Into the Darkness..... For Dinner

Last night we ate at a restaurant called  "The Black Cafe"  with our friends, Andrea and Patrick. It is a restaurant geared towards allowing its patrons to step into the shoes of someone who is blind.

The first level is a bar called the "Visual Zone." It has dim lighting, and is nice for a few drinks. It is also where you look at the menu, make your dinner selections, and put your belongings (especially anything with lights or lit backgrounds) into a locker, before being led upstairs to the "Dark Zone." 

Once at the top of the stairs, you are introduced to your blind waiter/waitress, who will lead you and your party, choo-choo train style, to your table. Once everyone is seated, the waitress will tell you where everything is on the table. Silverware, cups, water bottles. 

The meal is served, as in every other restaurant, bread and drinks, salad, soup, main course and then dessert. Bill and Andrea chose the beef filet, and Patrick and I chose the "Mysterious Meal," every course would be a surprise. 

The evening consisted of plenty of feeling around the table and your plate. There was a water bottle and bread basket for Andrea and Patrick, and one for Bill and I. "Is this our bread basket?" "Where is my beer?" "Oops, there was actually nothing on my fork that time." "I'm trying to figure out if there is anything left on my plate." "What are you handing me Bill? Oh, another tomato."

The food was extremely tasty, and for those of you who are wondering, the 'Mysterious Meal" was much the same as the others for soup and salad. The main course had quite a bit more variety with beef filet, chicken, smoked ham, shrimp, potato, and veggies. The only thing I questioned was something in my salad, which may have been a very mild anchovie....but I don't want to know.

It was a great experience, and we would definitely do it again. We got used to being in the dark, and we even stayed to chat for a while after we finished our meal. Nothing was spilled, and they kindly supplied napkins which were much bigger than the paper cocktail napkins which are provided at many restaurants in China. This was handy ( ha ha, no pun intended) considering how much feeling around your plate you have to do.

After dinner we went out for some Warm Apple Struedel (the dessert at The Black Cafe was a bit of a disappointment), and another beer at a local German brewery. It was a beautiful and breezy fall evening and we sat outside, at the only table available at this HUGE restaurant/bar. Unfortunately, I think I accidently stole it from the three people the waitress led to it about 30 seconds later, but it wasn't intentional, and it was not clear that you were to wait to be seated. She only asked me how many people were in my party, and then walked away with the three Chinese men trailing behind. Sadly, I feel a little revenge, for all of the times that Chinese people have used this technique (intentionally) to get ahead of me.