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Food

Standout Dining Experience at Dans Le Noir

Dans Le Noir is a unique and compelling dining experience that has taken the world by storm, and now available in Melbourne at The Como Melbourne each Thursday to Saturday from 6:30pm. The World Loves Melbourne was invited to a dinner session and we found the experience to be highly rewarding and slightly confronting.

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The Dans Le Noir experience is captivating at so many levels. For a start you are led into a totally dark room by one of the visually impaired staff. How they do it we don't know, but they are trained to negotiate a totally dark room and serve the food and drinks, collect plates etc. So much admiration! The ability to ask questions regarding the life of a visually impared person was valued. Margaret our host was simply brilliant; engaging, top notch service and injected her infectious humour and personality.

Guests can choose different arrival time of arrival: 6:30, 6:45, 7:00, 7:15 and 7:30pm. Bookings can be made online easily at : https://www.melbourne.danslenoir.com/ or by phone at 03 9825 2228. Dans Le Noir offers gift voucher options and also they organise private functions for Birthday party for instance as well as business functions for corporate events. The dark room is an endless tool to awaken people’s senses.

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The concept is brilliant; they have a question mark at the end of our brand name : Dans le Noir ? (French for In the Dark) and it explains pretty everything about the concept. They don’t pretend to provide answers however at the end of the experience and want people to questions themselves on the different level of the experience :

  • The sensory part : what was on your plate/ glass what is the difference between the perception in the dark and the reality. As Melbourne foodies were were able to identify many of the elements except for one of the meats. We were able to use our knife and fork but some diners elected to use their hands.
  • The social part : because they choose to only have large host tables in their restaurant, they want people to socialise in a different way. You don’t have your cellphone with you so you have to focus on the conversation with other people and share, it’s authentic and spontaneous. I must admit I felt naked without my cellphone; it's pretty much always with me. It was refreshing to socially interact without always looking at the phone! We met some great people in the dark! 
  • The human part: because you meet one of Dans Le Noir's amazing visually impaired guides. In Margaret's company we felt this connection raised awareness about employment and disability and showed people that handicap can generate achievement, it’s not about disability but skills.  They are simply the best to do the job.

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And of course the food and wine are highlights. We enjoyed the 3 course and 3 wine matching of our Feed Me Chef Winter Surprise Menu.

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Dans Le Noir changes the menu every 3 months. We felt all dishes were excellent including a generous and tasty entree. You can find youself second guessing - asking yourself is it lamb? Is it pork? Is it beef? Or even something else? What are the vegetables? What is the crunch I'm experiencing in the dish? It's a fascinating exercise. And at the end of the day it's also delicious.

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A highly recommended experience - book today!