Dining In The Dark...

It’s one thing not to judge a book by it’s cover, but what do you do when you can’t actually see the food that’s in front of you?

Duck Breast with Szechuan Pepper and Plum Chutney

Last week I was invited to The Living Room at Bristol Harbourside for an unusual dining experience. In honour of the launch of their new menu, myself and seven other Bristol ‘foodies’ were given the challenge of identifying the ingredients used in several of their new dishes, the only catch… we were blindfolded. Trust me, it’s harder than it sounds.

Presentation is such an integral part of the dining experience; it’s not just a bi-product of pretentious chefs, our enjoyment of food is determined by the culmination of all of the senses. If something looks appetizing you are more likely to enjoy it. Furthermore, our brains have been primed to expect certain flavours from particular ingredients, and this affects the way we taste them. So when one of your senses is entirely removed, foods you think you know can taste completely different.

Butternut Squash, Dolcelatté, Walnut & Honey Tart

Pork & Chorizo Burger

Dans Le Noir is a restaurant in London dedicated to this concept. On entering the dining room you are plunged into pitch darkness, and with the help of the blind waiters you are forced to relinquish the dominant sense of sight. Their aim is to “completely re-evaluate the notions of taste and smell through a gastronomic and pedagogical process”, whilst "opening your mind to an intriguing new world of mystery and sensation".

To prove my point it’s worth mentioning that The Living Room have been hosting these blind taste-tests up and down the country, and so far the national record, which was set that evening (but sadly not by me) is 24 ½ out of 40. The majority are scoring around 10 points, with the lowest score at a humble 4. Interestingly, on the whole it seems to be the food bloggers that are doing better than the professionals, and it was the rather self-assured Londoners that, on average, did some of the worst. (I'm a Londoner myself so don't take offence, but I'm also feeling pretty smug on behalf of the bloggers!)

Personally, most of the time I was concentrating so hard on attempting to discern the subtle infusion of flavours (such as the smoked paprika used in the Moroccan Spiced Lamb with giant cous cous, or the broccoli scented with orange that accompanied the Pan Fried Sea Bass) that I almost couldn’t appreciate the food - almost. One thing that I realised was that, when the success of a dish relies solely on your taste buds and sense of smell, it’s going to be make or break. The Basil Grande (which is The Living Room’s speciality dessert) was absolutely divine; even though it is not something I would have ordered for myself on any other occasion had I already known the ingredients. Whereas, the Green Tea Daiquiri with spiced rum, to me, sounds delicious and exciting, but in fact was not at all to my taste. Even after discovering that the key flavour was supposed to be 'green tea' I still couldn't taste it, and the Vanilla and Cherry Manhattan was even worse.

Moroccan Spiced Lamb

Passion Fruit & Coconut Creme Brulee

Arrogantly, I went in feeling quietly confident about the blind taste-test. I like to think I have a pretty good palette, but twelve courses and three cocktails later I had no choice but to come to terms with the fact that I have been fooling myself. How I got parmesan from what was a garlic and parsley infused butter is beyond me. Nevertheless, I came out with a solid 17.. could be worse!

Me, trying - and failing - to look professional!

Whilst dining blindfolded is not something I would make a habit of, mainly just to avoid losing half my meal down the front of my clothes, I would still be very keen to take it to the next level by dining at Dans Le Noir. Overall, it really was an eye-opening experience...  (Excuse the pun - I couldn't resist)