Nox - Dine in the Dark is one of those places that has always been on my to-try list but yet at the same time too lazy to make the arrangements. After all, it's fine dining and not like one of those places that you just walk-in randomly? So laziness got the better of me and we just never ever did it until I stumbled upon this app Quandoo? In short, Quandoo is an app that allows you to make restaurant reservations easily and of course it offers certain loyalty programs as well as discounts. You should check it out.
For the unaware, why is Nox so interesting? As the name suggests, you get to dine in the dark. It's not like the kind of dark where you simply turn off the lights at home to save electricity but imagine total darkness. The can't-see-your-fingers-even kinda darkness... where of course, I looked the most handsome.
Don't quote me but I guess the whole idea of the experience is not just to let you feel how it's like to lose sight but also to heighten your taste buds. You know how Daredevil got all super sensitive the moment he lost his sight? Something along that line I guess. So the challenge is that you will be given 4 small portions of different dishes at each course (Starters, Main, Dessert) without knowing what they are and you get to guess what you are eating at the end of the meal! So basically you will be served 12 different dishes.
The only food that you can see for the night. It's one of the starters before the lights went out.
What if I've allergies?
So before you actually have your meal, you will have a short briefing at the beautiful (and well-lit) lounge. This is the part where they share with you what is going to happen and also for you to
How do I cut my steak?
Everything is cut into small bites - think baby food. You can't see your spoon, your fork and definitely not your cup. You will be given a short time to orientate what's on the table with the help of the waiter/waitresses. If you are lazy like me, you can just put the bowl really near your mouth and simply push all the food into your mouth without scooping. AH! And the good news is that nobody can see how unglamorous you really are. Go ahead and chew with your mouth open or not wear any make up.
But my phone got light mah. I can just turn it on right?
They have lockers before you enter the dining area on level two, so you actually have to surrender everything that illuminates which includes your phone. Pro tip, there's actually two very small red LEDs which are supposed to be on the exit sign if I'm not wrong. If you are feeling really uneasy you can actually look for that two LEDs to give you some comfort or like what I did, I had my eyes closed the whole time.
A picture of our food.
Nox is a place that allows guests to have real conversations. You have zero distraction. You will not be looking at that hot chick across the room nor check out what's happening on Facebook. It's really one of those meals where you are forced to talk and listen to each other. Oh, to be honest, I've no clue how close the tables are and who were the people sitting around me. So I'm actually not sure how much of our conversation can the next table hear as well?
Me doing a hand stand on the table.
Did I mention that the waiters and waitresses are actually visually impaired? I'm really impressed by their service. They are very gentle and attentive and will often come by and check if everything is okay if they don't hear you eating or shifting the bowls.
Me with my pants off. Since nobody can see me anyway. No, I'm just kidding. And no, please do not try that. They might just have night visual goggles. This is actually a picture of me without my top, not pants.
A little reminder, if you do not like any of the food and wish to pass it to your friend, make sure he/she pass you back the bowl and not stack on top of their own bowl because this is actually rather dangerous for the staff as they wouldn't know it is stacked and might just drop it. Oh, and how did I know? erm... heehee.. *shrug*
So how was the meal? Our convo went something like this
"eh, what's this? I dunno leh. Is it duck?"
"Or is it beef?"
"Is there a chance it's horse meat?"
"Why not? We didn't say we are allergy to that anyway."
"What's this creamy thing? Tastes strange?"
"Could it be..."
"NOOOOO.. Don't say it. The chance of you having tasted it before is way higher than me you know right..."
"Oh, this is nice. Very familiar taste."
"This one tastes like..."
"Eh.. is this.. siao liao. I think I'm allergic to this.."
"wtf is this.. pui pui pui"
"give me lah. I like"
"where's your hand?"
"it's above my cup"
"where's your cup?"
"below my hand lor"
"Is it left or right?"
"left"
"your left or my left?"
"just stretch your hands out"
"what if I touch the wrong thing"
"just stretch it out lahhhh"
"ok ok, meet at your cup"
After the meal
The waiters will actually guide you out the moment you are done with your food. You will be given a form to fill up and make some guesses which they will reveal the answers shortly after. That's when we went,
"realllly meh.. I didn't taste that lor"
"sure or not? did they serve us wrongly?"
"eh, actually if they didn't put we also won't know right?"
Verdict
The experience was awesome. The whole "surprise!" and "focus-on-your-meal-and-convo-and-not-handphone" experience was really fun. But I didn't like it at all as a dining experience. I guess I'm the kind of old school eater that believes in 色香味俱全 (loosely translate - colour, aroma,taste, altogether). Not being able to see the food just makes the food so much less appealing even when the food tastes and smells good. I was actually craving for a good old double cheeseburger when I was done. Which I didn't because I was really full from the food but yet I wasn't satisfied emotionally. The meal just didn't feel complete.
Will I visit again?
I might visit again with my friends to enjoy the dining in dark experience but if I'm looking for good food, it would not be my first choice. Their food menu actually changes every few weeks and when I was there they were serving the X'mas menu.
#OOTD (Outfit Of That Day)
"Eh, what's the point of you wearing so nice to dine at Nox? Nobody can see anyway"
"I feel confident lah. I like to look nice lah. Like woman buy such panties for what? people also cannot see. Same logic mah."
"How you know women wear what nice panties?"
"Eh.. Is this duck?"
0 comments:
Post a Comment