“Do you think you’ll be able to dine out on this experience with your friends in Brisbane?” I asked Jane who was visiting from Australia. She sat next to me, but I couldn’t see her as the room was completely dark, of the “can’t see your hand in front of your face” variety.
“Absolutely,” she replied.
Dine in the Dark is an innovative restaurant in Phnom Penh, Cambodia that creates the experience of what it’s like to eat a meal like a blind person. Phones, watches, and anything else that can produce light must be placed in a locked box in the lobby. Food options are Western, Khmer and Vegetarian. Grant, Jane and I ordered Khmer. Nick, who is Khmer, went west. Then Joe, our waiter/guide, introduced himself. We later learned that he went blind three years ago due to chicken pox.
The manager had me put my hand on Joe’s shoulder and the others lined up behind me. It’s no problem to slowly walk up the stairs behind Joe. Then we pass through a heavy curtain. As he closed behind us, we were in total darkness. My initial reaction was a little claustrophobic, but a few steps into the room the feeling calmed down.
Joe escorted us to our table. “Sit here,” he ordered me. I grouped around and couldn’t figure it out. Was it a bar stool he was feeling? No, it was the back of the chair. Once seated, I felt around the table. A napkin with a spoon and a knife on the right. The fork was to the left. “There’s a glass of water and a glass of wine,” Joe commented as he filled them.
“There are actually two small tables together,” I announced, pleased to feel more comfortable with the environment. “That makes sense as that way they can organize them for groups of different sizes.”
Grant suggested we clink glasses in the middle of the table for applause. Jane was a bit apprehensive at first, but Nick and I managed to connect. There is something about a toast that gives you a sense of accomplishment.
The first of three courses from the $18 set menu arrived. Another part of the experience is that you don’t know what you’re eating until the end of the meal when they show the photos on a tablet. great salad. I insisted it was mango as it is popular in the Kingdom of Wonders as Cambodia is known. Wrong. It was actually milk fruit. Surprisingly, I made it without it falling on me, Khmer spoon and fork style.
Next was the main course. “Chicken, it has to be chicken.” That guess only got a 50 percent mark, since it was actually a small portion of chicken with rice and another of beef with rice.
“It’s interesting,” said Grant, a retired doctor, “that it’s totally dark, but I still see little white spots floating around.” The rest of us murmur in agreement. There was no point in nodding since no one could see anyway.
Dessert was a bowl of fruit. “There’s also more food on the plate,” Grant said. While he felt, I managed to cover my fingers with syrup. I licked them because I couldn’t think of anything else to do, although I suppose I could have put them in my glass of water.
The meal over, we lined up behind Joe and were escorted back to the seer world. Staying in the world of the blind was an interesting experience, but you wouldn’t want to live there.