.
The whole experience seemed to pass very quickly, and I think the lack of light must have altered our perceptions of time; we spent about an hour and a half in the darkness, but it felt like about fifteen minutes, and of course none of us could look at our watches.
To be honest, I don’t really think ‘Dans le Noir’ gave me a deeper understanding of blind people’s lives. I was only‘blind’ for a very short period of time, and I didn’t have to do anything more difficult than pouring wine into a glass. In fact, that wasn’t really the reason I went there anyway – I went because I enjoy ‘weird’ new experiences, and ‘Dans le Noir’ was satisfyingly weird.
Anyway. Again, good work on the blogs, James – your grammatical accuracy has improved significantly. You also have very good taste in cats. You asked if I could send Friday to you through the internet – well, the USB port in this computer is quite small, but I’ll try and fit her in there. Please send her back soon, though – Lottie is away at the moment (in Namibia, photographing elephants, the lucky cow), but she’ll be back tomorrow and she’ll be cross if she comes back and discovers that I’ve emailed her cat to Taiwan.
All the best,
Alex
PS Well done Adek, you got me, bang to rights. We use ‘downright’ with adjectives, and occasionally with adverbs. Well done!
Ooh, look at all this lovely vocabulary!
The entrance hall of a cinema, a hotel, a restaurant, etc., is sometimes called the foyer.
‘Valuables’ is a plural noun which means, simply, the valuable items which you own or which you are carrying.
If you go to the swimming pool, you probably leave your clothes in a kind of metal cupboard called a locker.
The word dish has several meanings; here, I’m using it as a noun to mean food cooked to a particular recipe, maybe as part of a meal. As I mentioned a week or two ago, my favourite dish is Thai prawn soup.
Cocktails are drinks (normally alcoholic drinks) made by mixing several drinks together. We can also use the noun ‘cocktail’ in a more general sense, just meaning a mixture of different things.
If you lose your sense of direction and feel confused about where you are, you feel disorientated (unless you’re American, in which case you feel ‘disoriented’).
The noun ‘panic’ means a sudden feeling of fear which is so strong that you can’t think straight. The adjective from this noun is panicky.
To take great delight in something means to enjoy doing something very much.
A slab of something is a large, flat piece of something.
The verb ‘to gnaw’ means to bite or chew repeatedly. For example, dogs like to gnaw bones.
Long ago, in prehistoric times, our distant ancestors lived in caves. We call people from this earlier stage of human development ‘cavemen’. Obviously, the female version of a caveman is a cavewoman.
Cross is another word with many meanings; here it’s an adjective meaning ‘angry’.
‘Bang to rights’ is a phrase you might hear if you watch British gangster movies. When the criminal says to the policeman, “you’ve got me bang to rights,”he means something like, “you’ve caught me, I’m obviously guilty, and I can’t deny it.”
Comments
Hi Alex! It was indeed a very weird experience, but honestly, I would be a little worried about "the surprise dishes" which would be served to me. Err... Perhaps nigh on impossible to eat them.Anyway, it seems you have had a lot of fun, and talking about fun, I´d like to say thank you for your book recommendation. Actually, I´m really enjoying reading Waiting for Godot. I´ve burst into laugher and I can´t help myself, however, I didn´t understand a word and I couldn´t even find it in the dictionary. There is a part in the book that Didi says "we´d be ballocksed". Could you tell me please, what ballocksed means? Best wishes, Ana Paula.
What an accurate organization from the managers of this restaurant: I refer to the solution (lockers) against the risk of losing something in the dark room. Well, this restaurant doesn't seem as disturbing as I believed and your report has quite demystified the incredible ideas I had about this restaurant LOL. Having said that, I think each experience depends on conditions: I would like to go over there with my lover and I think it will be quieter, less humourous... :)
Hi Alex, a panicky experience I wouldn't like to do. I like enjoying what I eat with all my senses: I can't understand why someone had such a..... idea. I've never seen"I promised to tell you about.....and I shall." Why do you use shall? Is it the auxiliary for the future tense? If yes, when do you use it? Thanks. Romana
HI,Alex.What a funny restaurant you have been.God blesses you,for you still can enjoy the well-lit foyer before you completely lost the preception of time felt disorientated.To be honest, i don't think the restaurant's aim is to give their guests a deep understanding of the blind's lives,but to creat sort of strange,crazy environment for people to seek for madness when the city life sounds boring. Anyway,it is meaningful to think about the blind's lives after joking,drinking and eating.Good experience.Cheers!
I do really enjoy reading your blog. I have leant many grammars and something else useful for me. in here. Please allow me to say :"You are a nice guy and how good a job you do." I have been looking forward to having this opportunity to leave a comment on your blog. I have not done it before I have not finished reading all of the content. Sorry, maybe you're waiting for so long to get message from one of your funs.(I am smiling. :) ) Ok, thanks again. Have a nice day. Your incredible fan, austin ^_^
Thank you Alex for telling us about your dining experience, it was weird enough. In my opinion it all sounded too creepy for me. I have many irrational fears, and your dining experience would have been too much for me to do voluntarily. Lockers are very familiar items for me, as I go swimming at least twice a week. Lately less, because I have taken up a harder form of exercise; I do physical training instead. I haven´t given up swimming totally, as it is a mutual hobby for me and for my husband. Best wishes…
Hi James, so you were actually dinning in quite civilized conditions and the funny thing is that the reality, though complicated, occurred to be more safe for you than virtuality ... It’s really good to have an opportunity to experience some of our routines differently, but I must admit that my first, spontaneous reaction to the idea of ‘Dans le Noir’ restaurant was rather skeptical, perhaps I’ve been too much in poverty issues recently. That’s a hot topic how to feel a part of a wider environment and at the same time have a normal life, without sacrifices. Best,
Alex, yes please let us know what ballocksed mean? Pardon my French, but does it mean we are in a shit? Or does it refer to testicles? We are not laughing, are we?
Alex, I'm sorry, you really deserve apologies (and perhaps James also). The message was of course for you and my only excuse is that today was over 30 degrees C, and yes, I was in a hurry. Sorry again,
People like the owner of this restaurant thinks innovatively and out of the box, that is very much amazing. Its hard to conceptualize the business like this for the first time. They are creative and thinks before time. Hats off for all those smart people out there.
Please forgive for my crazy comment yesterday, it just came from somewhere… but I confess it still makes me laugh. Learning a foreign language can be hilarious. Very sorry…no offence was intended.
Hi all! Vijay Mishra, I totally agree with you. I've also pointed out the fact they're innovative. My first thought was about how blind people could earn their living in a decent way without been compelled to receive a social subsistence allowance. Through the idea of this restaurant, those blind people have found the best way to use their special ability and skills. Business is nothing else than getting great ideas! Best wishes
Hi,Alex.i am curious about what did you eat and did you get your clothes dirty?
Hi, Alex. Are there another weird places in London. May be concert halls with some suprise peaces of music or swimming pools with strange water? Could you tell us about it? And after all, what was the most terrible (terrific, if you would like it more) experience in your life? Have a nice day.
all of them are all nice.
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